Last Updated on August 9, 2024
Running can feel easy and exhilarating when you get attention or praise for doing it. But when the weather is bad, life gets busy, and all you want is stay in bed and watch Netflix, running becomes the last thing you want to do.
Running: a ‘Romance’
Long-time runners and conditioning specialists know that this feeling is perfectly normal. As Runner’s World’s Newbie Chronicles author Marc Parent puts it, running is like a romantic relationship that is composed of five phases.
The Honeymoon
Just like in a personal relationship, the runners’ honeymoon stage comes with a lot of happy emotions because your brain’s pleasure circuit gets activated. Hence, we have the term “runner’s high.” You boast about your distance, your gear, or the marathon you’ll join during this stage.
Back to Reality
Reality bites when runners realize they can’t keep up with Olympian and veteran runners. They get injured, usually due to building up speed and distance too soon. In this stage, runners become more private about their goals although they are running faster and longer.
Adversity Hits
Runners can become complacent with the passage of time. They can begin feeling like superheroes as running long distances becomes easy. The sense of invincibility causes some runners to ignore the status of their shoes, the surface where they run, or the way they train.
The Crossroads
A serious running injury, personal health issue, or a lifestyle change that limits running opportunities can make runners ask if they should stop doing their sport. They may even think to themselves that running may have been just a stage in their lives instead of being part of their lifestyles.
Marc Parent entered “the crossroads” after a serious knee injury. He got out of shape by the time his knee completely healed. He compared the fates of the men who were older than he was who quit running later in life and those who kept at it.
Then he thought about the kind of future he wanted for himself. He decided to return to running, “starting with a single, difficult mile.”
Mature Love
Counselors and couple therapists say that you will always find what you look for in a relationship, whether that’s something right or something wrong. The same applies in running – runners don’t focus on limitations. They know when, how, and why they are running – whether they do it alone or not.
How To Stay Motivated and Keep Running
How do you solidify your love for running? Matt Waterworth, who battled obesity to become the author of “Angry Jogger,” and “Shut Up and Run” blogger Beth Risdon share common ideas to keep you motivated:
Stay in the Present
Instead of thinking about how far left you have to run, focus on getting one foot in front of the other. Stop to assess yourself when you reach a corner or stop sign.
Encourage Yourself
When negative thoughts creep in while you’re running, Waterworth suggests you slow down your pace. Recite and memorize a motivational phrase or declaration, something that you can hold on to until you finish your run.
Motivate yourself by recalling the times when you wanted to quit but kept going despite wanting to quit physically and mentally.
Don’t Focus on the Time
Time will pass by more quickly if you focus on your breathing and how you’re moving instead of keeping your eyes on your timer or watch. Waterworth observed that time seemed to fly by faster for him when he put in a 50 percent effort on his regular runs.
Keep the Big Picture in Mind
Picture yourself running your marathon or big race. Look at each step as getting you closer to your goal.
Conserve Your Second Wind
Don’t pick up your pace immediately when you get your second wind. Get settled in your stride and delay any burst in speed until you’re nearer home or finish point. Keep on running and capitalize on that burst of energy to keep your running pace steady.
It’s OK to Stop and Walk
Don’t be afraid to walk so you can catch your breath and re-start on stronger foot. Walking is still moving forward.
