Rediscover and Find Your Running Motivation
I come across a lot of runners who seem to have lost their running motivation. They are going through a dip and can’t seem to get their grasp back upon their motivation, purpose and reasons for getting out and running.
Essentially motivation means having enthusiasm, a need or a reason for doing something. If your need or reason is strong enough then I’m not sure you have to be too enthusiastic, you just do it regardless.
Most runners experience dips in their running motivation from time to time, as well as enjoying the motivation highs that come along too. As we continue to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, I think that dips in running motivation have become a bit more common. Whether it’s stress and anxiety caused by aspects of the pandemic, a sense of lethargy from how long it’s been impacting (with still more to go), the loss of usual activities and routines, the lack of running and racing with others in the usual way, or something else, running motivation can often suffer.
When an area of our life doesn’t seem to be going great, it can be easy to engage in those negative thoughts and feelings, and that leads to feeling worse and even less enthusiastic to get running or to run well. Certainly I think not being able to train and interact with others (in training and racing) can leave a big hole in your motivation and joy of exercise.
Yet, sometimes the best runs are those where you initially didn’t really feel like it. Sometimes it can be useful to think about the reasons you run, the physical and mental health benefits, and how much better you’ll feel if you do it (and how much worse you’ll feel for not doing it). I often get myself out of bed by reminding myself how much better I’ll feel for having done my run.
Other times I try not to think about it at all. You can’t always trust your thoughts and feelings to guide you. So I don’t engage with them too much: I just get out of bed and start getting ready and if it’s a run day then I run. It becomes a habit to run on the days you run and like any habit, it just starts and seems to happen whether you like it or not.
