Everyone who runs has their own reasons I assume. So I'm curious... why do you run? Why did you start running? What motivated you to keep going once you started?
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Why Do You Run?
- Thread starter ExtinctJenn
- Start date
ShookieJones
We need time for things to happen.
Because the police are chasing me.
I started running to lose those stubborn "last 10 pounds". I started with the get running app. Having the runs scheduled really helped to keep me motivated.
I run now because I love it. I love the sense of accomplishment I get after a tough run. I love seeing the sun come up and hearing nothing but the sound of the birds and my own feet and breath. There is nothing that makes me feel more alive than sunshine, fresh air and sweat. Its become part of who I am- I am a runner.
I was I had discovered my passion for running 10 or 15 years ago! I spent most of my youth doing everything in my power to avoid having to run, now I'd be devastated if I couldn't get out there.
LindsayLoves
Well-Known Member
You and me both. I could run for an entire soccer match in high school without feeling any fatigue but put me on a track and have me run a mile and I would peter out a quarter of a mile in. Now I need to get out there or I just feel off.
meyeet
Well-Known Member
This is a great question, one that I've been thinking about for the last few weeks. I enjoyed running when I was younger and could do easy 6+ mile runs a few times a week. Granted I was 18 at the time and had been in year round training for the prior 4 years. After not running for a long time and trying to start again, the 3 mile run I did yesterday really hurt. I'm hoping the joy comes back once I'm out of the initial stage. I'm running now to remain healthy.
I'm planning on running the TOT 5K while we're at WDW next month.
I'm planning on running the TOT 5K while we're at WDW next month.
MKCP 1985
Well-Known Member
I started about five years ago when diet was no longer enough to keep the pounds off - I needed to add exercise. I kept running because a good workout gave me extra energy, provided stress relief and allowed for better sleep.
I find I have to keep running to maintain my pants size. If I ever get to the point where I can lose an inch, that will be real progress!
I find I have to keep running to maintain my pants size. If I ever get to the point where I can lose an inch, that will be real progress!
imagination30
Well-Known Member
the same here , i played soccer in high school . and was silight winded , but no big deal... but i have now worked up to runing 4-8 miles a day now.. , thanks to a friend who pushed me and motivated me to run . and also its great exercise i have lost close to 27 or more pounds just by runing and combined that with weights and other stuff!..
Fievel
RunDisney Addict
I started because the Dr. told me that I could stand to lose a little weight.....I had went to see him because I had a bad sugar crash one night at work and just wanted to make sure I was ok. I chose running because it was the cheapest activity I could quickly start. I knew I wouldn't be serious unless I had a program and a goal. I started a couch to 5k series and then registered for a 5 mile race a few months later. After finishing my first race it quickly became a question of "what's next?". I didn't think a half marathon was attainable, but kept pushing myself until I realized that it really was within my reach. I originally registered for the Inaugural Wine and Dine 1/2 Marathon, but my wife got pregnant with our 2nd child. That led to the now annual trip in January, where i finally realized that goal. Once I crossed the finish line for the 1st time, I was hooked. There was no turning back. I now feed off that emotion like a drug.....it pushes me and drives me to attain more.
The happy other side is that I'm healthier and happier than I've ever been. I know that I'll be a long time for my family, and I'm starting to see my daughter make healthy choices in her life as well.
It has been one of the greatest blessings in my life.
The happy other side is that I'm healthier and happier than I've ever been. I know that I'll be a long time for my family, and I'm starting to see my daughter make healthy choices in her life as well.
It has been one of the greatest blessings in my life.
