If you’re just beginning a exercise program — be it walking, swimming, cycling, whatever — and are having doubts, take a few minutes to read about the Yarn Harlot’s foray into running. She assures you you are not alone.

If you’ve ever made anything out of two needles and a very long piece of string, you probably know about the Yarn Harlot. If you buy all your sweaters, socks and toboggans at Penny’s, the Yarn Harlot is Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, a prolific knitter and an even more prolific writer-about-knitting. She’s written a number of books and writes an enormously popular blog.

Last year, facing the reality of turning 41 and recognizing she’s a prime candidate for osteoporosis, she took up running. Now, the Yarn Harlot is no workout whiner (though she concedes that she hates to sweat): she’s a recreational biker and practices yoga. But neither are weight-bearing exercises and thus, don’t do much to help with bone strength. So she took up running. It’s been a struggle, but she’s kept with it, in part because she promised to run her local Run for the Cure, which was this past weekend.

That’s enough of a set-up. Her blog entry is relatively short, addressing many of the same frustrations a lot of us have trying to embrace a new exercise program. Take a minute and read it; it’s insightful and funny. And take another minute to read the comments from her readers. They’re sometimes insightful, sometimes funny, almost universally supportive.

Then be sure to check out her tweet about how she fared in Sunday’s run.