“Just til the end of this song.”
“Okay, I can make it til the end of the mile.”
“Run another 5 minutes and see how you feel.”
“Well there’s no sense in walking the whole way back so I may as well run it.”

I wonder, does this self-talk happen to all runners? Am I the only one who finds the first portion of a run difficult? Does that feeling of “this is too hard” and “I should just stop” ever completely go away? Do I feel this way because I didn’t start running until my forties?

There are all kinds of challenges I give myself to keep me focused and running for the time or distance I set out to do. I don’t know what it is but the first 2 miles are always difficult for me, I have to talk myself into persevering. The first summer I ran, I used the head games to keep me motivated every minute. Now, I still use them but have to call on them less often.

Eventually, the adrenaline kicks in and the run becomes easy. I actually have to talk myself into stopping, which becomes a head game the next run. “You know if you stick with it, you’ll be happy you did.”

And you know what? I’m always very happy!