I've only been running since July and I do find trouble with motivation at times but I thought I'd share this with all of you who struggle for motivation now and again...
This morning I was away on a business trip at a hotel in Scotland. I hadn't been out for a week and the legs were a bit heavy. Despite the chill, I decided to go for a run. I chose the uphill direction at the end of the hotel drive. The road went round a bend and out of site, so it wasn't long before I realised that it went up hill for a long way!
It was a hell of a slog and I had to take walk breaks, stop and stretch etc. Just to the next turn, I thought. I was struggling, the wind caught me face on as I rounded next bend but I decided to try to get to the top of the hill and see if there was a view into the next valley.
After ten minutes or so, I disturbed a deer in the woods, which took my mind off the work for a while.
Finally, I got to the top of the hill just as the sun reached the top of the one on my left. No next valley, just a flat hilltop and a small wood.
I turned for home and there, spread out before me was the beautful valley I'd run out from, mist hanging in the hollows, fields turning golden in the sunrise.
I came back down that hill like I was a kid, running for the sheer joy of moving, bursting flocks of crows out of their roosts as I went under them, arriving back at the hotel in 13 minutes, having taken 20 to get to the top, and feeling great.
Now I remember why I go running!