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running through the blah-ness

As you can probably tell from my last post and the ridiculous length of time that has passed since then, I’ve been struggling with motivation.

Apparently, this is not an issue for Cardi B.

The blah-ness is usually at its worst on my long runs, so I’ve had to employ some strategies to keep things interesting. A few ideas that have worked for me:

Podcasts. Until very recently, I never ran with headphones (or earbuds or whatever the hell you want to call them – I’m old) because I was convinced I was going to get abducted and murdered or run over by a hybrid. Then I bought a pair of these guys, which allow me to listen to podcasts while still being able to hear my surroundings. Life-changing!

Current favorite podcasts include “Women Who Travel” (love the interview with Jessica Nabongo, who is currently on track to become the first Black woman to travel to every country in the world), “Work Play Love” (retired pro runner Lauren Fleshman and her pro triathlete husband, Jesse Thomas, talk about motivation in sport, work-life-training balance, and self-acceptance as an athlete – all wonderful, positive topics for a long run), “This Filipino American Life” (the episodes cover so much of what growing up was like for me), and “Game of Thrones” fan theory podcasts (no shame for my inner geek – love me some Bald Move and Binge Mode, but ugh with the way Season 8 went).

Finding new routes. I tend to run the same two routes over and over again, which is incredibly boring and tedious. So I’m trying to mix it up, even if this means simply running one block over from the street I usually run on. It’s a small change, but at least there’s something new to look at. (Side note: You know you’re old when you enjoy checking out people’s yards, taking mental notes about which perennials you should incorporate into your own landscape.)

Spotted these on a recent run. Aren't they pretty?

Signing up for races. I’ve been using local races for my long runs – instead of competitions, I view them as supported long runs where I’m surrounded by people, can practice my nutrition/hydration plan, and not get distracted and spend 20 minutes shooting an Instagram story about a random cat on the sidewalk. I did the Hot Chocolate 15K in April and the Birdtown 13.1 this past weekend and had a great time. No PRs were set (that wasn’t the point), but they were both successful training runs.

Races are also a great way to make friends, dead or otherwise.