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Hi I’m a grad student doing biochemistry. While cellular respiration can be described as a combustion reaction, it’s not very useful to do so since the mechanisms which allow cellular respiration to occur are very different from what you see in a typical combustion reaction. To answer your question of how it begins, you’ll need an idea of why glucose can be used as energy in the first place. Essentially, the energy that is being derived from glucose is coming from enzymes (which I’ve always thought of as cellular machinery) systematically breaking the chemical bonds which hold the glucose molecule together and cells have evolved to be incredibly efficient at this. The conditions in which these reactions take place actually allow for even more energy to be produced. In the long line of reactions which take place to convert glucose to energy, CO2 and water; oxygen is actually only present at the very last stages. I’ve skipped a lot of details but hopefully I’ve answered your questions well enough to give you an idea. If you’re fascinated by metabolism or biochemistry in general, I highly recommend pursuing it academically :)
