Something I hear a lot and have experienced myself is that running is so boring. I agree that at times it can seem to go on and on. Here are some things I have found keep me occupied on my runs.
#1 Relaxed Thinking Time. I use running time to try and find solutions to things. Sometimes I figure out what the most important thing I need to do on that day are and come up with a plan of action to make sure it gets done. Sometimes I think about different people and what's going on with them. Sometimes I just enjoy the music I am listening to. It all depends on my mood for the day.
#2 Set an Amount of Time to Run (or Destination). If I go out running and do not have either a time or destination decided ahead of time, I cannot motivate myself to run for very long. For some reason, I also struggle when I set only a destination. I run best when I set a certain time for myself. On days when I don't want to go out for a run at all, I might only say 15 or 20 minutes. If I find myself more motivated when I am out running, I can always add more time. If I am still not feeling it, I simply finish my run and am done for the day with only 15 minutes taken out of my day for it. This is especially helpful for long runs where I might set a goal of an hour run because I do a much better job of not starting out too fast and run at a more relaxed pace. I never set a goal of more than an hour - I consider any time over an hour as "bonus" time and feel great when I can get this time in.
#3 Music. Sometimes I just want to get my mind off of everything and these are the runs where I put on my favorite music and simply lose track of time to it. I also put on my favorite 'motivational' song that pumps me up when I am close to home. Then I finish all of my runs strong and feel good about being done. I do this strong finish on 80% of my runs.
Those are my top 3 ways to beat boredom while running. I find that most of running is a mind game. Sometimes when I am tired and not that close to home, I make up little games to help take the focus off being tired. One game I play is changing my speed every 5 steps: very slow, regular, slightly stronger regular, repeat. Depending on how tired I am, I can change the amount of steps for each set of 5, but the purpose is really just to re-focus my mind off of being tired and eventually make it home.
If you have any of your own tips to leave, I'd be happy to hear them. Seeing as this is a new blog, I do not anticipate much of a response, but any suggestions are always welcome!
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