5 Tricks to Make Running Easier

Hate to run? I get it. My feelings for running range from avoidance to pure hatred to infatuation to ecstatic love…but more often than not they’re somewhere in the middle. I don’t love running the way I love weights. Though some days I do. I say, “I love running,” and I mean it. My best endorphin rushes/runner’s highs have come from running. Maybe that’s why I love it. Either way, I have learned a few things about running as a hobby and a few tricks to get through getting started and those sucky runs on sucky days.

So I was kind of coerced into running at first. Part coercion, part “can’t look, can’t look away” syndrome. Lots of people in my life have been real into the whole running thing. Some things I learned about running early on…

• It is possible to come around to loving or at least really liking running. I hated running in the beginning. I slogged through mile after mile out of a sense of obligation to my sister (we were going to run our first race together) and guilt (which would come from my crazy-runner-husband). It probably took months for me to really enjoy a run. See this post for a little bit about my exercise-hating past!
• Everyone can run. I know a lot of people who say they can’t run, for reasons that range from it gives them headaches to their boobs are too big to they get shin splints to they’re just not built for it. Except for a very few special circumstances, everyone can run. Maybe you’ll have to walk for a year first. Maybe you’ll have to figure out your own path. But almost everyone can run. I am inspired by runners who started running when they were 70 and runners with two prosthetic legs. I feel like I’m a little more allowed to give tough love here because I used to be one of those people who said, “I can’t run.”
• Running takes patience. If you’re out of shape, you should probably start with walking and a little bit of running. Even if you’re in shape that might be a good idea. Running does come with its annoying injuries- like those shin splints that scare people off. It’s also something that can take a long time to get better at, so you have to be patient with your own progress.

So if you think you hate running but you feel like you want to give it a go (for weight loss, because it seems so good for you, peer pressure, practicality) here are some tips that might help you get through the hard parts…

5 Tricks to Make Running Easier

1. Music. I cannot say enough about the impact music can have on running. It can make you want to go out for a run (just for time to listen to music you like and not have to deal with anyone or anything). Music can make you run faster (I swear some songs make me feel like an Olympic athlete). Good songs can perk you up just when you’re about to die and make you feel like maybe you can even go around the block again. Make a good playlist, get a free running app, and use that run as a chance to escape.
2. Counting. I use numbers in all sorts of crazy ways when I’m struggling through a run. Sometimes I won’t let myself look at my watch until I hit a certain number in my head. If I know I have five minutes left and I’m dying I count to 600. 300 seconds is 5 minutes but you know you’re counting faster than an actual second especially when your lungs are about to explode so I double it and don’t check my watch until I hit 600. If I hit 600 and that 5 minutes still isn’t up, I keep counting. Hey, it’s a distraction. I have lots of varieties for counting my way through a run. Some crazier and more elaborate than others.
3. Distance. Again, using the watch (I have a regular watch, nothing fancy) I will pick somewhere ahead and I won’t check my watch until I get there.
4. Mantras. This might sound a little woo-woo to some of you, but they can be so helpful during a run. Not only is a mantra a distraction, but it can also be a way to monitor your stride. Now, remember, this is coming from slow-runner-girl, not crazy-runner-husband. So I’m not getting real technical with “stride” and “gait” and all that. But it can help pace you. Or at least keep you moving. And it can be a practical mantra, like, “I breathe easy and I run fast.” Or “I am strong and healthy, confident and light.” Even if none of that feels very true as you drag yourself down the street.
5. Milestones. This is where I go when things are really bad. They’re more like “footstones” because that’s how far ahead I’m usually looking. But I find a spot on the ground (or sometimes something at eye level like a street sign) and I keep my eye on it until I reach it. It’s like it’s pulling me along to it. When I reach it, I look ahead to a new spot, and so on. It’s often a crack in the sidewalk, a leaf, a flower, a curb. If I’m running with someone else it might be their back or the bottoms of their shoes.

On a side note, there are a few other things that will make running less awful/more enjoyable…

Go to a pretty place.

Run somewhere flat.

Find someone to run with.

And remember when I say “run” this is used interchangeably with any combination of running and walking. Or even just walking!

Many moons ago my husband came across this book, Runner’s World Complete Book of Running, and it’s worth checking out. There is a great chart in it for a beginning walk/run program. He and I have used it ourselves and shared it with others. It’s nice to have a schedule to follow, and it allows you to ease into running without hurting yourself or getting scared off.

There are so many great things about running. I wish more people would give it patience. It takes a while to get past the sucky part- both in a particular run and in running as a hobby. Just like the first mile is often the hardest, so is the first month of giving it a go. But it only gets better and better.

And no matter how hard it is to get out there, I never regret a run.

What are your feelings about running? Are you a runner with your own tricks to get through tough days?

 

 

 

 

 

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