Inspiration needed, please!

[Pip66]

Hi all - I am looking for some motivational thoughts from you. I completed c25k 18 months ago and was so excited and motivated. I was aiming to get up to 10k but somehow life got in the way and I hovered around the 6k mark for a few months. At one point I was able to run for around 50 minutes. Since then I have continued to run but due to various issues (my husband being off work with severe stress and anxiety being one) my runs have got more spaced out and I have not run further than 2 miles in months.

I decided today that I need to get back on it. So I got out there and listened to week 5 r3 - I did do a two minute walk in the middle but kept going for the rest of it. I want to get back to running three times a week. How can I get the motivation and excitement back? I am hoping the appearance of March tomorrow will help a little!

Thanks

[Bluebirdrunner Graduate]

Hi Pip,

You have come to the right place 😊

Well done for having a run today..bet you felt pleased afterwards. This forum is great for motivation, come on here and read how everyone is doing..

There are runners just starting, and there are loads on week 9 and lots inbetween. Offer advice and encouragement, you have done the plan so know what it feels like.

Share your run reports on here, wether it was a tough run or a good run..it may just be the incentive to go do it if you write about it afterwards.

Good luck and happy running.😊

[roseabi]

Book a race!

[Irishprincess Graduate]

Pick a lovely route if you can and run slowly just to savour the fact you can run. Most people can't run and will never feel what we feel. That's because running is hard. But you can do it! How fabulous is that?

Remember the very first run of the programme and think how far you've come. You are amazing. Get out there and show it off 😊

[AnneDroid Graduate]

I agree with Her Irish Highness. Pick a lovely route. Pick lots of lovely routes and work your way through them.

I also agree with roseabi. Enter a race. Then you've got motivation to train.

I also agree with Jan. Hang out on this forum.

(I clearly have no original thoughts of my own but with advice like the above, there's no need!)

[Pip66 Graduate]

Hi - thanks all. I remember how much this forum helped in my journey before. It was great to come back home and share my runs - both good and bad! I love hearing about other people's experiences too. I guess I had just forgotten how much it helped.

I like the idea too of picking a route. I tend to run on the same track - round and round! I love dogs but I must admit I am getting a bit fed up of barking dogs running at me! As the weather improves it would be good to find some new places to run.

I did manage a park run last year with my daughter but our course is not the greatest and I found it quite challenging. Should get back there too.

As for a race ...... I keep thinking about it ...... haven't quite had the courage to go for it. One of my daughters is currently training for her first half-marathon. She has only been running a couple of months. Perhaps I will try and find a 10k to enter for a few months time. Something to work for .....

I just want to feel I am going forwards, not backwards. I loved the feeling that running gave me when I thought I was making progress.

Thanks all - feeling a bit more motivated now.

[GoogleMe Graduate in reply to Pip66]

Sometimes one of the biggest challenges in our running is to just *be* (which is why, of the many excellent suggestions Irishprincess 's is especially good) If we really want running to be part of our lives, we need to be thinking long term and if we always have to be striving to be better... well, that's not going to work.

If life has been very difficult lately (and it sounds as though it has - any possibility of your husband running as therapy? Or even just out for a walk?), then it's so important to congratulate yourself for getting out there, revel in it and maybe not set yourself any goals that smack of 'should' (an event is a slightly different thing).

If you've not been getting out there regularly at all and miss it, then it could be that not letting a week go by without a run, is the gift to give yourself (it's not as if you are going to hold yourself back from another two if that happens to fit sometimes) Or getting out there again sometimes as soon as possible after a rest day.

Anyway, it is great that you're back... and indeed that you never gave up.

[runswithdogs Graduate]

Don't worry if your distances and speeds come and go. Running isn't a linear journey, it's not always a push to run faster and further, and it can change from run-walks to solid running. None of that is bad. Mine change through the seasons and around specific races I like. The important thing is to keep getting out there, and to focus on enjoyment, as that is what keeps us running.

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate]

Here you are, so this where the motivation is.. you did it!

Now,get the running back on track, keep posting and as Bluebirdrunner says, maybe help and advise the folk doing this for the first time.

Use the runs to lose the negative thoughts,and run free from the stress and anxiety...

Take a rest day tomorrow and then Thursday, mad as a March hare, hop to it on a lovely gentle run..

Remember..."Don't be afraid to fail...Be afraid not to try "

We are right here beside you, as ever

[Bluebirdrunner Graduate]

You are definately going forwards Pip..you are on here..so you are thinking and planning your running. When you feel ready there are B210k podcasts which take you on longer routes with walking breaks structured like c25k, but suggest you get back to regular runs first.

Good luck😊

[Anniemurph Graduate]

Bling! Book yourself a race that has a nice medal 😀 Start with a 5k that's not too far away in terms of time. Download a plan from MyAsics or Bupa or Runners World or wherever and follow it. Yes, do everything that is suggested on here as well, because they are wides words, but definitely go for the bling!