Running blahs

I think I've officially reached the running blahs.

I am horrible for getting bored with workouts and switching to the next thing.

I've stuck with running for 15 months now, and I keep finding excuses to get out of running

• I'll take food to my sister and run tomorrow
• I'll take today as my rest day instead of Thursday

I just find myself putting off runs.

The weather is gorgeous. There's sunshine and green leaves. The trail runs are so beautiful I have to stop and take pictures of the golden light coming through the canopy. The temperature is perfect to run. So why don't I want to run?

1. I'm discouraged because I'm slower. Those two weeks I was sick killed my endurance and generally slowed me down. I'm having to get back down to times I had months ago. There's a lot of progress down the drain.

2. IT band issues. I had to take almost two months off running last year because of my knee. It's acting up again. And I've been battling tight achilles tendons, which has started to worry me lately. I can barely walk the day after a run and I don't think that's normal or good.

Last year it was because I upped my miles. This year, I'm running the same 8-10 miles a week I've been running for 6+ moths. Nothing is different this year, but the knee pain is there. It's especially bad at gymnastics. So I do want to take time off to get my knee healthy again. I should rehab my knee. But it's hard to make myself do my physical therapy.

3. Boredom. I want something different. Maybe I should run at the track? I went to the trampoline park last week. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE trampolines. But I can't do that every day? Sigh. I would love to do trampolines once a week.

4. Lonely runner. I have no one to run with. Maybe a friend would hold me more accountable. I sort of want to try local group runs, except that I DO NOT RUN ON PAVEMENT. It's too hard on my knees. And that's where the group runs are.

I've been thinking of cutting down my days running. The internet says you really should run three times a week, so I probably shouldn't cut down to two days a week, though that's what I'm thinking of doing. I should be looking forward to workouts (like I do for my other classes) but I'm not excited to run. It's just a cheap, fast way to burn calories.