Occupying your mind on a run
One of my least favorite things is when I go for a run and it feels like it takes forever just to finish. I always start my runs so motivated and then by the end I am dreading every step, just counting down the tenths of each mile until I’ve hit my mileage for the day. So if you ever find yourself struggling with the same “I can’t wait until this is over” feeling, I’ve written some of my favorite things to do on runs to help them fly by, no matter how long they may be.
Of course my absolute favorite thing to do on runs is talk to friends. I have found that If I catch myself deep in a conversation about something that sparks my interest, I completely lose track of how far I’ve gone - in the best way possible.
Another thing my friends/teammates and I like to do is play a game where one person starts a sentence with a few words and each person has to add a few words to the sentence until we’ve told a whole story. If you’re not much of a story-teller on runs, we also like to ask each other questions that everyone has to answer. Some of my favorites are “What is your favorite place you’ve ever traveled to?” and “What is the scariest thing you’ve ever done?”. These inevitably spark fun and crazy conversations.
If you don’t have a group of people to run with, no worries! I have found plenty of things to keep my mind busy when running alone. Listening to music is always a great go-to, but another thing that keeps my mind distracted is podcasts. There are so many amazing running podcasts out there (The Running For Real podcast, Run to the Top, Ten Junk Miles, Terra Running’s own Terra Girls Podcast, and MANY more) but one of my favorite podcasts is actually Crime Junkie!
Some other things you can do to help your run fly by are visit new neighborhoods or tails, set aside something after the run that you can look forward to, and don’t look at your watch! I have found this to be one of my biggest problems on those long days. I fall into the trap of checking my watch a few times each mile which makes things drag on forever. But when I only look at my watch when I hit each mile, it helps tremendously.
My last two suggestions are to try to stop as few times as possible and break the run up into smaller chunks. I have had long runs where I stop 5+ times just because I am tired, crossing a street, using the restroom, or some other reason I justified in my mind to stop for a break. But I’ve always regretted stopping so many times because first, what you get out of a run just isn’t the same when you stop numerous times, and second, it adds SO much time onto a run! As tempting as it may be to stop, the fewer times you do so, the faster you finish! I have also found it helpful to break the run up into smaller chunks; four 15 minute sections seems much less intimidating than a 60 minute run. Find out what works best for you to keep your mind happy on those long days and you’ll enjoy running more every day!