Running in the Cold: How to Motivate Yourself

I don't know about you, but I find winter running simultaneously the most enjoyable and the hardest. Running in the cold isn't the hard part though. The hard part is motivating yourself to get out the door and start.

When I'm cold (which I almost always am working at home), the idea of going out in the cold does not fill me with joy. Similarly, when I'm warm in bed at 7am, the idea of going out in the cold doesn't have me leaping for the door.

In short, you can't wait for motivation to come. It doesn't come first. Motivation comes when you start.

My Tactic for Cold Weather Running Motivation

To get myself out the door in winter, especially before breakfast, I remind myself of this:

You are not running for the you in this moment.

You're running for your future self. The you in two kilometres time, when you've run enough to get warm (too warm, because you've overdressed, again), when your breathing has settled down and your pace is even, when you've long stopped dithering on your doorstep, when you've reached the good place, y'know, the pretty bit where you wish you'd brought your camera only you can't run with that shit. You're free, free as a bird because you've broken loose, out of your house, your bed, your apathy, your comfort. You are unstoppable and wild and can run without constraint.

You run for the you who stands on the doorstep at the end, sweaty and exhilarated and proud because yet again you've beaten inertia. That old foe.

This is what I tell myself. And this is what I do.

I run in the cold dark of winter and I do it for future me.

She's not prevaricating in loungewear. She's a better, stronger, faster person than I am.