Overcoming thoughts when running- how??

[RainbowInACloud]

I'm never going to be a long distance runner but I've recently done c25k and have really enjoyed it. I'm going to keep up the 3 runs a week.
However. . . I spend a lot of the run thinking 'this is hard/ shall I just stop/ i can't do it today' etc.
how do you stop those thoughts? I could probably keep running even further if it wasn't for my brain!
Thanks.

I use the time to daydream about Tom Hiddleston which I find helpful.

I dont hate it at all, I feel as if I am operating on a higher level when I am running.
Obviously to onlookers I am a middle aged woman plodding along, but in my reality I am flying in the zone, firing on all cylinders, all systems flat out.
Swerving past pedestrians....evading ferocious dogs.

When I ran it always helped me to think of it as my being free - away from DC's, house etc - my time, therefore enjoyable . By reminding myself of that I got better at pacing myself (as opposed to racing off, with the aim of completing the set distance, getting it over with and exhausting myself after 3 minutes). I also gave myself the option of walking breaks if I felt like it and some days I would take lots and others none at all. In a nutshell - try and appreciate the process itself rather than seeing it as a chore and putting yourself under any pressure . That then led to a bit of an addiction!

Lotta - I'm with you, I rarely wanted anyone else's company when running, just my music - I found it almost meditative. I have on occasion run with DH nightmare, he is faster than me and it was nice to chat to him but I wouldn't want to do that all the time - I like my own space!

my partner has been talking for a while about joining me on a run.
Tbh company is the last think I want when Im running.... he'd be faster but I should beat him hands down on endurance so it might be worth it just for that.
Then again he's one of those 'naturally athletic' types who could do a half marathon with no training, where as I take 6 months training to be able to run for 10 minutes without stopping.
So maybe I dont really want to put it to the test!

It's good to know so many feel similar and find it hard but rewarding (even those of you that I would consider proper runners )
I'm definitely trying these tips:- the common theme seems to be breaking it down into manageable chunks I.e. Counting/ songs/ reaching a lamppost. I can do that.
And like a lot of you I feel free, it's something I do just for me and no one else and the feeling afterwards is fab and a bit smug

I do long complicated sums in my head!

My DH would definitely win between us on the endurance front Suzanne - he cycles up and down Alps for fun freak. Taking out the male/female differences we are probably comparable on a strength basis but when it comes to flexibility I leave him in the dust (and I'd kick his ass in kickboxing) - for the sake of marital harmony I'm calling it even and keeping our exercise routines separate!

Lots of good advice already, so I don't have much to add, apart from it won't always be like this!

Keep on running three times a week and soon enough your body will get used to it and it won't be hard, so your brain won't be telling you to stop

I have run for over two years now, every single week, and it is always the first mile or so that is the hardest, and then I think my brain realises this is what I am doing and all the muscles and skills kick in, and those thoughts disappear and I feel I could run forever.

So, just keep on running!

as long as always beat him in an argument Sleep, the other stuff is irrelevant

Also I try to remember that I have never once, in my whole life, regretted going out for a run, but I have regretted not going!

I label the thoughts as fearful lies, cos they are. Sometimes I try and locate specifically what they mean, like where would be the location of the hardness? Cos it usually turns out to be a mild feeling of heaviness which I have woefully misrepresented in hyperbolic terms, "This is a killer!" It's quite funny really, the panicked bollicks my mind will spout in the face of rapid breathing and a mild heaviness in my legs. I think it's useful beyond running to cultivate a distance between yourself and your thoughts. Or it is for me as all my thoughts in situations of stress seem to come from a frightened, hyperbolic shit stirrer who sounds a lot like my mum

Interesting what people say about company. Thankfully DH doesn't run.
Funnily enough runners are often quite insular, I run with a club and I never feel obligation to make conversation. We all there to run, conversation is an optional extra.
The group does help you keep a consistent pace though, running at night through the streets of London in a small group is a wonderful thing. You can't just stop suddenly, even when you might like to.

OutsSelf - yes yes yes to hearing your mother's voice at times of stress! Same here and its never ever helpful - just critical and negative and undermining. I'm learning to counter it with my own voice though, which is positive and nurturing and just a bit stern. I can handle that

If you have a voice like that it can be useful to characterise it - imagine a comical nagging/whining voice and an animated creature to go with it - makes it easier to give a 'you again' eye roll and shrug it off, take it less seriously and yes, turn to your nurturing one lotta.

Think about other things. I like to remember events or plan stuff I need to do.

I listen to TED talks - you can get an app for iPhone and just downloads loads of interesting talks. I love them and I also hate running but the combination works well

I ran with a friend for the first time last week...and it was the first time I've actually enjoyed running! Was great to chat and run. Going to try it again tomorrow.

Otherwise I listen to podcasts. In the gym I obsessively want the metres/kilometers tick by until I can stop!

Just to echo overmydead, I used to have these voices constantly but as I've got to be a better runner they've lessened, even disappeared. I can now just go into a kind of reverie of floating thoughts and keep running without thinking it's too hard or too far.

Keep with it and it'll get easier and even more enjoyable.

although music can be great to listen to I find spoken word much better-so I listen to the radio or a podcast of a quiz show/documentary. Something like The News Quiz or I'm Sorry I Haven;t a Clue makes the time go a lot quicker

Agree with running with a friend.

Also, not sure if this has already been mentioned, but is it possible for you to do a circular route rather than A to B and back again? I find this makes me less likely to turn back early, because then I'd have to run back the way I've just come rather than completing the circuit iyswim.

Every one of us has that negative voice-you are not alone!

I find music helps. Or else mental games-count to 10 on the left foot fall, then the right, then do 2 of each, then 3, then do it backwards etc.

What REALLY helps is having something else to think about-an email you're going to send, a blog post, a letter, a shopping list. Running will help all the words jostle about and land in the right order.

I love running and few things give me a high like it, but even the best runners ahve periods in their run or series f runs when they are having to push through

Realise that sounds like I think I am the best - not the case by any means!

What Claybury said about running on holiday really struck a chord for me. I travel for work, and try and run everywhere I go. My favourite run ever was running along the waters edge in San Francisco looking at Alcatraz and the Golden Gate, and it felt so alive - much more than walking would have.

No gym class is ever going to let me do that sort of thing.