Hi Rystalcat!!!

   Do you participate in any races.  Ever since I started running regularly I am always training for my next marathon.  I also run shorter races during my training.  You can pick whatever distance is good for you, plan some events and schedule your runs to train.  I find that if I am always training for a specific goal, I want to go out and complete my runs and I even put forth extra effort to improve during training with the hope it will improve my performance on race day.   We don't have to expect to win any of these races....just meet or exceed our expectations or previous times for the same distance.  Good luck finding your motivation.  It is wonderful to feel so good every day because of the physical condition we can obtain with regular training.

rystalcat,

It's a little hard to answer this question without really knowing your training schedule...however, you should be taking days off each week from running! If you don't you are bound to burn yourself out and find it quite hard to stay motivated, plus your body needs the time off to recover!! I was in a bad routine a couple months ago where I was running 6-7 days a week and the same mileage for each run. I was finding it very hard to stay motivated...advice I got from others on here was to change my routine, and take 2-3 days off from running each week. So after a few weeks of debate I decided to try it out...Wow what a difference!!! I was running 3-4 miles 6-7 days a week, and had basically stopped losing weight. Now I am running 4 days a week...1 day at 10 miles, 1 at 6 miles, 1 at 5 miles, and 1 day at 4 miles=25 miles a week. I started losing weight much faster, and was noticing a big difference in my body appearance! What a difference when you give your body the rest and recovery it needs!! Switch up your mileage a bit, if you are always running the same, and give yourself one long run a week, and the other days work on speed. Being bored or unmotivated with your routine is a very good sign that you need to re-evaluate and switch things up a bit...Plus, it wouldn't be a bad idea, like the others have suggested, to train for an upcoming race. This way you have to continue training in order to be ready to race!! GOOD LUCK!!

KEEP ON RUNNING!!

Carey

I always have a race on the horizon to focus on. It helps me get out there when I really don't feel like it to know that keeping to my training schedule is going to make that race a whole lot more fun. I also keep a training log. It helps me to look back a few months and see that although it doesn't seem like it, I really am getting a tiny bit faster.

When all else fails, buy something new. I gave blood last week, it didn't go 100% well what with the whole breaking out into a sweat, seeing sparklies, and almost fainting. There was an intervention here in the office when I kept insisting that I was going to go running that night anyway because I HAVE A NEW RUNNING VEST. Common sense prevailed, but I went out the next day in said vest even though it was 70 out and it made me really hot.

Besides, shopping helps the economy. I'm just sayin'

The #1 rule in staying motivated is being competetive.

Whether it's with yourself or the neighbor down the street - you must have a goal to surpass a current time or a future race. No goal = no run (at least in my life)

I train for a marathon every quarter or so and I find this will keep me going (even in the snow). While marathons aren't for everyone, I also try to schedule a 1/2 marathon race during my training plan. This keeps me motivated to do speed work and interval work.

Get some races on your schedule and this should help.

Good Luck!