Kristia
Well-Known Member
I started running because I read a trip report from @HollyBelle about running the Disney Marathon. I thought that sounded like something I wanted to do. I told my husband and he made me stick to it! While training, I did my first 5k, then a 5 mile, then a few more 5ks and finally the marathon. Each time I finished a race, I felt so good and felt like I really accomplished something. I never felt that way about any exercise before. I was hooked. Now I run to feel good, continue to lose some more poundage and to continue to race at Disney along with some other great races I have had the pleasure of running. I have never stuck with any kind of fitness routine like I have stuck with running!
and to continue to race at Disney along with some other great races I have had the pleasure of running. I have never stuck with any kind of fitness routine like I have stuck with running!
dreamfinder
Well-Known Member
Started running because I got ed off one night at a hotel. Instead of doing something stupid I hopped on the treadmill for a while. No idea why as I always hated running. But it felt good. So I decided to keep it up. Set my sights on being able to do the WDW marathon the following year, and it just snowballed from there.
I still run because my body misses it if I don't. I like the satisfaction I get out of occasionally getting medals and stuff at smaller local 5k races. I have no one to blame but myself if I screw up or fail miserably unlike team sports where it can always be someone else's fault. There are days when I hate it, and days where I don't want to do it, but a few miles in I almost always feel better. And it gives my DW some time at home without me cluttering up the house causing chaos. ; )
I still run because my body misses it if I don't. I like the satisfaction I get out of occasionally getting medals and stuff at smaller local 5k races. I have no one to blame but myself if I screw up or fail miserably unlike team sports where it can always be someone else's fault. There are days when I hate it, and days where I don't want to do it, but a few miles in I almost always feel better. And it gives my DW some time at home without me cluttering up the house causing chaos. ; )
JillC LI
Well-Known Member
I've posted this before, but I can't figure out how to link to it, so I cut and paste:
Why do I run? There are so many reasons. In no particular order:
1 - It keeps me healthy and fit.
2 - It enables me to eat as much junk food as I do! LOL
3 - It's "me time" away from the kids, my job, everything.
4 - My thoughts flow in a way that they just don't during structured time. I find resolutions to problems, come up with ideas, etc.
5 - It's a huge stress reliever. I can take off on a run feeling stressed or angry or frustrated about something, and when I return, it has all washed away.
6 - It gives me more patience to take care of my kids.
7 - When I listen to my iPod while running, nobody tells me to "turn off that country music crap!" LOL
8 - It sets a good example for my kids to keep healthy and make exercise a part of their life.
9 - Running is a sport that I can do anywhere and a way to see the world differently. I've had some amazing runs in other states and countries.
10 - Running is something that does not come naturally or easy to me, so when I complete a particularly hard workout or set a PR, I feel a sense of enormous pride for knowing that I stuck with it and succeeded.
11 - Endorphin high! No matter how badly I may prefer to stay in bed at 5:30am than get up and run in some crappy weather, I have learned that I will feel so good when I return (maybe not during the run but definitely after it) that it will be worth it. And it ALWAYS is.
1 - It keeps me healthy and fit.
2 - It enables me to eat as much junk food as I do! LOL
3 - It's "me time" away from the kids, my job, everything.
4 - My thoughts flow in a way that they just don't during structured time. I find resolutions to problems, come up with ideas, etc.
5 - It's a huge stress reliever. I can take off on a run feeling stressed or angry or frustrated about something, and when I return, it has all washed away.
6 - It gives me more patience to take care of my kids.
7 - When I listen to my iPod while running, nobody tells me to "turn off that country music crap!" LOL
8 - It sets a good example for my kids to keep healthy and make exercise a part of their life.
9 - Running is a sport that I can do anywhere and a way to see the world differently. I've had some amazing runs in other states and countries.
10 - Running is something that does not come naturally or easy to me, so when I complete a particularly hard workout or set a PR, I feel a sense of enormous pride for knowing that I stuck with it and succeeded.
11 - Endorphin high! No matter how badly I may prefer to stay in bed at 5:30am than get up and run in some crappy weather, I have learned that I will feel so good when I return (maybe not during the run but definitely after it) that it will be worth it. And it ALWAYS is.
Fievel
RunDisney Addict
This is part of it...proving people wrong....I was a smaller, scrawny kid growing up and never participated in sports. In 7th grade I was hit by a car, and was in a wheelchair for 6 months. When I crossed the finish line of the 2011 WDW 1/2 Marathon, I felt like I excised those demons that continued to nag at me...putting doubt in my head.
