You’ll be glad to hear that I ran this morning at 6am. 7.2 miles in 71 minutes. It was fucking amazing! The first 3 miles were into the wind and for the rest of the journey the breeze carried me.
Anyway I’m glad that a lot of you enjoyed my last rant about It got me thinking about what motivates me to run. Here are a few ideas that I use from time to time when it’s too early/cold/windy/snowy or dark outside.
- Give yourself half an hour to wake up before you plan to run. Tidy your bedroom, make some coffee and plan your day out. Relax and wait for the inspiration to come. You don’t have to shovel down raw eggs like Rocky or punch your refrigerator. Just make sure you leave yourself enough time so that you aren’t rushing when you get back home.
- The best bit about running early in the morning in a small town is the you have free reign of the quiet roads. There’s less traffic which gives you greater freedom in terms of a route. There’s less chance of an accident. When there are no vehicles or people about, I enjoy sprinting down the centre line of roads pretending I am a car. I have this invasive thought when I’m out that I’m gonna stop for a piss down a quiet side road, be apprehended by a police officer and plead with him for my freedom with a line like “Are you with the AA? I’m only standing here for a routine change of oil, sir’.
- Set your alarm tone to something that really fires you up. I used to use Born To Run until I got sick of it. Keep the phone well away from your night stand to stop yourself from turning the alarm off.
- Leave out your running gear the night before along with anything else you need to run. You’ll be amazed by how unwilling you’ll be at 6am to go hunting for your sweating old running kit.
- If you don’t have the time or the will to run the distance you had initially planned then why not go on a shorter run? Anything is better than nothing. Whenever I decide to go out on a short run I end up staying out longer than I had planned. Get out there and do something! Every mile counts.
- It can take a while for me to get the inspiration to finally move. It will often come from playing a song I love or messing around with my guitar. Motivation for running will hit me like a thunderbolt. I go out as soon as it strikes otherwise I fear I might change my mind.
- Fire yourself up with anger. If i think about someone I hate, the running juices kick in and I want to hammer the ground hard with my feet. Eamomn Holmes’ face on Sky News riles me so much that jogging is a joy even in the cold.
- If you can’t run today then never worry. Don’t give into shame. Make a list of 3 positive things that you’ll do today that will make running easier for you in the future. You could count calories, walk a bit more, watch some inspirational videos or research some new races that you’d like to enter. Just do something that will put you in a better position tomorrow then you were in today when you woke up.
- If you have a problem at work then a morning run can seriously do wonders in terms of coming up with a solution. Once the runners high hits, all sorts of shit pops into my head from nowhere. New ideas. New solutions. The unsolvable suddenly becomes solvable.
- Reward yourself for running. It doesn’t have to be food or drink. My prize is a footlong Ham Subway without cheese for breakfast. If I reward myself with food, I’m careful not to consume even half of the calories I burned during the run otherwise I feel that it negates my effort.