Making running fun again

I mentioned in my last post that I was a little burned out on training and that I was looking forward to just running for fun again.  Well, I'm really excited for my run tonight!  One of the reasons is that I downloaded a new album which I love.  After binging on it a bit Sunday, I'm not letting myself listen to it again until I go on a run.  I'm saving it and really looking forward to being able to listen to it again :)

 

My current obsession

So this got me thinking about other ways that I can use to make running fun again and get my mojo back.  I realize I do this same thing with the gym.  I'm watching Alias on Netflix right now and the only time I let myself watch it is when I'm on the treadmill or the elliptical. 

Speaking of the gym, I've decided that I'm going to make running as comfortable as possible right now.  And that means if the weather is cold or windy, I'm going to let myself just run on the treadmill.  I won't do this with warm weather because I do need to get acclimated as the Summer heat will start soon enough.  But running in the cold isn't serving any purpose for me at the moment.  I've also bought another patella strap.  Yep, I've come to terms that both my knees seem a bit unhappy and the strap helps out.  So I'm going to be the one out there rocking a brace on both knees. And that's ok because it makes me more comfortable while running.

Something else that I'm hoping will help out is to explore new running routes, or go back to old routes I haven't been to in a while.  And definitely going back to the track as it's been months since I've been there.

I'll probably just drive downtown some people and have a flat, scenic run around the monuments

I'm also thinking about doing a couple runs without my Garmin.  I think it puts a lot of pressure on me to see the data right there on my wrist and even when I tell myself I'm trying to run easy and not worry about pace, the watch makes it hard to do that.  I might just go back to runkeeper for a couple runs so that I have the data for later but don't see it while I'm running. 

One of the things I've done in the past has been to buy new running gear as that always got me excited to get out there to use it. But I'm not going to use that one this time as I'm trying to save money and don't really need anything at the moment.  Something else I've done in the past is sign up for races to get me excited about training but that would be counter productive at the moment.  So I'm holding myself back and limiting it to 5ks and 10ks for the Summer

Any tips on things you've done to get excited about running again?