10 Effective Ways To Motivate Yourself To Run

You always wanted to run but somehow it never happened yet or you started and did a few runs but suddenly stop again. I want to share with you 10 effective ways to motivate yourself to run.

Disclaimer: This post contains links to an affiliate website or links to an Amazon shop. As an affiliate member, I will earn from qualifying purchases made by you at no additional cost ever. I appreciate the purchase you made. Read my disclosure.

If you haven’t read my article about 10 Good Reasons To Run I have the link below for you to read. Running has been proven to be good for our physical and mental health. But before that the goal of this article is to give you 10 effective ways to motivate yourself to run and include it in your lifestyle.

Get your strobe lights with Amazon.

Running is an easy sport believe me but just like any sports you have to respect it. Respect the time and distance you have to allot for your body to adapt to and enjoy it. 

Although there will be times that you don’t feel like running at all and that’s okay. That is what you call taking a break or for athletes off season yes, that’s a better term to use. 

Somedays you don’t feel like running because of the weather it is either too hot or too cold. It can also be you are getting lazy because you wanted to catch a new series or movie or you are just plain tired or exhausted from the day.

But what if you’re already running and just suddenly lost motivation, then definitely this article is also for you. I’m giving 10 effective ways to motivate yourself to run but you can also choose a few first and start with it.

10 Effective Ways To Motivate Yourself To Run

1. Create A Goal

Creating a goal is tricky because it isn’t just any goal. It has to be a SMART GOAL.

• S – Specific
• M – Measurable
• A – Attainable
• R – Relevant
• T – Time bound

Choosing a SMART goal will keep you motivated in achieving the results you want.  Do you want to lose weight and pick up running to help with that? Do you want to cover a new  longer distance? Whatever it is you want to achieve, write down in a piece of paper and  post in your wall as a reminder.

2. Include In Schedule

You have to set a time or create a schedule for yourself to run and this is very helpful. If you plan to run tomorrow morning that means you can’t sleep late tonight so that you will not have a hard time getting up.

Remember when you were young and your mom tells you to sleep early because tomorrow you have school or your family is going somewhere. It’s the same thing as running, you have to sleep early and include running in your schedule just like any activities you have. 

3. Accountability Partners

Let your friends know that you are planning to pick up running and if they can join you or check on you about your progress then its good tell them to help you push yourself.

The only cons on this is what if you invite your friend and you planned to run but suddenly she backed out there is a 50-50 chance that you will still go for a run or you wont too. But I hope you choose to continue and go for a run because the feeling is greater.

4. Join A Running Group

Check your local running groups or community that provides group runs. Let them know that you are interested in participating it’s time to make new friends.

Although with the current situation of pandemic it may be not ideal to join a group run or there are no scheduled group runs yet. But you can also opt in with virtual runs to motivate yourself to run.

5. Read A Running Book

Reading a book about running provides ways to motivate yourself to run. Be it biographies, experiences in races or tips about running you will definitely pick up good lessons that can be applied in life and adapting to how they practice discipline.

You can also visit your local library and go to the sports section. Look for a book about running that you find interesting. This will give you so many good ways to motivate yourself to run as you read experiences of runners or author mentioned in the book.

I remember spending a few hours during weekends reading a book in the library. I rarely buy books but when I do its really good books that I can read again and again. Truth is running books are also good motivators in life and not only for running. Nothing is impossible in achieving if you work for it and put your heart on it.

Here are other few good books to read.

6. Watch Documentaries

Just like how a running book can motivate you and give you tips about running documentaries can give you ways to motivate yourself to run as well. You can search the internet for running documentaries. Watching documentaries does offers effective ways to motivate yourself to run and love the sports of running.

I have been fascinated with ultra marathons and dream of running it one day. I would go to youtube and watch documentaries of ultra runners and races about ultra. There’s Badwater 100 the hottest race on earth. In Netflix they showed the documentary of Barkley ultra marathon and how the race goes. Imagine running that ultra marathon with an aid of a map instead of GPS watch.

Check out my article about the Best Running Movies to be Inspired In Life.

7. Choose A Training Plan

Choosing the right training plan to track your progress and your runs will really help a lot for you to stick with it. This can go handy with a SMART goal.

I like posting my training plans on the wall to keep track of what distance I should cover and to remind me of my running schedule or cross train to do. This is some good ways to motivate yourself to run and track your progress.

Check my article below about the best free running apps. Most of these apps offers a training plan to help you get started. Start small by using a 5k training plan journey instead of focusing into running fast right away or covering a longer distance. These running apps offers a lot of good ways to motivate yourself to run.

You can also start by doing a time based plan. You can give yourself 20 minutes or 30 minutes to run. Don’t worry about the pace or the distance that you need to cover. Focus on one area first which is time and eventually monitor your progress.

8. Choose Different Paths

Don’t run the same ground. Plan your next run ahead of time. 

If time does not allow it you can choose the same ground on weekdays and choose a different place to run to on the weekends. Wake up early and catch the sunrise. If you run in the park today, next time use the track to run also.

9. Sleep With Your Running Clothes

Prepare your running clothes the night before your run. Make sure your clothes, hydration gear and and other running gears are ready. This saves time in the morning preparing your clothes or looking for the other pair of your socks.

Another tip is to sleep with your running clothes and this will definitely do the trick to pick up yourself to run. If you can sleep with your running shorts on, it saves time changing in the morning and surely it will help you push yourself to run. I actually do this on weekdays as part of my plan for running which gives me no excuse not to get up and go outside.

10. Reward Yourself

It doesn’t have to be big rewards or expensive rewards to give yourself. It can be about running gears or a bottle of beer that you deserve after a good run, race or completion of training.

It can be any kind that you think you deserve. I remember grabbing a beer after a long run to enjoy in the evening or a Veggie burrito meal that is perfect while watching netflix. 

I hope you are able to pick up 1 or a few ways to motivate yourself to run. What is important here is to start something, see your progress and enjoy the journey. These good ways to motivate yourself to run is good for your overall physical and mental health.

If you find this article helpful do provide a comment or subscribe to my mailing list to get access with the free resource library.

Related Running Articles

• 10 Good Reasons To Run
• Best Free Running Apps Without Using Mobile Data

Images taken from unsplash.

Sharing is caring!