Running can be fun if you find the right way to exercise

We have learned how to dress, how to warm up, how to adjust our posture when running, and we also understand how to solve the difficult and complicated problems we may encounter when running; but how can we maintain our passion for running?

"I was very excited to run for the first few days, but I got bored of it all of a sudden..."

"Running is so boring. I can't do anything except listening to music..."

"Because I don't have friends to run with me, I run less and less..."

If you encounter the above situation, please try the solution that this unit will tell you; you will find that running is not a boring sport, it can also be very fun.

Method 1: "Travel Running" - Running for traveling, traveling for running

I am a person who loves traveling. I like traveling with friends, but I like traveling alone even more. But if I go to a place just to eat and shop, don’t I feel like something is missing? In the past, when I went out for fun, I would follow the guide in a travel book, visit the attractions that everyone knows about, and eat the food that tourists must eat...

But since I put "marathon road running" on my schedule, I have found a new way to get to know a city. Road running has also made me more interested in places that I was not familiar with. For example, I have never thought of visiting Nagoya, Japan before. If it weren't for the marathon, I might have missed the most delicious eel rice I have ever eaten in my life!

For us amateur runners, road running should be an easy and stress-free experience. Adding running to travel life also allows runners to use their feet to get to know a familiar place again. You may have been to Tokyo, visited Tsukiji Market, or even the Tokyo Skytree, but have you ever experienced the grand and joyful atmosphere of the Tokyo Marathon? "Running for traveling and traveling for running" is definitely a good way to improve the quality of travel and keep yourself running.

Did you know that during the Bordeaux wine season every year, the Medoc region of France holds a "wine marathon" with all-you-can-drink wine, all-you-can-eat oysters, and all-you-can-eat cheese? Did you know that the prize for finishing the women's marathon held in San Francisco every October is a Tiffany necklace? If you’re interested, start planning your running and travel now!

Method 2: Run with friends

Here I would like to share with you a new term "CREW RUN". We can explain it as "group running". To put it more directly, it means: forming a running group and running with friends. In the past, we often thought that running was a lonely sport, and indeed many experienced runners told us: "Running allows you to enjoy solitude." But for girls who are not yet experienced enough, running alone will always make them feel a little bored, and they will also lack the motivation to keep going.

I simply call running alone "running alone". The advantage of running alone is that you can spend time having a good conversation with yourself. I believe that people who engage in creative work must cultivate their ability to work independently and use this period of time without distractions to stimulate the creativity hidden deep in their brains. The representative of the solo runners is the Japanese literary giant Haruki Murakami, who once said, "I learned a lot about writing from running... I don't get lost in memories when I run.

Basically I don't think about anything, I just keep running in the most comfortable, self-created emptiness. "Murakami, who has more than 30 years of marathon experience, has completed a series of popular novels through meditation during long-distance running; he has also challenged a 100-kilometer ultramarathon.

Compared to running alone, "group running" has different benefits; in addition to being fun and encouraging each other to make progress with friends, running groups can also have a more powerful positive influence on others. I used to be a person who loved running alone. Running alone is not limited by time and place. I can run as long as I am free. But since I formed a running group, every weekly run can bring me positive pressure to pursue progress (because my members are so awesome!).

In addition to running together, we also sign up for road races, go on outings together, and of course, we don’t forget to run when we’re having fun... The best added value is that we have influenced some people who originally had no interest in running. After seeing us do this, netizens realized that "running can be so fun" and then formed their own running groups, integrating running into their lives.

There are many road running groups all over the world. Some have been established for a long time and are large in scale, and can even publish their own exclusive running products; others have just emerged and are active in specific areas with a smaller number of people. Our road running group "Amazing Crew" is a small-scale new group. Here we would like to share with you the Amazing Crew's running method:

1. We will find one day every week to run together, with a fixed time and a fixed distance, but the running place is different each time, and each member takes turns to provide his or her own running route. Doing this will not only increase your anticipation for the run, but will also allow you to get exposed to running routes that you didn’t know about before.

2. After every run, we always go out to eat together (don’t forget what I mentioned before: it is a misconception that eating after exercise will make you fat). The place for dinner is usually the delicious food near the running route, which can also increase the motivation of members to participate in running.

3. We will sign up for major road running races together, such as the 2013 Taipei Women's Road Race, the Shanghai Marathon, and the 2014 Tokyo Marathon. This way, you can not only run with friends, but also travel and have fun at the same time, achieving the best of two worlds.

4. We have set up our own fan page on Facebook, which not only allows us to share our weekly running status with everyone, but also increases the motivation and cohesion of each member to participate. In addition, thanks to the Internet, we have the opportunity to connect with other road running groups around the world. For example, when members of a Hong Kong road running group come to Taiwan, we will take them out for a run and let them get to know a different Taipei City on foot.

I realized during my first road race that “every runner is running alone, but they all have the same goal and are moving in the same direction. That is the most powerful positive energy I have ever felt.” At first glance, running may seem like a lonely sport, but in fact, you can use the power of a group to make it lively and fun. Forming a road running group with friends is definitely a good way to keep up the motivation to run.

This article is from Dakuai Culture's "Ouyang Jing's Running Book for Girls"‏