Just for Fun

I ran twice this week.

I’ve only gotten out once a week for a month now. It’s weird, because, I love getting outside, being in the woods and trying to move quickly through varied terrain. I love breathing heavy, stomping through puddles and flying downhill. To put it simply, running is fun.

Since February, I've been training for some races. Racing is fun, but I do it more for the challenge. Can I adapt well enough to handle this race? While running is fun, training for a race is tough. It requires all out speed work, weekly milage goals, a lot of hill repeats and long runs that last hours. A strict training schedule keeps you going when you don’t feel like it. You have an end goal to help you make better choices with training, sleep and nutrition.

I anticipated my races being canceled, and I even anticipated my motivation dropping off afterwards. What I didn’t expect was that my desire to run would completely disappear. I had relied so much on motivation from those races that I forgot why I ran in the first place, because it’s fun.

I ditched having a plan and decided I just needed to get back to it on Monday. It was pouring rain, kind of cold and windy. I thought if I got a run in under these circumstances and had fun, it would build momentum for the week. I removed expectations and just got out there for fun, like I used to.

I got back to the trailhead and got in my truck. I was soaked, breathing hard and my shoes were filled with water. I really missed that, I thought. I wasn’t referencing running, but instead, running just to run. It was the reminder that I needed to have fun. To not stew on circumstances out of my control and to be okay with doing something just for the sake of doing it. 

If you’re feeling like you have no motivation, that’s completely understandable. We’re all dealing with the unknown. This weekend, do something just for fun, not for the sake of training or fitness or health, but just because you want to do it.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain