Running- Not much "fun"...

What don't you enjoy about it?

First suggestion: Stop looking at it as something you "have to do" for other things.

Second suggestion: No watch, no HRM, none of that. Just go out and run around the neighborhood. No plan, no timing, no measuring distances or efforts (other than to run at a comfortable level). Look at the scenery, be alone with your thoughts, find tranquility.

Try doing something different with the run. Go out into the woods where you don't know how far you're going. Leave the stopwatch at home. Or try going to a field with a soccer ball and run while kicking it. You're still running. Just try something different.

I am exactly the same. I enjoy swimming and cycling, but running is not something I ever really enjoyed.

To make it more tolerable, I think you need some good music on your ipod and a nice area to run in. Running down a busy street, breathing in car fumes, is not going to be much fun. But running in the countryside, with some inspirational music playing, is not too bad.

I also prefer doing intervals from time to time, as the thought of running non stop at the same pace for an hour or more drives me insane. If I break it up into periods of hard and easy running/walking it becomes much less boring. 







Edited by lengthcroft 2010-11-29 9:45 AM

Two words: Trail Running.

Find some single track and go run it. Get lost in the woods. It's the only way to run.

Run with a friend or group.  Join the local running club.

IMO, the greatest benefits of running are mental.  If it's causing you mental anguish, then you're really negating a big part of the overall equation.  Furthermore, if you don't enjoy it then you're less likely to commit to improvement - in which case you're more susceptible to doing it incorrectly and injuring yourself.  At that point, you've negated the other part of the equation.

My advice would be to walk away from it, completely.  Focus on the activities that you do enjoy as you'll get much more benefit out of them.  You can always revisit running down the road and see if your perception has changed.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

I'm a newbie runner, and like the poster above, I use the run time as much for mental exercise as I do for physical exercise. I usually run early AM on the same route (streetlights!!) so I just let the mind wander and not worry about just staring at the road. For me, it lets me avoid any dwell on the running, and any negative thought spirals. Before you know it, you've gone through a big chunk of your run. 

As someone who always love running I might not be of much advice, but I will offer you this quote: "If it feels like work, you're working too hard".

As someone who typically hates running, I've started taking this advice, slowed my already slow pace by about 2min/mi and now find it much more enjoyable.

If you hate it, don't do it.  This is a hobby.  Find other activities you enjoy that you can substitute for running.

Oops....Sorry for not addressing the question of how to make it fun. 

Edited by mktoson 2010-11-29 10:35 AM

Lots of good advice from many.  Have you been doing the same routine, route, etc.?  That alone would numb you.  You may need to change the pace up, by getting a group of people together on a day and play a hide-and-go-seek type of game, example:
B?ack in H.S. our x-country coach would have us play "Ho?n?d?o?".  We would designate one person as "IT" and everybody would jog off onto the x-country trail.  We would have about a 1 - 2 minute head start.  No one was allowed to run off the trail, meaning no running into the wooded area and hiding, therefore everyone stayed on the trails.  The person that was "IT" would have to chase you and tag you, and then you became a team to capture everyone else, until all were captured (each person that was tagged were also "IT").

You get a good workout in with sprints and such, and it made the workout go faster.  We usually got to play 2 or 3 games within an hour or so.

This.  I've been unable to run for a couple months now due to injury and miss it something fierce.  Look at it as something you GET to do, not HAVE to do. 

When I started training for my first tri, I didn't like running. I would only run in the dark so no one could see me then in time I'd only run in my neighborhood. I felt uncomfortable. I'm sure I ran to hard when I started. I felt slow and awkward.

In time I came to really enjoy running but it probably took 2 years. If you listen to music or radio ditch those so you can be in tune with your body, your breathing and nature.

I get in a place in my head that thoughts run through like water in a river. It is a special place I only get running. My bike happy place is different a bit better but run place is really good.

I now run everywhere wave at my neighbors, run on the busy streets even when school lets out. 