I still use that feeling as a driving force....but now it's about hammering the point home to everybody who has any doubt left.
What a great idea for a thread, @ExtinctJenn!
I started running becuase my workplace was entering a team in a local corporate 5K "fun run/walk" and one of my colleagues signed me up for it! I work for a sports company, and am ten years older than most of my co-workers, and I didn't want to be the "old lady who had to walk it", so I downloaded a C25K app and started training, five weeks prior to the 5K.
That was just a few months ago, and last weekend I ran my second 5K, and I'm registered for the Happy Haunted 5K at WDW next month. I don't get to run as often as I should in order to become "a runner", but I realize that it's good for me as a supplement to my usual weight training, and I think I prefer it to the jumping around of aerobics. It's also useful to beat back decrepitude as I get older. LOL
I started running becuase my workplace was entering a team in a local corporate 5K "fun run/walk" and one of my colleagues signed me up for it! I work for a sports company, and am ten years older than most of my co-workers, and I didn't want to be the "old lady who had to walk it", so I downloaded a C25K app and started training, five weeks prior to the 5K.
That was just a few months ago, and last weekend I ran my second 5K, and I'm registered for the Happy Haunted 5K at WDW next month. I don't get to run as often as I should in order to become "a runner", but I realize that it's good for me as a supplement to my usual weight training, and I think I prefer it to the jumping around of aerobics. It's also useful to beat back decrepitude as I get older. LOL
Kristia
Well-Known Member
Decrepitude!!!What a great idea for a thread, @ExtinctJenn!
I started running becuase my workplace was entering a team in a local corporate 5K "fun run/walk" and one of my colleagues signed me up for it! I work for a sports company, and am ten years older than most of my co-workers, and I didn't want to be the "old lady who had to walk it", so I downloaded a C25K app and started training, five weeks prior to the 5K.
That was just a few months ago, and last weekend I ran my second 5K, and I'm registered for the Happy Haunted 5K at WDW next month. I don't get to run as often as I should in order to become "a runner", but I realize that it's good for me as a supplement to my usual weight training, and I think I prefer it to the jumping around of aerobics. It's also useful to beat back decrepitude as I get older. LOL
Love that term! I am fighting decrepitude as well!
sweetpee_1993
Well-Known Member
I lack consistancy so a lot of the time I refer to myself as a wishful runner. Running is in no way fun for me. The majority of the year it's so frickin' hot & humid out it's like a cat & mouse game trying to find ways to beat the heat so I don't hurt myself. Heat sickness is no fun. Running and getting hot makes me swell up and I'm uncomfortable. My hands & feet especially feel tight. Sometimes I wonder why the heck I fight to still run when every part of my body screams at me to knock it off. I'm stubborn. What can I say? My body says no but the brain says do it or die trying. For all the misery that the runs themselves truly are, the feeling that I have after every run is exponentially more powerful. Just knowing that I didn't give up or give in is all I need to get me back out for the next run.
Of course the vain girly in me wants to make every effort to stay trim & still fit in my cute clothes. But running is so much more than that. Yesterday while doing laundry I was watching a show on tv about celebs who were bullied as kids. Mike Tyson was rather surprising as was Jillian Michaels. I loved what Jillian had to say. I really did identify with her perspective. I was picked on as a kid and always had a very low self-esteem for a multitude of reasons. She explained the correlation she has with staying fit and how that, to her, is how she overcomes that helpless kid she once was every day. Staying fit IS incredibly empowering. The feeling of being strong physically and the sense of accomplishment truly is the biggest force in why I still fight to run. It's a tool that helps me overcome the insecurities every time I go out there.