Looking for a mantra to help you keep on running? Read the following quotes:
Motivational Quotes for Runners
- “The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.” – John Bingham
- “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Don’t dream of winning, train for it!” – Mo Farah
- “Running allows me to set my mind free. Nothing seems impossible. Nothing unattainable.” – Kara Goucher
- “I don’t run to add days to my life, I run to add life to my days.” – Ronald Rook
- “I’ll be happy if running and I can grow old together.” – Haruki Murakami
- “I run because if I didn’t, I’d be sluggish and glum and spend too much time on the couch. I run to breathe the fresh air. I run to explore. I run to escape the ordinary. I run…to savor the trip along the way. Life becomes a little more vibrant, a little more intense. I like that.” – Dean Karnazes
- “The pain of running relieves the pain of living.” – Jacqueline Simon Gunn
- “If you run, you are a runner. It doesn’t matter how fast or how far. It doesn’t matter if today is your first day or if you’ve been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run.” – John Bingham
- “I run because long after my footprints fade away, maybe I will have inspired a few to reject the easy path, hit the trails, put one foot in front of the other, and come to the same conclusion I did: I run because it always takes me where I want to go.” – Dean Karnazes
- “Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.” – Fred DeVito
- “If you don’t have answers to your problems after a four-hour run, you ain’t getting them.” – Christopher McDougall
- “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” – Confucius
- “Never underestimate the power that one good workout can have on your mind. Keeping the dream alive is half the battle.” – Kara Goucher
- “After all, if you run far enough, no one can catch you.” – E. Schwab
- “Life equals running and when we stop running maybe that’s how we’ll know life is finally finished.” – Patrick Ness
- “Ask yourself: Can I give more? The answer is usually: Yes.” – Paul Tergat
- “Running is about finding your inner peace, and so is a life well lived.” – Dean Karnazes
- “Someone who is busier than you is running right now.” – Nike
- “Only those who risk going too far, can possibly find out how far one can go.” – S. Elliot
- “Running is alone time that lets my brain unspool the tangles that build up over days…I run, pound it out on the pavement, channel that energy into my legs, and when I’m done with my run, I’m done with it.” – Rob Haneisen
- “Running is real and relatively simple…but it ain’t easy.” – Mark Will-Weber
- “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle
- “Running is my private time, my therapy, my religion.” – Gail W. Kislevitz
- “Long distance running is 90 percent mental and the other half is physical.” – Rich Davis
- “Don’t fear moving slowly forward…fear standing still.” – Kathleen Harris
- “There is something magical about running; after a certain distance, it transcends the body. Then a bit further, it transcends the mind. A bit further yet, and what you have before you, laid bare, is the soul.” – Kristin Armstrong
- “As every runner knows, running is about more than just putting one foot in front of the other; it is about our lifestyle and who we are.” – Joan Benoit Samuelson
- “Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.” – Dean Karnazes
- “Run often. Run long. But never outrun your joy of running.” – Julie Isphording
- “There’s not one body type that equates to success. Accept the body you have and be the best you can be with it.” – Mary Cullen
- “Get going…walk if you have to, but finish the damned race.” – Ron Hill
- “I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy… I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.” – Art Williams
- “We run when we’re scared, we run when we’re ecstatic, we run away from our problems and run around for a good time.” – Christopher McDougall
- “The freedom of Cross Country is so primitive. It’s woman vs. nature.” – Lynn Jennings
- “Good things come slow, especially in distance running.” – Bill Dellinger
- “It’s at the borders of pain and suffering that the men are separated from the boys.” – Emil Zatopek
- “A good laugh and a long run are the two best cures for anything.” – Unknown
- “If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon.” – Kathrine Switzer
- “You would run much slower if you were dragging something behind you, like a knapsack or a sheriff.” – Lemony Snicket
- “The reason we race isn’t so much to beat each other,… but to be with each other.” – Christopher McDougall
- “Run in the morning…before your brain figures out what your body is doing!” – Anonymous
- “Run like hell and get the agony over with.” – Clarence DeMar
- “The marathon can humble you.” – Bill Rodgers
- “Some people train knowing they’re not working as hard as other people. I can’t fathom how they think.” – Alberto Salazar
- “The obsession with running is really an obsession with the potential for more and more life.” – George Sheehan
- “We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” – Jesse Owens
- “I don’t run to add days to my life, I run to add life to my days.” – Ronald Rook
- “The point is whether or not I improved over yesterday. In long-distance running the only opponent you have to beat is yourself, the way you used to be.” – Haruki Murakami
- “Running! If there’s any activity happier, more exhilarating, more nourishing to the imagination, I can’t think of what it might be. In running the mind flees with the body, the mysterious efflorescence of language seems to pulse in the brain, in rhythm with our feet and the swinging of our arms.” – Joyce Carol Oates
- “Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.” – Lance Armstrong
