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What drives you????

OOnegative

What drives you as a runner:

- self improvement?
- competitive spirit?
- weight loss?
- mental health?
- other?

Interested in what drives fellow runners to get out and put the hard miles in? Myself it’s self improvement mostly with a little mental health added in.

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shotgunmcos

Because we are born to do it and I feel blessed that I can
Because it can be pure zen
Because it prevents me getting fat
Because it brings out the explorer in me
Because it can be pure joy
Because flipping tyres is harder

average_runner

It gets me out in the open to enjoy the fresh air and getting fit from it is a bonus Also setting a good example to our kids

IvoryTower

The feeling of being strong and fit has always come first for me. Then I want to be stronger, fitter, more stronger, more fitter, oh look a pb, lets keep getting stronger, get fitter, oh look another pb, this is fun, oh 3rd place, i could get 1st one day, keep getting stronger and fitter, lets see where this can go! I love knowing I can run up the stairs without thinking and without being out of breath, I can wrestle with my son and throw him around the place without breaking a sweat. Cant walk anymore? up on the shoulders there son I got this! Feels good man.

AhhHere

Getting out to nature. Doing something so simple and primal, it's in our genetic makeup. You run and all the worries of the world fade away. Not every run is 10/10 but the ones that are are so, so worth it. Nothing makes me feel more like a kid than running.

It's bliss.

Duanington

All of the above really ( except weight loss!)
I'd also add in the social side of things, its nice just to jog and chat - I think I underappreciated just how big a deal this was when I finished up playing team sports.

HelenAnne

Pure enjoyment. I just loved the feeling of being outside running since the very first time I ventured out.

Enjoyment is what prompts me to run / to be a runner.
Improvement and enjoying competition are what drive me to train harder, do specific types of runs.

Zebra3

Feel so good putting in so many miles each week.

The challenge of getting a new Pb every so often, running marathons in different cities.

Helps me deal with shift work too.

Swashbuckler

So many reasons;

Always been sporty and it was a natural substitute to my multi ankle twist enforced retirement from football.

A great sport where there's a competitive element to it in terms of competing with others but a lot of the time competing with yourself.

The type of sport that brings together people of all levels. I appreciate seeing a mother of six getting out for her morning weekend long run just as much as seeing the local 31min 10k lad bombing down the road.

That feeling of achievement after a tough week of training especially that feeling at the end of the long run or especially the dead legged feeling when you eventually relax after a race.

Mental health - those happy endorphins are lovely.

Race day - such a great buzz. In particular afterwards when everyone is standing around the hall devouring sandwiches. That nervous energy at the start is addictive too.

Free time on my own to gather my thoughts.

Many more. I could be here all day.

skyblue46

Hmmm.....good thread B. I think I buck the trend of endorphin driven, just happy to be running replies. Initially I started doing a bit of running because my then new partner was a runner and I wanted to do something that she did. Since then it has changed. I run and train for one reason....I'm ridiculously competitive! I feel like the guy on a treadmill that's programmed too fast, trying my damndest to stay on before it spits me off in an ungainly heap!

Initially as the oldest member of the 2017 novices group I trained not to be disgraced....after that I trained to delay the point where all these younger folk eventually passed me out. Now as they all increase their training I train to try to keep in touch. As time passes it will be about some age grade goals over the next few years. I've already noted that only 4 men in the M55 category ran sub 3 in DCM 18 and only 10 in Chicago....these are targets that could wake me up. At the moment I'm lacking a bit of drive.

OOnegative

skyblue46 wrote: »

At the moment I'm lacking a bit of drive.

Hear ya on this one S, i’m about as driven as an drunken Irishman to stay sober on St Patrick’s Day........

coogy

What drives me? Well, I definitely share skyblue's competitiveness. That's something I've always had in me, but before now, I've rarely found an outlet to display it.

It's a question I often ask myself when I'm out running but to which I rarely find a satisfactory answer.

To sum it up, I am as happy running as I am unhappy when I'm not. That's really what drives me.

denis b

For me it started out with keeping fit for other activities and then as those opportunities lessened with family and life it then morphed into something new. Weight management - yes, initially. And then the feel good factor from running kicked in and I can remember a number of years ago quickly experiencing how good it felt to have the strength to move confidently and easily over greater distances. That spurred me on to take on challenges that I could never really have imagined earlier in my adult life.

So I think the drive for me is relatively low key. The push from experience, confidence and awareness and the pull from ambition for achievement - all relative of course. Yes, I suppose there is a realisation there that this will not be possible for ever so do it now, make it count and enjoy it.

Nice topic B.

Sorry about that

Not running (due to injury or illness), is the biggest drive for me. I become irritable, agitated and I think, a bit depressed. Not running is torture.