I remember my first real run when I was in 9th grade PE. Oh how that was a miserable time for me. One fall morning all the girls were brought out to the track and told we had to run 4 laps. The herd of girls started running, me included. It wasn't long before other girls around me started dropping off to a walk, out of breath. My legs hurt so bad. My chest was killin' me. I was fighting to keep my breath but as each of those girls dropped off I was that much more determined to not stop because, for once, I felt like I was excelling. I felt like I was stronger than them. I'd say about halfway thru the run I started this mental game, "Okay, Kelly. 10 more steps. 10 more and we'll stop." But I'd do those 10 and feel like I should go 10 more. So I ran 1/2 a mile 10 steps at a time. I never stopped which was something I'd never done before. At the end I felt like I was Super Woman! It was incredibly empowering and truly stands out to me at that time in my life. Of course I didn't get involved in track (I was allergic to school & any activity that pertained to it) at that time. I don't think I ran again until I was in college & running the school's nature trail with my friends to oogle the cute baseball players who also ran there. ((I'm a sad little case, huh?)) But that day when I was 14 really stands out to me now in the sea of fogginess from that time in my life. It's when I first felt the happy that comes after a run. And, to this day, even after I've completed whatever the 'Ease into 5k' app has in store for me I'll push myself to run a little more because it's never enough for me to do what the schedule says. I have to do more because I want to be more.
My mother has always been a very sickly person, always with something wrong with her for as long as I can remember. She's entirely too young to have the problems she does. Hello! Bypass surgery at 50 years old! That's insane! For a very long time I have been aware that her quality of life is not what I would want for myself. This is another driving force in working out. It hurts but it's not unbearable. If a little suffering keeps me from being like her then I'll do it. I know it sounds cold and not very nice to say it that way but I have always been very afraid of being like her. I've actually discussed that with her and she assured me I've already shown that I'm not simply because by the time she was my age (38) she had already had.... ((rattle the list of ailments, surgeries, etc.)) Then earlier this year while visiting my folks in Alabama I returned from a run at the college nature trail and found Mom sitting outside on the front porch having some coffee. I sat down to drink my bottle of water when she looked over at me with this weird expression and said, "It's hard for me to believe a person could be so determined to do something that they would put themselves thru what you do. I really admire you. I wish I was more like you." Um, yeah. 'Nuff said.
If you need me this evening at dusk I'll be out on the trail round the pond behind the complex we moved to. I'll be the one out there huffin' 'n puffin' like death is upon her...
Of course the vain girly in me wants to make every effort to stay trim & still fit in my cute clothes. But running is so much more than that. Yesterday while doing laundry I was watching a show on tv about celebs who were bullied as kids. Mike Tyson was rather surprising as was Jillian Michaels. I loved what Jillian had to say. I really did identify with her perspective. I was picked on as a kid and always had a very low self-esteem for a multitude of reasons. She explained the correlation she has with staying fit and how that, to her, is how she overcomes that helpless kid she once was every day. Staying fit IS incredibly empowering. The feeling of being strong physically and the sense of accomplishment truly is the biggest force in why I still fight to run. It's a tool that helps me overcome the insecurities every time I go out there.
I remember my first real run when I was in 9th grade PE. Oh how that was a miserable time for me. One fall morning all the girls were brought out to the track and told we had to run 4 laps. The herd of girls started running, me included. It wasn't long before other girls around me started dropping off to a walk, out of breath. My legs hurt so bad. My chest was killin' me. I was fighting to keep my breath but as each of those girls dropped off I was that much more determined to not stop because, for once, I felt like I was excelling. I felt like I was stronger than them. I'd say about halfway thru the run I started this mental game, "Okay, Kelly. 10 more steps. 10 more and we'll stop." But I'd do those 10 and feel like I should go 10 more. So I ran 1/2 a mile 10 steps at a time. I never stopped which was something I'd never done before. At the end I felt like I was Super Woman! It was incredibly empowering and truly stands out to me at that time in my life. Of course I didn't get involved in track (I was allergic to school & any activity that pertained to it) at that time. I don't think I ran again until I was in college & running the school's nature trail with my friends to oogle the cute baseball players who also ran there. ((I'm a sad little case, huh?)) But that day when I was 14 really stands out to me now in the sea of fogginess from that time in my life. It's when I first felt the happy that comes after a run. And, to this day, even after I've completed whatever the 'Ease into 5k' app has in store for me I'll push myself to run a little more because it's never enough for me to do what the schedule says. I have to do more because I want to be more.