- “Your body will argue that there is no justifiable reason to continue. Your only recourse is to call on your spirit, which fortunately functions independently of logic.” – Tim Noakes
- “There is something magical about running; after a certain distance, it transcends the body. Then a bit further, it transcends the mind. A bit further yet, and what you have before you, laid bare, is the soul.” – Kristin Armstrong
- “There is nothing so momentary as a sporting achievement, and nothing so lasting as the memory of it.” – Greg Dening
- “Running is real and relatively simple… but it ain’t easy.” – Mark Will-Weber
- “Getting more exercise isn’t only good for your waistline. It’s a natural anti-depressant, that leaves you in a great mood.” – Auliq Ice
- “Try jogging when following your heart, it’s healthier.” – Benny Bellamacina
- “What I’ve learned from running is that the time to push hard is when you’re hurting like crazy and you want to give up. Success is often just around the corner.” – James Dyson
- “Every run is a work of art, a drawing on each day’s canvas. Some runs are shouts and some runs are whispers. Some runs are eulogies and others celebrations.” – Dagny Scott Barrio
- “After joyfully working each morning, I would leave off around midday to challenge myself to a footrace. Speeding along the sunny paths of the Jardin du Luxembourg, ideas would breed like aphids in my head – for creative invention is easy and sublime when air cycles quickly through the lungs and the body is busy at noble tasks.” – Roman Payne
- “My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She’s ninety-seven now, and we don’t know where the heck she is.” – Ellen DeGeneres
- “An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “If you are in a bad mood go for a walk. If you are still in a bad mood go for another walk.” – Hippocrates
- “The trouble with jogging is that, by the time you realize you’re not in shape for it, it’s too far to walk back.” – Franklin P. Jones
- “Jogging is very beneficial. It’s good for your legs and your feet. It’s also very good for the ground. It makes it feel needed.” – Charles M. Schulz
- “When I go to the Boston Marathon now, I have wet shoulders—women fall into my arms crying. They’re weeping for joy because running has changed their lives. They feel they can do anything.” – Kathrine Switzer
- “When I was little and running on the race track at school, I always stopped and waited for all the other kids so we could run together even though I knew (and everybody else knew) that I could run much faster than all of them!” – JoyBell C.
- “The finest of athletes have, along with skill, a few more essential qualities: to conduct their life with dignity, with integrity, with courage and modesty. All these, are totally compatible with pride, ambition, determination and competitiveness” – Donald Bradman
- “There’s more to marathon day than running long. Learning how your body reacts to the early alarm, light breakfast and warm-up is key. Minimize surprises come race day. Run long the same time of day as the race.” – Gina Greenlee
- “Winning has nothing to do with racing. Most days don’t have races anyway. Winning is about struggle and effort and optimism, and never, ever, ever giving up.” – Amby Burfoot
- “The thoughts that occur to me while I’m running are like clouds in the sky. Clouds of all different sizes. They come and they go, while the sky remains the same sky always. The clouds are mere guests in the sky that pass away and vanish, leaving behind the sky.” – Haruki Murakami
- “Running is alone time that lets my brain unspool the tangles that build up over days…I run, pound it out on the pavement, channel that energy into my legs, and when I’m done with my run, I’m done with it.” – Rob Haneisen
- “I run because I can. When I get tired, I remember those who can’t run, what they would give to have this simple gift I take for granted, and I run harder for them. I know they would do the same for me.” – Unknown
- “Running allows me to set my mind free. Nothing seems impossible. Nothing unattainable.” – Kara Goucher
- “I think I get addicted to the feelings associated with the end of a long run. I love feeling empty, clean, worn out, and sweat-purged. I love that good ache of the muscles that have done me proud.” – Kristin Armstrong
- “A good laugh and a long run are the two best cures for anything.” – Unknown
- “It’s very hard at the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually, you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit.” – George Sheehan
- “Act like a horse. Be dumb. Just run.” – Jumbo Elliot
- “Nothing, not even pain, lasts forever. If I can just keep putting one foot in front of the other, I will eventually get to the end.” – Kim Cowart
- “You have to wonder at times what you’re doing out there. Over the years, I’ve given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.” – Steve Prefontaine
- “Run often. Run long. But never outrun your joy of running.” – Julie Isphording
- “That’s the thing about running: your greatest runs are rarely measured by racing success. They are moments in time when running allows you to see how wonderful your life is.” – Kara Goucher
- “What was the secret, they wanted to know; in a thousand different ways they wanted to know The Secret. And not one of them was prepared, truly prepared, to believe that it had not so much to do with chemicals and zippy mental tricks as with that most unprofound and sometimes heart-rending process of removing, molecule by molecule, the very tough rubber that comprised the bottoms of his training shoes. The Trial of Miles, Miles of Trials. How could they be expected to understand that?” – John L. Parker, Jr.
- “The real purpose of running isn’t to win a race. It’s to test the limits of the human heart.” – Bill Bowerman
