Retaining your Running Mojo

This year I’ve been smashing up the KMs across mutiple races, mainly in the Lake District. But as most people who run races regularly know at some point you start to ask yourself why?…how do you keep up the motivation when all you wanna do is rest and eat?  Well I managed to keep my mojo in check  for a couple of reasons…

STOP THE SLUMP!

Yup, so most of us will have experienced planning, training and then actually doing races. What tends to happen is after the post race euphoria dies down you can just end up losing your running mojo altogether, flopping on the sofa, and questioning why on earth you ever ran anyway. Solution? Preferable whilst you are still in the pub celebrating your victory gallop get online and ENTER ANOTHER RACE IMMEDIATELY! There’s nothing like waking up on the Monday morning with aching legs and dry mouth to that pop up on your phone *CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE SUCCESSFUL REGISTERED FOR THE POLAR MARATHON 2015* (What?! did I actually do that?!)

FIGHT THE CAUSE

Yes, charity fundraising can be (with the best will and intention in the world) a ball ache at the best of times. People can be hard work to get money off. BUT doing your races for charity will give you extra motivation to keep going, will give you further purpose and of course really help the charity of your choice. Choose something close to your heart, and do approach them very often they have fundraising packs and other advice to keep you going.

DA CREW

The biggest help to me not only retaining my RM (running mojo) in 2014, but downright boosting it so much I fear I may have OD on running, was, getting SOCIAL with this running biatch. I started running with a local super friendly club, Chorlton Runners which has this year doubled in size. Why? People are friendly, there’s no elitist nonesense, there’s all sorts in there, and we DRINK ALE AT THE END! Made some lovely new friends and there’s always someone up for a run on the facebook group.
AND : Also for Chris Marsh and Da Fam added me on here for some online interaction also keeping my mojo engaged.

GARMINISE

Running watches! So no, you do not have to fork out hundred of $$$ for a fancy pants runner’s watch, but this year my faithful but glunky Garmin 305 had its face destroyed when I took a tumble on a run. I quickly replaced it with the 310XT because, put simply, running with a watch WILL MOTIVATE YOU! There is nothing more rewarding than looking at your progress over a few months, or looking at your race stats! I did a cartwheel on a managing to run a mile at 6 mins 35 seconds during one race this year!
***but remember do run without it now and again just so you’re not tied to the pace obsession :)

GET SMART

Yes, GOAL setting can really help you keep the RM.
decide
WHAT you want (I want to run a half marathon in Antartica)
WHY you want it (so that I can look back when I’m an old lady and say: shit that was awesome)
WHEN do you want to achieve it by (Oct 2015)
HOW are you going to get it (I’ve entered XXXX race, now I’m going to look at a training programme or better yet get myself a coach)
WHAT are you willing to do to get it (I’m going to train 3 times a week, and I definitely need a couple of trips to Switzerland)

So, it can be pretty easy to get in a slump and lose your mojo…and truth is it will happen to almost all runners. Hopefully though by following a couple or all of the tips above you just might get yourself out of that funk and remember why you fell in love with it in the first place.

Right. Go to the pub now and enter your next race…