My mother has always been a very sickly person, always with something wrong with her for as long as I can remember. She's entirely too young to have the problems she does. Hello! Bypass surgery at 50 years old! That's insane! For a very long time I have been aware that her quality of life is not what I would want for myself. This is another driving force in working out. It hurts but it's not unbearable. If a little suffering keeps me from being like her then I'll do it. I know it sounds cold and not very nice to say it that way but I have always been very afraid of being like her. I've actually discussed that with her and she assured me I've already shown that I'm not simply because by the time she was my age (38) she had already had.... ((rattle the list of ailments, surgeries, etc.)) Then earlier this year while visiting my folks in Alabama I returned from a run at the college nature trail and found Mom sitting outside on the front porch having some coffee. I sat down to drink my bottle of water when she looked over at me with this weird expression and said, "It's hard for me to believe a person could be so determined to do something that they would put themselves thru what you do. I really admire you. I wish I was more like you." Um, yeah. 'Nuff said.
If you need me this evening at dusk I'll be out on the trail round the pond behind the complex we moved to. I'll be the one out there huffin' 'n puffin' like death is upon her...
Joshua&CalebDad
Well-Known Member
I have always wanted to be a runner and even more so to complete a half marathon and full marathon at WDW. It doesn't help that I always enjoy reading the Marathon and Half Marathon trip reports. BUt more so I have been wanting to lose weight and get back down to what I was when I got married. Lean and mean.
In the fall, since I was a student completing my undergrad degree, I had the ability to use the fitness complex at my local University. This was the start of my training. At the start I was lucky to run for a total of 5 minutes, by the end of the semester I was able to complete a 3 mile run in 30 minutes.
When school ended in the fall I took the whole month of December off, not a good thing. Then at the beginning of January my wife asked me to join her in the running program at our church, I agreed and the training started again. At the end of the program, in late spring, my wife and I completed our first 5k, which I completed in 28 minutes.
Since then I have been running on and off again during the summer and just recently got consistent again. This upcoming weekend I have another race which will includes running, mountain biking, and canoing. The day after that the training program at our church will start up again. This time I'll start training for an 8k, which is 5 miles.
My goal is to keep upping the ante every Fall and Spring with the hope of completing some sort of long distance run by the end of 2013. It hasn't been easy rolling out of bed at 5 am to complete my runs before work but by the time I'm done I always feel good and I can say that I did it.
Whatever you do, set a goal and keep at it until you complete, then re-eavluate and set you next goal whether it be a longer distance, faster distance, or more consistent runs. Good luck.
In the fall, since I was a student completing my undergrad degree, I had the ability to use the fitness complex at my local University. This was the start of my training. At the start I was lucky to run for a total of 5 minutes, by the end of the semester I was able to complete a 3 mile run in 30 minutes.
When school ended in the fall I took the whole month of December off, not a good thing. Then at the beginning of January my wife asked me to join her in the running program at our church, I agreed and the training started again. At the end of the program, in late spring, my wife and I completed our first 5k, which I completed in 28 minutes.
Since then I have been running on and off again during the summer and just recently got consistent again. This upcoming weekend I have another race which will includes running, mountain biking, and canoing. The day after that the training program at our church will start up again. This time I'll start training for an 8k, which is 5 miles.
My goal is to keep upping the ante every Fall and Spring with the hope of completing some sort of long distance run by the end of 2013. It hasn't been easy rolling out of bed at 5 am to complete my runs before work but by the time I'm done I always feel good and I can say that I did it.
Whatever you do, set a goal and keep at it until you complete, then re-eavluate and set you next goal whether it be a longer distance, faster distance, or more consistent runs. Good luck.