And a cake habit too I suppose.

Itziger

It's a very good question alright. I'm not really sure anymore. Started off as weight loss and improving health. That worked! Then I got kinda competitive, not exactly winning races like but some half decent age related times. After a couple of years I thought I had plateaued (I distinctly remember 3 Half marathons all within 20 seconds, maybe even 10!! 1.28.04 to 1.27.54) But then I pushed on again and even though I know the peak can't be far off - heck, it may be behind me - I also know I have a massive base now of endurance and knowledge of my body and its limits.

I also find I'm definitely frustrated and irritable when I'm injured.

rainbow kirby

It's just part of my life at this stage. I run - it's what I do. It keeps me sane in spite of the demands of a full time job and mothering two energetic toddlers.

I'm much slower than my best right now but that's life. There will be better times in the future.

Guill

After years of smoking and drinking and being what I call a "serial Hobbiest" I finally found something that I can do with other people but only have to compete against myself.
In the last year I've lost the guts of 3 stone and hit 20mins on a 5k and 1:40 on a 1/2 marathon which I still find unbelievable. These were never times I thought I'd achieve.
I look good, I feel great and the social aspect cannot be underestimated. After a while the runners at the local races become familiar, then friends, then targets

Dealerz2.0

The positive self improvement feelings from each run and 3:59:59!

bob.k

Ive only recently started road running specifically for weight loss and for an improvement in my mental health, how long was it before you guys felt "lighter" and became addicted in so much that you craved the high and felt bad for not getting a run in?

A month or maybe 2 months in??

Swashbuckler

bob.k wrote:

Ive only recently started road running specifically for weight loss and for an improvement in my mental health, how long was it before you guys felt "lighter" and became addicted in so much that you craved the high and felt bad for not getting a run in?

10 years

AuldManKing

What drives me?

A great question to ponder.

You know when you are in work and are really busy, but you want to take a few mins to check out an article on tempo's and before you know it its 5pm.
Or when you used to sneak out for a run without telling your family because they think your obsessed.
Or when you have to hide while you are doing your Boards updates to your virtual friends - seriously, I think at times my wife would rather I be surfing something more unsavoury

Or when your virtual friends on Boards are actually some of your great friends who would probably do anything to help you & vice versa.
Or when you are running on your own at a pace thats faster than normal and you feel in the zone and can run forever.

I don't really know what drives me to do these things - the end result is running, if I couldn't race at the level I am now, I'd still run/race at a different level - If I couldn't do that, I'd still run.

So I don't think its the social thing, or the competitive thing - they add to it in a big way - I dont know what it is - all I know is that I love doing it and will continue to run til I cant.

crisco10

I don't really know either.

I just know that whenever I have not gone running for a while (courtesy of life etc - Injury is a bit different) , I feel a heaviness of sorts. Its all mental for me, keeps a clear head, gives me some me time and I've had some of my best ideas for life/work/college while out pounding pavement.
Physically I'd get me kicks elsewhere but i feel like running has a meditative effect and that's what drives me to keep getting out.

Competition doesn't drive me, I enjoy it and have goals but I would happily do "junk" miles forever too.

rm75

Originally it was a release valve during a difficult period in my life, then it was a social thing as a member of a club, then it was competitive fun chasing Sub 3. Motivation is not what it was since that box was ticked and not a club member since moving, so i;m not sure anymore !! I need to find some new driver.

Murph_D

Why do we run? Such a big question.

I originally took it up to help me not think of smoking. That’s a while ago now - 8 years, long enough ago to be revisionist about it. It helps sometimes to remind myself that’s what it was all about: to create a new habit, to stick with it while it was new and alien and easy to reject, and then when it had become the norm, to try to take it somewhere else.

For me, the eureka moment, the point of no return, was the first race. Won’t ever forget the buzz of the event, and the realization that this was a sport that offered more than just a way to meet immediate general fitness needs. In time, it offered up a number of wholly different avenues (recreation, sport, competition); different varieties (road, track, trail, cross country); different training methods. It opened up a way to meet lots of interesting new people - an unexpected bonus at a time of life when a lot of people think their friendship circle was probably already complete - how wrong I was about that!

What drives me now is the desire to enjoy as much of these experiences as possible, while relatively able and while there is still time. While the period of rapid improvement is gone, and the performances started to plateau some time ago, I know there are still things I can do to get better (more miles, smarter training, better lifestyle choices). I came to the table very late, but I can keep this going for a few more years, and I know I can still get better - at marathon, at 800m, and everything in between. That’s the driver now - desire for improvement, through living better, training better, racing better, building on experience and on the advice of trusted others. And having a bit of fun along the way with like-minded people.