I guess overall I am disapointed that this running thing does not feel any easier. Perhaps my expectations were unrealistic??? I really felt that by now I’d be very close to jogging 3 miles non-stop. However, that is not the case. I can still not even jog 1 mile without having to stop. I have yet to reach a runner’s high. I have yet to lose myself in the run. Every step from the first to the last is a struggle.
The physical struggle is starting to become a bit of a mental struggle as well. Initially I was able to tell myself to fight through the heavy legs, shortness of breath, and apporaching nausea because soon this would all be easy. Well it feels as though soon has come and gone and physically it is not much easier than the first day and it is getting harder and harder to convince myself to keep going.
Right now my motivation is the 32nd Annual Philadelphia Bar Association 5k Run/Walk to support Child Advocates coming up on May 15th. Friends are running with me and I won’t let them down by quitting. Other friends have been encouraging me as I report on my workouts and because of them I won’t be a quiter. Part of me definately wishes I could gracefully bow out. But overall that would be such a dissapointment to myself. Much more of a disapointment than doing the race and not running the entire thing. I know I will feel so proud of myself for having got out there and pressed toward my goal. So I remind myslef of the motivation from my online trainer friend on PNP, the girl in last place is the one on the couch. I am still Running Towards Joy just a bit slower than I thought.
If you are a runner at what point in your initial training did it stop being so hard? Did it ever get easy?
How have you motivated yourself to do something that is really really hard?
Tell me how you are Running Toward Joy, even if you are running slowly.
Hang in there! I've been waiting for years to feel like I wanted to run and it finally came this past January. http://www.myorganizedlifestyle.com/2012/03/my-new-relationship.html I've embraced the idea of running and the actually doing it. It's like anything in life, the process can be challenging, but when you reach the goal, it feels great! For me, running has required me, and helped me, to be present in what I'm doing. It's become me time where I think about nothing else at the moment and for a busy mom, it's almost essential. All I can say is that I believe it's a state of mind: Embrace the process, observe what's around you, and know that you're doing something really beneficial for yourself!
Girl!!! I have to say that I still struggle with running. Do I always love running? NO! It takes hard work. I have to mentally get myself in the game everyday. Im not a born runner, it takes work for me. I still take walking breaks. I have to agree with Corinne. There is no shame in taking a walking break. Heck, thats how I get through 13.1m. If I had to run the whole thing, I wouldn't be able to succeed.
You are a winner no matter where you take place in that race. You will go there, you will finish and that makes you a winner. Hang in there. I wish I had some magical words of wisdom but I dont. You're doing awesome!!!
Staying motivated while "learning to run" can be difficult. Early on I discovered that there are two groups of people: those that were born to run and everybody else. I definitely fall into the "everybody else" category. I have a friend that won the Oklahoma City marathon a few years back. We run on the same track on Tuesday nights. He can certainly run circles around me but we're both out there, doing our thing, working hard and working on our fitness 🙂 Stay motivated. You might not win the race, but you're leaps and bounds beyond the folks that don't even have the courage to try!!!!
Girl…running still sucks for me and I'm six years into…plus some. I am doing it now because Chris likes it not because I do. But, there are times that will come soon where you are surprised that a run seems easier. Just keep at it and it is OK to stop and walk. I would say 95% of my runs I stop and do walk intervals. It's the only thing that saves my hamstring!
Like yesterday, I ran for 3 miles like of DOPE in a 5K and I normally don't. I was MISERABLE all night with my leg hurting. I could have finished about 1 min. later and walked some and probably not hurt like that. Lesson learned.
The thing is most people get it in their head that they have to run stop to be a runner and that's just not true. Walk breaks aren't for the weak…they are strategic intervals used for conditioning and other things. There are studies that show people who do the walk breaks also have healthier joints than the non-walk breakers!
Be proud. Keep plugging away. And, keep doing your eating and Zumba stuff too. All of that combined is what will make you a strong runner soon enough.