Guest Post: Using Your Imagination to Make Running Fun!

My name is Katie, and I write a blog called Chocolate-Covered Katie.  I’m so excited to be a guest on Carrots-n-Cake!

First off, I have to give a HUGE “thank you” to Tina for letting me do this guest post.  Tina, I love your blog, so it’s a real honor to be associated with it.

It took me a long time to choose the topic to submit for my guest post.  Did I want to write about one of my many crazy oatmeal concoctions?

(Chocolate chip cookie dough oatmeal)

My fun blended-grain technique that’s taken over the blogworld?

(Blended Snickerdoodle grains)

Or maybe ooey-gooey S’more Muffins?

I couldn’t pick a recipe, so I decided to write about a different love of mine: running.

I adore running.  And people ask me all the time how on earth that’s possible.  So I tried to think of all the reasons I love running, with the hopes that maybe some of my ideas will help others to love it too!

Running is truly something I look forward to doing-I doubt I’d have been able to stick with it if it felt like a chore, because I’m really bad with chores (just ask my mom about my aversion to doing laundry!). It’s a really great time to get my thoughts in order.  And I have a wild imagination, so I love to pretend I’m on an adventure when I run.

• I imagine that the houses I pass are castles, or caves, or mountains (and that I am a princess, a bear, a tree blowing in the wind…)
• I try to think of all the crazy running costumes I could wear to a race. Have you heard, for example, of the elderly man who runs marathons in a pink tutu? How embarrassing would it be to have him pass you?!
• I become the characters or singers from my favorite songs. On many a run, I am the Eye of the Tiger, chasing after my prey.
• I imagine that my legs are bicycle wheels (I read this idea in Runner’s World magazine).

And to all the passersby who have seen me running: I am sorry to inform you that you’ve probably been transformed into Bugs Bunny, Elvis, or a giant broccoli stalk at some point.  My apologies.

If none of the above ideas enable you to see running as fun, do not despair!  There’s still one more no-fail strategy you can employ to turn your dreaded run into an exciting adventure: Think about food!

Before you set off on your run, plan a really delicious post-workout meal or snack.  Then think about said meal/snack while you exercise.

How could running not be fun when you have Homemade Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Ice Cream on the brain?

Or Banana-Bread-in-a-Bowl ?   Or maybe even Brownie Batter Oatmeal?  (I’d run reeeaally fast to get home for that!)

You can transform your run from dull to delightful.  All you need is a little help from your imagination!