I’ve said at times that I am not a runner. People find this perplexing as I run regularly. I consider a runner someone who loves to run. Who can’t wait to get out there and pound the pavement (or trail). Like my sister who is out running every morning at 5am, rain, sleet, snow, gail force winds… she’ll be out runing. Or like a good friend of mine who runs ultras. I still can’t wrap my head around the levels of physical endurance it takes to run 100 miles.
But me… I’m a reluctant runner. I procrastinate about getting my runs in. Thing is, after the first mile, I usually enjoy running (yes, I hate that first mile). And I really feel good when I’m done. But making myself get out there and just start can be a mental feat for me sometimes.
Like this morning. I spent an hour getting ready to run. Should only take me 5 minutes. I mean, it’s not like one needs a shower BEFORE running. And then another 20 minutes deciding where I was going to run. Was I going to go from my house and do hill work or was I going to drive 5 minutes into town for a nice flat run? Or was I going to drive 15 minutes out of town for a more scenic trail run?
By the time I got out running, I only had time for a 6 mile run.
Why do I do this? I felt great running today. I even pushed my speed since it was a shorter run and took almost a minute and a half off my average mile.
Thank God for RunBet. It really pushes me to do my practice runs as I’m too cheap to lose my $40.
I will say I’m enjoying it way more now than I was preketo, but that’s because I’ve stopped trying to make every run as fast as I can. I’m not going to be placing anytime soon anymore, but it does feel much better not trying to kill myself for a PR everytime.
Anyway, just wanted to see if anyone else was a reluctant runners out there. Or am I a black sheep among the running community?