Hi Allyson!
Sorry to be so vanish-y this summer. I'm home now (at least for a while) so I'm here for the big countdown, anyhow!
Back-to-school - good luck with all that shopping. I never buy pants for the kids until it gets cold enough they actually need them. Even so, last year, I believe I ended up buying 2 sizes for my bean-sprout 3rd grader. Very good idea to get everything all pre-prepared before your trip. Cause otherwise, how would they get their Crayolas, right? I'm going to get with the program on that as well! You are setting a good example.
And you know I have had to hold myself back from just leaping right into the running talk, right?
I don't think there is a definite answer for how long it is before people start to love running. If they do at all, I think it is pretty individual. And to some degree, I think it is based on a couple of things. All I can tell you is my experience. I think my enjoyment of running built gradually with several events, but on some level, it is a thing that you have to consciously build and maintain.
I don't know exactly what order these things happened in, but I do think they all contributed to my overall enjoyment of running:
1. Getting to a place where I had an aerobic and muscular base where every run wasn't a matter of PUSHING myself so much. When I realized that I had a pace at which I could run and still recover from a faster pace, or a pace that I could run at for what felt like forever, the elusive "Happy Pace," that made a huge difference. I'm guessing that every runner dislikes some runs - for some it's speed work, repeats, hills, particular weather, that new mile in a distance run, even. But at some point, I found the running that I was able to enjoy. For me, it's the distance and the "happy pace" and if they're combined with good weather or lovely scenery, so much the better.
2. My first race. And my second race. And my third. And.....the prospect of the next race on the horizon. It's not that I ever stand a whole lot of chance of ever winning so much as my age group, but there is something about running in a group of people, something about pulling out the stops, but slowly and consistently over a distance, and something about accomplishing the FINISH line at a given event. The energy from the other people. The energy from myself. The pride in accomplishment. It adds up for me.
3. Call it brainwashing if you want, but I prefer to call it Intentional Positive Association. I celebrate every little victory and let the disappointments go. If I run all the way up a particular hill that I've always had to walk partway, that's cause for celebration! In fact, I think that was part of what worked for me about C25K - every single workout was cause for a mini-mental celebration. A "Way to go, me!" Reading a bunch of the John Bingham books about running really set me on this track - feeling proud of running pretty slowly. It was like a veil had been lifted.
4. This repetitive positive thought and the regular activity has really spilled over into my whole life. When I started running, I started to have the strength not only to celebrate the good things, but to shut down the negative thoughts I used to habitually come up with. I don't know that this is the case with everyone, but for me, the more miles I ran, the happier I felt in the rest of my life, which translated to feeling good about the running. Even when the running doesn't feel so good.
5. The other thing that happened to me at some point was that the ability to zone out during a run actually increased and improved. I was talking to my running friend/mentor about that recently and how that's one of the things that starts to slip when you take a break from running - but I love that ability to sort of zone out and mentally relax. I'm not quite sure when that started to happen, though.
6. Finding the right music helps a lot, too. Sometimes I want a driving techno beat. Sometimes a mellow reggae beat. The right music makes a huge difference to finding the right groove or finding the power to dig deep.
Sorry that your weather has been so rough this summer. I have to admit that part of my happiness with running in all conditions probably has something to do with my gore-tek enhanced running shoes.
Nothing worse than wet feet, IMO! Hope the weather clears up for you soon. And if it doesn't - well, you'll be in Florida soon enough!
But I should. It was raining but it looks like it is clearing. Side note, we have had such a rain, thunderstorm filled summer this year in New England, really crummy actually. Back to running, I guess I'll make this short and go change into my running clothes. I know I'll feel better if I do. *sigh*. Any runners out there? When do you start to love it? I'm going on 8 months and not feeling the
quite yet.
so that is a nice benefit of all this. I'll admit though the real training for the Half looks daunting. I hope I can do it. If I can't finish this race in January and wear that Donald medal I think I will cry.
And my white Ts were looking a little ragged so I got a few new ones. 
and depressed it would be different but I am sure that will not happen.
