Runners are a different sort of folk. We all do certain things we’d rather not admit to but I’m pulling back the veil of secrecy today and spilling the tea! We might even tell you we don’t do these things but guess what we do. So if you’re a runner and you’ve always felt a little ashamed about these things, don’t! Literally every runner out there does these things. And there are A LOT! Because there are so many I broke them up into categories, sort of. Enjoy!
When we don’t want to go for a run
- Over eaten just to have an excuse to stay put
- They’ve blamed missing a run on someone else at least in their head
- Invent a pain when you don’t want to go
- Decided for a whole host of totally logical reasons that tomorrow running will be better
When we’re ‘just’ running
- Skip a walk break when we see a car approaching
- Run faster when you see someone you know
- Take all your water/walk breaks on uphill sections
- Run faster at run club
- Not use the treadmill safety key…
- Check the weather like we’re are getting paid per click
- Join in uninvited on someone else’s run
- Ignore a pain when you want to keep running
- “I can’t eat that right now, I’m going running later”
How we spend our running budget
- No matter how much we spend it’s still cheaper than a gym membership right?
- Buy new shoes when they REALLY don’t need them
- Buy shoes on sale because we will in fact need them eventually
- Spend an obscene amount on gear to get a tiny bit faster
- Sacrifice in other areas to buy new gear (that we don’t need) or do another race
- Feeling low on motivation? Buy some new gear!
When we race
- Do a race because someone else is
- Obsess about race day outfits
- Have lucky race underwear
- Say I just want to have fun when we have VERY specific goals
- There is only one race day breakfast per runner
- We pay money to be this stressed out at dawn
When we’re not running
- Talk about running even if no one is listening
- Gorge yourself on treats reasoning that you ran earlier
- Decide what hour of the day is best for a run on a rest day
- Use at least 30% of our mental capacity for a month planning next year’s race season
When we train
- Turn a speed workout into an easy run in training
- Turn an easy run into a speed workout when we’re feeling it
- Get so bored or tiered you forget long stretches of your long run
- Make a certain run or distance in your plan a big deal even though it’s not
- Get over running before you finish training
- Get jealous of people that don’t have to run 20km today
- Then have a great run and wish your plan would let you run more
- Pre and post long run rituals can spiral out of control
- 5am and/or 11pm seem like reasonable times to start a run
Runners love to say that running is a simple sport but we will also admit it’s at least 80% mental. Is it any wonder then that we end up with some truly weird thoughts and patterns because of it? So no you’re not alone and no this isn’t an exhaustive list either. So if there is something else you do that’s not on here that’s probably normal too! What weird thing are you doing as a runner that everyone else is probably doing too? Leave it in the comments below!
Sweat Sweetly 
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