When you don’t want to run

A few months ago I had a period where it was tough to go running, my motivation to go and run had been lacking and just didn’t feel like doing it. So I didn’t. For a month I didn’t run at all. Just couldn’t be bothered. I still volunteered at my local parkrun a couple of times, still searched Facebook and the internet for running related information, and still spent social time with my running friends, just didn’t run. They would all ask me if I was injured and why I wasn’t running. I told the truth, lacking motivation, can’t be bothered. They thought I was weird.

I run because I love to run. I didn’t start running to lose weight or gain fitness in the beginning. I started running because it’s what i have always loved to do since I was a child and have never really stopped. So it is weird for me to tell people I can’t be bothered to go for a run.

During this month I thought about going for a run a few times, my body clock will still wake me up early like a personal running alarm clock. I thought about running but just didn’t want to run. When I woke up in the mornings I drank coffee, or watched television or played Fifa on the xbox instead of running. Although it wasn’t satisfying me doing these things I wasn’t missing running so I didn’t go running.

After a month of no running I could feel myself lose fitness and beginning to put on weight. This didn’t bother me as I knew I could change this quickly when I returned to running. I needed to go running again, I needed to establish a short-term goal, I needed to kick-start my motivation again.

Over the past year I have not run very much in my Gladsoles sandals and preferred using minimal shoes as I have been chasing times and some race results.I have never believed I could run fast enough in race conditions in my sandals so I have run these races in shoes. I decided to put my sandals back on and go for a run. Close to barefoot, back to basics and just go for a run.

It was kind of liberating to run in the sandals again and in two months since that run I haven’t run in shoes. Returning to sandals has helped me regain my motivation. I am now back to running 4-5 times per week exclusively in the sandals. I now can’t wait to put the sandals on and run. A week ago I ran a parkrun in the sandals and ran 18:20 for the 5km (my PB is 17:39), disproving my own theory that I can’t run fast enough in the sandals. Hoping to get down to my PB again soon.

From not running for a month I discovered that I really want to run barefoot or as close to barefoot as I can. I had become unmotivated to go running but I still loved running. It’s helped me choose my path that I want to be a barefoot sandal runner and focus on improving my running in sandals. My marathon PB can wait till I’m ready to achieve it in sandals. I’m going to focus on what I love about running and stay motivated, it took me a month of television and Fifa to rediscover that running is part of my dna and I need to run to satisfy my own self. For now that running won’t be in shoes.