A Running Habit

Running for me is a habit: one that is key to how well I function, how effective I am in the world, and the quality of my relationships.

It is a habit that has been formed over twenty-five years: from a twelve-year old jogging up and down his street in the picturesque Highland village of Carr-bridge, to a thirty-seven year old running a 2.47 marathon in Edinburgh in 2024.

This series of blog posts looks at the benefits of building a running habit, before exploring how to build your own running habit.

Self-Motivation 

Running is a fascinating sport in that the responsibility for success often lies very much on the individual. It requires an act of self-determination to get out there and hit the road, and of course real levels of effort to keep running!

For those wonderful people who have the ability to stick doggedly to any target they set themselves, running can be a great fit. For the mere mortals amongst us, it can be more complicated to get going with a running habit.

Last week’s post was all about starting a running habit slowly. With that slow philosophy in mind, the secret to building a running habit is even simpler this week: set yourself a goal.

The Science of Goals

Goal-setting makes a lot of intuitive sense. Pretty much anything in life is harder if we are just floating aimlessly along, without an end product or goal to work towards.

By setting some a goal we focus our thinking and actions, we have something we can build towards, and something that keeps the momentum up.

These things in running, I would argue, are absolutely essential and help us to track our improvements as we persevere through those initial challenging weeks of training. While I promise this will be the one and only time I use a quote from the motivational speaker Tony Robins in this blog, this one is a good one for runners: “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” 

GOAL Coaching

Alongside running coaching, I am trained up to diploma level in professional coaching. I have been fortunate to work with lots of different people in a coaching capacity, and often use the GOAL model to structure those one-to-one conversations. In short the acronym GOAL stands for:

Goal

Current Reality

Options

Way Forward

What this helps to do is break down the process of goal setting. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of Eleanor Roosevelt’s famous statement: “You must do the things you think you cannot do.” Setting ambitious goals requires this sort of mindset. But it also requires micro thinking: the more challenging process of thinking about how you are going to structure what you do to achieve that goal. A goal on its own, of course, isn’t worth very much.

You can work through the GOAL model yourself when thinking about a goal you want to set yourself with running. The current reality is your current fitness level; options are what you can do to work towards your goal (ie how many times a week would you like to commit to running to; what time of the day can you run etc); the way forward is the more detailed plan of action you are going to commit to.

Going through this process will help you to feel clearer about the kind of running you want to do and what you want to work towards.

Progress to Park Run

One way to help to keep moving your running habit forward is to commit yourself to a distance target or race.

One of the coaching packages I offer is a ‘Progress to Park Run’. For less than the price of three takeaway coffee’s a week (ten pounds a week) I can provide you with a ten – week training schedule and support throughout the ten weeks.

That involves an initial consultation to discuss your goals and training requirements, fortnightly progress discussions, and email/text contact when required.

If you live in the Edinburgh area I can also pace you around the Edinburgh Park Run, in Cramond, at the end of the 10 weeks to celebrate your training achievements!

If that sounds like something you might be interested in, just get in touch by emailing me at jamiethom123@aol.com.

So, if you want to move your running habit to the next level, set a goal today!

Listen: My favourite running podcast ‘Farewell’: How to set better goals 

Read: James Clear ‘Atomatic Habits’