I think I'm begining to hate running. (Read 883 times)

Hi, Duane. I've missed your nocturnal face on the BB's! I think every runner goes through this at some point or another. Sometimes running can be ... uncomfortable. It may help to go back and review your goals with running. Why are you running? Are those goals still important? Is your running helping move you towards those goals? How can you measure that progress? Do you have any fun goals? Is there a race you can sign up for in about a month? (I don't mean our "Virtual" ones... though they have their place.) You may also want to try shaking up your routine. Can you find a running partner? (Perhaps your little girl is old enough now to ride a bike with you? If not, how about a jogging stroller?) How about a club? Some company can go a long way to helping you with motivation. I peeked at your log. It looks like you've been doing the same thing a lot lately. While it's great that you've been able to keep on running even though you're feeling less motivated, doing the same thing over and over again is terribly boring! I think that would un-motivate just about anybody! If reviewing your goals and shaking up your routine don't work for you, you may need to take a break. Take a week off and see how you feel about running by the end of the week. How does your body feel? How do you feel emotionally/mentally? And do you WANT to continue running? Then go for a good run and ask those same questions. There are many ways to stay fit. It doesn't have to be running. But if you decide you do want to continue running then you may just need to slog through this down-time and take it on faith that the good times will come again. I'll be thinking about you! Janell

nite_runner, We all go through that phase every so often. I lost motivation shortly after running Boston, and just came out of it. If you enjoy it once you start running, then you still love the sport. It's a matter of taking it easy for several days or a couple of weeks to recharge your mental batteries and you'll jump right back into it again. Good luck!

It's sooo true. We all lose our love of running from time to time. Lots of great ideas posted here to help you find renewed interest (good reminders for me too). Two more ideas: Cross-training? Maybe you want to try biking, swimming, rollerblading, yoga or some other exercise/sport for awhile... you don't have to say goodbye to runnning forever, but it's nice to take a break sometimes. Shopping? If you have some extra cash, perhaps you might purchase that fancy running gear you've been ogling? I'm only a little ashamed to say that this works REALLY well for me. And lets face it, running is way cheaper than other sports (for example: stock-car racing). The best thing for me is to keep the variety in my running. That means running at a different time of day on occasion, running on new routes (especiallly if you can drive somewhere fun on the weekend to do a cross-crountry style trail run), and always be aiming for a new race or a new goal. But even with all that (and with all my money spent), I still get bored sometimes too.