I think it was my mind set that made running not fun...I thought I was bad at it, uncomfortable and all that. Just being out there doing it in time changed for me.

Going to work isn't much fun either. It's the benefits that are fun. Can't have the benefits without doing the work.

As much as I run I can't say I always like it, or that it's fun. However, I do like what it does for me and that's why I keep doing it.

Lots of people want the benefits but won't work for them. It's too hard, it's not fun. Look at the obesity "epidemic" in this country. Dieting and exercise are too hard and not fun, so these people won't have the benefits of health.

Life isn't always about only doing what's fun. However, with the right mental attitude almost anything can be fun. Running may never be fun for you until you change your attitude about it.

x2
Been six months since I last ran.....
 

If you don't like it, don't do it.  I've always liked running; sometimes I think I'm a tad 'off' for it.  When I was a kid I wanted to run across the country, but I had school

If you like to cycle, do crits or centuries.  If you like to swim, masters meets.  There's a ton of stuff out there that appeals to us.

My dog like to run too   I feel like I'm cheating on him when I go alone.

I get you.  I am not into the enjoy the beauty of it, become one with nature, blah, blah.  I dislike all of this stuff.  I like eating and watching TV.  BUT, I hate feeling fat, lazy, out of shape, sick and gross.  I do not want to take pills by the bucket full.  THUS, I run, bike, swim, lift weights, do yoga, etc.  for no other reason than to let me do the other things I want to do, like, eat and sit on the couch.  Plus, telling people you did an easy 10 miler makes you sounds pretty cool.  you just have to find whatever motivates you to get out there.  One of my favorite bike rides (if there is such a thing) is past 5 different homemade ice cream shops.  I have never actually stopped at any of them, let alone all 5, but if I think I have the opprortunity to stop and have a coffee oreo cone every 10 miles, a 50 miler doesn't seem so bad.  good luck!

Me, the exact opposite.  I don't enjoy the boxed in feeling of running in the woods.

Find a wide open space to run and enjoy the view.  Run along an ocean or lakefront.  They're the best possible places to run for me.

If it hurts to run, you are going too fast.  You might want to consider slowing down or doing a run/walk program.  I've found that I'm actually faster over long distances doing the run/walk than a straight run.  Crazy, huh?

Then, put some good tunes or a funny book on your i-pod, whatever works to make you look forward to your runs, and only listen to it during the runs.   I like a good murder mystery but do what works for you.  And, scope out some good locations to run (the park, the beach, the mtns, a new subdivision near you, wherever the hot men/women are, etc) so that you enjoy the scenery. 

Or, if you don't like to run for running's sake, add another sport that involves running like soccer, tennis or basketball for some stealth running.

Everyone gains something different from their runs, so you may not be in the "book on the i-pod, run at a slow pace" crowd or the "I must run fast and only with a thumping beat" crowd or the "I only run in the woods with no electronic devices" crowd.  Just figure out what works for you and do that.  : )   I would also recommend that you read the "Born to Run" book by Christopher MacDougall. I ignored all of the barefoot mumbo jumbo, but the parts about finding the joy in running were priceless.
http://www.amazon.com/Born-Run-Hidden-Superathletes-Greatest/dp/0307266303

Best wishes on your running!

Edited by Mrs. brown_dog_us 2010-11-29 11:53 AM

If you don't like running...don't. Find hobbies that don't require running as a component.

This ^^^^^

I've spent my life saying "I hate running", "running sucks" and "I'm a sprinter, I'm not built for endurance".  The problem is, I like triathlon, so that makes the run a necessary evil.

So, thanks to advice from BT,
I learned to slow WAY down and run w?a?y? more? ?o??ft?e?n.  It sounds counter-inutitive, but it's working.  I'm running slower, I'm running? more than I ever have, but I'm beginning to enjoy it.  If you do it more, your body adapts and it becomes less like work and more like a relaxing way to blow of steam and burn a few calories without needing a whole pile of gear....
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