Running is funny. You love it when you do it, but sometimes the thought of it sickens us, right? Believe it or not, I used to really like planning in my running. It made it seem like a chore and then run day comes, and I’d procrastinate and just put the run off.
Sound familiar? It’s okay! Fear not, here’s my top tips and thoughts on how to get motivated for running.
Going for a run is all about your mind
We’ve all heard it time and time again. But I’m afraid it’s true. Mind over matter. The hardest part of running, most if not all runners will gladly tell you, is the mental battle. You might build up a run in your head in a certain way that results in you putting it off, all by yourself.
Have you had a hard day, or you’re in a bad mood, or you’re just not feeling it? It’s easy to then find an excuse that looks something like:
- “today’s not the day”
- “I’ll do it next week”
- “I’m too tired”
- “I’m not fast enough”
- “I’m not very good at running”
You might even remember times you’ve not enjoyed your run or training didn’t go to plan. And so you suddenly end up not running that day. So, the trick is to convince yourself, and to not let yourself find a way out… But without realizing it!
How to convince yourself going for a run IS a good idea
Concept of ‘running motivation’
If you google ‘running motivation’, you’ll probably get a few inspiring stories and mostly quotes about how great running is (true), and lots of motivational running music playlists. All are good ideas and ways to get motivated and not procrastinate running.
But let me address something, really plainly. I recently read Atomic Habit by James Clear (highly recommend the book!). And he says this…
Action comes first. Motivation after.
Do you expect to feel the runner’s high adrenaline and endorphins before your run? No, of course you don’t! Because the motivation for running comes more after you’ve done a run, and you look forward to the next one. The action comes first remember.
You have to do something first to get the motivation after.
How to get yourself ready for a run, and not procrastinate
This works more so when you’ve got a planned run because you know it’s coming, and your brain might have had the time to start the procrastination in your own mind. If you’ve spontaneously decided to go for a run, you’ll likely not need this motivation pep talk!
So, let’s say you’ve just finished work and have clocked off for the day. It’s 5pm. How do you spur on some motivation to go for a run? Here’s an Instagram reel where I’ll talk you through the process below!
How to get yourself ready for a run where you’re not motivated
1. Put your running gear on
You’re not likely to be in the mood to run, or be ready to run, if you’re in your comfies or your workwear. So put your running shoes on and whatever you’d wear to go running.
2. Get your music on
Obviously, if you don’t like listening to music, you can skip this one. Or you might like listening to a podcast or an audiobook. But I find running music really helpful to zone into. Get your headphones on and get the sound going.
I bet you’ll now struggle to listen to, or even hear, any thoughts telling you not to run, now you can hear your music…
3. Get straight into stretching
Your music is going, you’re all geared up, and now you’re stretching it out and moving it about a little… Take a couple of minutes maybe to do this. It goes fast once you’ve stretched out fully, and you realised the next song is playing.
How do you feel now? I bet you won’t feel deflated or tired. You might just be a bit more open to at least trying a short run and see how you feel after that… You’ll be surprpised that when you get started, you go further than you thought!
Give yourself a pep talk
If you’re a planner, then you just need to learn (with time and practice like everything!) to schedule it and then do it. It’s tough love, but that really is the crux of it. You do actually have time to go for a run, if you really think about it. You have time to google about running motivation and doom scroll, and watch Netflix… Which means you definitely have time to run…
Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day. Being ‘too busy’ or ‘not having enough time’ are just poor excuses; sorry! But here’s the good bit. Do the hard work. Show up when you don’t want to..
And you will feel happy. You’ll really love yourself even more for that run when you least expected it and you just forced yourself to get up and go.
Running teaches us to deal with procrastination
Running is about pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone. Running is about testing your personal and physical barriers. Running is about learning to tackle your own obstacles. But it’s also about overcoming them. When you get out of your safe little cocoon of comfort, rise up, above and beyond those barriers.. it feels good!
You know all that happiness all you runners feel the buzz from? Add that to the spontaneity factor and you get the ‘feel good’ factor to the absolute max. Even if you have a ‘bad run’ or it’s not as great as you anticipated, you’re still being kinder to your body than those Netflix bingers. Win win!
Here’s a clip from Instagram where I talk about how to find your running motivation..
Written by Katie McDonald, 24th July 2017. Updated 6th April 2025.
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3 comments
Awesome post. I just loved it !!
This post was really helpful! Even though you were talking about running your tips apply to everyday life! 🙂 I used to run all the time in high school because I was in tennis and basketball. University has taken over haha. But this post has motivated me to slowly start getting back into it, it would do me good lol.
Nikki
Thank you for your comment! Absolutely! Sometimes all we need is is a little push, a reminder.. A kick up the bum to succeed! I would love to hear more about how the restart is going? Email me @ lifeofamissfit@gmail.com if you’d like to and I’d love to hear from you!