1. What do you do when your motivation for running wanes?
2. What do you do when work becomes the priority and running inevitably and sadly takes a back seat because as much as you love running; you need a job to continue living?
I will address the 2nd question first because it is my post and I can do what I want (for the time being). These past few months my running hasn't been as consistent due to work and coaching a sport. I have run off and on at 2 am on a treadmill but that doesn't do much good. I also try to run on the weekends but am typically so exhausted from the week that it is all I can do to just get out of bed. I have basically two options: continue as I am or become (shudder) a morning runner. I have avoided and fought this for years because I have always been a night runner and because I am definitively not a morning person. I guess the time has come for a change. To all my South Carolinian friends that run. I may need your assistance for motivation to get my ass out of bed and run.
The 1st question is directly related to the 2nd question for me. I haven't been able to run as much as I normally do so I haven't wanted to run as much as I normally do. I have even looked for excuses not to run "it's raining" or "it's too late" Has anyone else gone through a stale period of running? What did you do to get out of the rut? I'm asking because while I still love running; it has just been difficult to get back to doing it regularly.
I've tried registering for a race but that didn't make me run more; just accept I wasn't going to go as fast and finish.
I've thought about changing my running routine (described above) but haven't successfully managed that yet. I figure my recent injuries are also playing a part in my mind because I don't want to get injured again. I've wanted to run group runs with the local running club but they don't have group runs when I am able to run. It seems that for every possible motivator I have an excuse.
At Thanksgiving I heard an interesting comment from someone in my family. My aunt said "Are you going to start running again?" I asked her how she knew I wasn't running and she said that several people were able to tell based on my facebook posts. She said that I was more negative in my tone when I wasn't running. I will continue trying to break my running rut and let you know how it goes. I promise not to let two months pass before I post again. Stay tuned