How to "Like" Running - Dirty Old Sneakers

Did you see the article on the NYTimes Well blog a couple of weeks ago?

If you missed it, you can read it here.

Farah Miller, the author of the piece goes through a bunch of ways that she “tricked” herself into enjoying going for runs during the pandemic without having run since middle school.

I can save you the time it takes to read the article, her advice includes things like:

Train your brain to let go of negativity and focus on positive instead
Use a guided running app where the coach can motivate you throughout each run
Rewear something you’ve run in already if it makes you feel good
Don’t run fast
Find someone your pace, and run with them

This is all solid advice. I think that if you’re a newbie to running, that advice could be the thing that gets you off the couch and into some cardiovascular strength and feeling better all around.

While I don’t subscribe to all of the measures above, I do use some of them to some extent. However, I think that if you’re someone who wants to really start to like running, I would tweak the above to:

Embrace the Suck

Running sucks. Let me clarify. Almost all runs suck, especially if you’re new to the sport. You’re almost always out of breath, you’re looking at the course you’re running and thinking, “Are you kidding me? ANOTHER hill?” did I mention that you’re almost always out of breath? If you know that going in, you can do things to try to alleviate that. Things like, make a playlist of your favorite music to focus on, listen to your favorite podcast or eBook. If you run with a watch, don’t look at your pace screen all the time, maybe change it to your heart rate and try to stay within a certain zone.

And run with the knowledge that, when you’re done running, that’s when the run feels good. When you’re walking back to your house, you’re full of endorphins, you’re proud of what you just accomplished, you can take a nap.

But don’t forget to stretch.

Retail Therapy

There’s a reason runners own so many kits, sneakers and all sorts of other accoutrements, it’s because we’re trying to motivate ourselves. Like, if I run down these sneakers, I can get those new ASICS MetaSpeed Sky that just launched. Or, if I run X amount of miles this week, I will reward myself with a new pair of shorts, or a new shirt, or that new running watch I’ve had my eye on.

Take it from me, retail therapy works.

Sign Up for a Race

And I don’t mean one of those bullshit virtual races. I mean a, wake-up-at-5AM- drag-your-tush-to-the-park-get-in-a-corral-and-wait-for-the-gun race. Racing is coming back. Directors have been working tirelessly trying to figure out how not to go broke and, TBH, they’ve done a good job of balancing the excitement of a race and COVID safety.

Having a goal to work for can help keep you focused and excited. And as the saying goes, you need to run your plan, not plan to run. Meaning, if you’re running a race of any length you’ve never run before, you can find plans online (free or paid can be found) that prescribe certain workouts or distances each day (or rest days, my favorite) so you can be prepared for, and finish the race. Simply, if you’re not going to prepare for the race, you’re not going to have a good morning.

That’s it! It’s that simple. You don’t need any fancy gear, expensive sneakers, new headphones or be fast.

You need to have a desire to start, a want to get into shape and a modicum of focus.

Also, embrace the suck.

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My Current Running Gear

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