Surviving burnout

After hurting myself on a fall during a morning run, hurting my back on the first day of moving and the long drawn out process of moving itself I had very little time for running and had actually reached the point where I dreaded the thought of getting in a run. On top of that when I did run it was a major effort to just get 5 miles in.

I really think that if I hadn’t already registered for Hartford (and paid for plane ticket and hotel) I may have continued to run less and less until I stopped all together. Over the last 3 weeks I have really forced myself to get in the miles and after a good 11 mile run last night I feel that I’m back.

When I got back into running, 4+ years ago, I knew that the only way I would stay with it was to always have the next race scheduled. This was probably the biggest reason why I stopped in 2000, because I had nothing planned and a few days off turned into weeks and months.

I think it’s important to understand your motivation to run. There are some people who just love to run but for the rest of us there needs to be something else. For me it is without a doubt racing. Not that I don’t enjoy running but not enough to spend 6+ hours a week doing it.

I need to get my registration forms sent in for Palm Beach and Disney or before I know it, Hartford will be over and I won’t have a next race.