A running habit benefits your heart health, your mental health, your calorie burn, your muscles, your lungs, and much more. Great—so lace up your shoes! What’s that? You find the act of running boring? Well, to spice things up a bit, I’ve collected recommendations to make running more fun from Reddit (and thrown in a few of my own). Try these games, strategies, and running route upgrades and never nod off during a run again.
Adjust your pace
There’s only one thing worse than a run that’s boring, and that’s a run that’s boring and hard. There’s a time for this kind of thing—it’s called a tempo run—but don’t confuse that with your goal on daily runs.
Later in this article I’ll talk about some enjoyable things you can do while you’re on a run. But it’s hard to take pleasure in anything while you’re out of breath and suffering. So remember that most of your runs should happen at an intensity that feels like work, but not torture. For most, this means slowing down your jogging pace or. if that’s not possible, alternating between a jog and a power walk.
Take the scenic route
If you’re getting bored on the treadmill or track, it’s time to go on an adventure. Several redditors mentioned that changing up their running route was a great way to keep things fresh. Run to a destination “like an ice cream shop or a brewery,” suggests Illustrious-Term2909.
Or run without a destination. Redditor DietCokeCanz would bravely set out without a plan at all: “My city has a car share program so on long runs, I stopped trying to plan my route to end up back at home. I just run in whatever direction I want, and then when I hit my distance, I borrow a car to get back home.”
Urban runners may want to set a goal of running every street in their city or neighborhood. (Apps like CityStrides can help with this.) I remember one summer setting a goal of running every trail in a huge local park, culminating with a long run that looped around the perimeter of the park.
And speaking of trails, those can be a great place to adventure as well. Some runners get addicted to trail running and never bother jogging on roads again. Redditor dymogeek says of the appeal: “Throw pace out the window. Hike the up hills. Bomb the down hills. Breath in nature. Be wild.”
Run with friends
If you can rope someone into running with you, many redditors note that this can be a way to make runs more fun. You can chat with your partner, trade off route planning duties, and even foster a little friendly competition (if that’s something you’re into). Even if your friend can’t join you for every run, you can still be accountability buddies and try to hit weekly mileage goals together.
No friends who are into running? Check out local running groups run by stores, gyms, and clubs. Redditor 76ab says “I don’t know about your area, but in my area there are tons of fun themed run clubs. Some end up at brewerys, coffee shops, ice cream parlors etc. These tend to attract more casual runners and are more accessible for someone getting back into it.”
Play mind games while running
Several redditors admitted to making up games with themselves, similar to the road trip bingo types of games you may have played on car rides as a kid. ACornACone says, “Im always counting squirrels, rabbits, or dogs. One time I counted how many times someone either smiled at me or gave me a head nod on my run.”
Our own Meredith Dietz has done something similar, playing the semi-viral game “Run Until,” which just means that you “run until” you see a thing that you’ve designated as the endpoint of the game. “Whenever I feel close to calling it quits,” she wrote, “I change the terms of my workout to be a ‘run until’ game. Run until you see someone holding an iced coffee, for example.
Run in the rain
Personally, I hate running in the rain, but several redditors find it freeing. “I can not express in simple words just how much I love going for a rain run. It makes me leave my electronics behind and it feels so nice,” says Proper-Scallion-252. That almost makes me want to try it. (Pro tip: Wear a hat or visor to keep the rain out of your eyes.)
Set some training goals
If fun and games aren’t doing it for you, how about some “type 2” fun? That’s when an activity isn’t fun in the moment, but you do it because it will be satisfying, in some way, in the end. Pretty much every race, and every training program, incorporates some type 2 fun. This is what motivates me personally—a lot more than playing games in my head or picking new routes. I want to see how much I can improve between now and competition day.
Consider goals like these:
Sign up for a race at a distance you’ve never done before (your first 5K, or maybe a 10K if you’ve already done some 5Ks).
Beat your best recent time at a distance you’ve already raced
Aim for a specific number of miles each week or each month (a 100 mile month is a great goal for beginners to work toward).
Increase the time you spend on your weekend long run.
Start doing hill sprints or track repeats, and over time, increase the number of repeats per workout.
You can also let your running watch give you some metrics to track. Redditor Giggles924 says: “Might be controversial but tracking my runs has been huge for my enjoyment / motivation. Maybe not so much during my runs but seeing the progress I’ve made over the months has been awesome and encourages me to push myself more.”
Listen to a good book or a podcast
Having something in your headphones can be a great way to make the miles pass by. “I zone out with my podcast and or music and I’m just cruising for miles and miles,” says redditor GilderoyPopDropNLock.
If audiobooks are your jam, don’t forget you can borrow them free from your local library. You may want to pick a book (or a podcast) that you only listen to when you run, so that you now have two reasons to head out for that jog—the exercise, and because you need to find out what happens next in the story, or to catch the next episode.
Let an app tell you how to run
This isn’t just for couch to 5k (although you can do that, if you like). Plenty of apps are designed to guide you through a run, with pep talks and coaching cues along the way. Some redditors recommend Nike Run Club’s guided runs; others swear by Zombies, Run! and its sporadic “zombies are chasing you” scenarios that make you pick up the pace to avoid them.
Or just stop trying to make it fun
Let’s circle back to that notion of type 2 fun. A running habit doesn’t have to be fun in the moment to be something you look forward to. Redditor hpierce301 shares that perspective: “If I can run hard, in the cold or rain, someone yelling at me on the phone at work seems trivial. I run to pre stress my day, so the rest is easy.”
