How to think like a runner?

If you're running, you're a runner. Just keep going and you'll start to believe it.

Also, try following running pages on Facebook. I've flooded my newsfeed with running pages and every morning when I wake up I see all these really motivational posts and it helps me get excited to go for my run.

I just go off at a nice easy pace to let my lungs and heart and body adjust to it and then just zone out! I sometimes think I'm in a big important race and I'm in front of some well know elite athlete. Or I can imagine I'm being watched by some hunky movie star guy! Sometimes music or listening to a talk on my MP3 distracts me too!

Don't think about running a 5k right now. Think about running the next 10 feet, think about the sun on your face, or what you're going to eat when you get home.

I'm on week 8 right now, and when I started it just didn't seem possible. I remember thinking there was no way I could ever run 3 minutes. But I'm up to 28 now and I really look forward to it. I used to eat ice cream in the evening as my stress reliever, now I run and the stress is gone so much faster.

I started C25K in 2009, ran my first half marathon in 2010, my first full this past January and I think I am starting now to feel like a runner. I still have about 20 pounds to lose and when I start "looking" more like a "runner" maybe it will sink in. But if you're running, you're a runner. By the end of week five on C25K, you will start to feel it more. You can do it. I did it, so anyone can. Good luck to you. And congratulations on taking that leap. You should be so proud of yourself. You're lapping all those couch potatoes.

I started c25k January 2012...I have never been a runner, in fact, have always hated it. After starting it and following it for a few weeks, I was hooked. I am now running up to 5 miles.

Just stick with it. Go at your own pace. Don't worry about doing it for anyone but you.

At first it was hard and I hated it. However I looked at it as a challenge and now I love it. If I get bored I change up the area I'm running in or my playlist.

You are what you do. You run. You are a runner! )

You want to keep running? Do things that feed your running like eat quality foods and buy shoes that are appropriate for running and drink plenty of fluids to replace what you've lost. Make time in your day to run and make your daily run a priority. Do these things and you're not just thinking like a runner but you are a runner who's thinking!!!

Here are my recent thoughts (from my running person's head):

(1) gosh - my shoes are worn down again. I better buy a new pair before my knees start hurting. (Seriously. I checked my soles and had this thought 12 hours ago.)
(2) I have loads of work tomorrow so I am going to get up earlier than usual to make sure I can run before the busy day starts.
(3) I am about to run out of oatmeal. I must buy more because if I don't get enough carbs in right after my run I get "animal-monster brain" and start eating random stuff. If I eat random stuff I will be swollen for the following day and me knee will bother me when I run and I will be a slug.
(4) I want to register for a race because I like looking forward to a running goal. Even if I can't do it now, I want a leash tugging me to the finish - I decided I will register for a marathon in May 2014 and a 1/2 in December. I am in no shape to run a full right now but by April I will be in top form if I actually register for the event and get my mind set on it.
(5) I am thinking about where/when I will run when I am on vacation.

And it's worth sharing that the very first thing I do when I move to a new home is hop in the car and "measure" the distances - +1, +2, +3, +4... miles from the house. I make a path and that is my new gym!

You run. You think. You are a runner who thinks like a runner

Everyone has given great advice on here, really read what these people are saying. I did not think I was going to be a runner anymore, I means its been years since I have been able to run nor have wanted to run. Then I got this thought in my head that I might try the C25k app, it looks good and maybe do able. I did not have hope of "REALLY' doing it though. Well now I am at week 5 day 3 coming up. A whole 20 minutes of running, Wow !! If you look at the big picture it can be really intimidating, take it day by day and week by week. Don't think 5k yet, think 90 seconds, think 3 minutes, think quarter mile. Your body will become conditioned to do the workouts and it WILL get easier.

If you play the great tunes, don't watch the time (if you are on a treadmill) and you stay focused and listen to your body, you will find that you will come to love running. Its been an amazing journey and a difficult one at times.

I had been planning on doing my 5k in October and then another one in December, but I have been talked into doing a Half marathon in October and still my 5k a week later and I am looking forward to it. I know its going to be tough and I might not be ready for it, but my goal is to complete it, even if I have to walk some of it. The next goal will be to do better than the last time.

That is how you have to think, you can do this !!

It gets better - it really does.

For me, the first couple minutes of any run are tough - I feel out of breath, and uncoordinated. After 2 - 3 minutes, though, things smooth out, and the run becomes simple. The problem is that, for the first few weeks of C25K, you don't run long enough to get past the "I think I'm dying" feeling of the first few minutes. BUT YOU WILL! You will still feel challenged, but you will also start to relax and not spend every single second of the run thinking about how lousy you feel. I am heading into Week 9 of C25K, and am registered for a 5K on July 4th. Have I run 5K yet? No. But at the end of my week 8 28-minute runs, I knew that I could keep on going if I wanted to (by contrast, at the end of my Week 2 and Week 3 runs, I was d-o-n-e). I'm already toying with the idea of working towards a 10K. So hang in there, tough it out, and know that things will look a lot better in a few weeks.

You are either born to run or you're not.

Hogwash. You can become anything you will yourself to become. The joy in running isn't always immediately apparent. You have to dedicate yourself to discovering the gifts of running. On the surface, running is agony. Beneath the surface, there are special gifts that running offers to those who are patient and determined enough to discover.