Running is generally a solo activity - you aren't doing it for anyone else, even if you are doing it with people.

When your hobby involves a team or a group of people who are counting on you it's much harder to give it up. For me there's always that nagging doubt that if I didn't devote so many hours to it each week - then who will? And what if they don't do it right?

I think there are two issues here. There's push yourself a bit to make progressive gains, and there's the " I'm so stupid I will finish this at any cost" IE my first marathon, finished injured hypothermic and disorientated. Yes some days fitness is dark and unpleasant, some days you have to just get out and do it. At the same time as you get fitter you get to know your body better. There have been times I have dragged myself out on a regular run when I really didn't feel like it only to develop a cold two days later, should have listeed to my body.Now days if after a K or two things aren't right I will go home.

Being puffed is not an injury though!

Ann, after following your blog, you sound like you have so much on, so many training committments etc. If you stopped the ballet you might have some more 'free time' to do something you find even more enjoyable??

I struggle a bit with the balance between running for enjoyment and running to get better at it. I'm at the stage where it's not really enough to just get out there, I actually want to improve my times and fitness etc. However, to do this, I have to do the kind of running that I hate and that makes me not want to do it (eg. intervals, speedwork, 5km waterfront series how I dread you each time I run you!) whereas the kind of running I love (slowish ambly trail runs) just doesn't get me to where I want to be fitness-wise. I don't want to hate running but some days lately I have come perilously close, even though I know that deep down it is something I enjoy!

I commend you for keeping up with the ballet btw. I do find it a bit weird that you've ended up in a class with ballerinas-from-childhood though - that hardly seems fair!

My general approach to life is that if the good days outnumber the bad, then continue what you are doing. If not, time to make a change. Okay, well I say this is my approach to life - let's be honest, it is a theoretical approach, not necessarily one I put into practice all the time! But it's what got me out of the house and running when motherhood was getting me down. And running has changed my life in so many ways, I can't begin to explain. So on the bad running days, I just remind myself of how great it feels to be fit even if I am hating every step, and then wait until after I've stopped for the endorphin high which makes me eagerly anticipate my next run!

One area of my life that I have given up on feeling guilty about being a quitter is in relation to books. I imagine Ann, that you are the sort of person who perseveres through the most dreadful tosh, just because you can't bear so say to didn't finish it. I used to be like that too. I remember giving up on Crime and Punishment years ago after about 300 pages (I swear to god, that book was making me go mad) and felt guilty for months after. Now, I have no such qualms. Too many books, not enough reading time.

I heard a saying recently - (french foreign legion) pain is weakness leaving your body. I've always been of the persuasion that in order to (for eg. get fit) you have to push yourself outside your comfort zone.

All this, don't push yourself too hard, take it easy is a nonsense if you wanna be super fit or whatever equivalent. Ask any olympic athlete, anyone that has done a respectable time (5hrs or <) round Taupo, or completed a mountain run or the coast to coast. And they will tell you - if you want to be comfortable when you train and when you eventually do the event - stay at home.

The BEST training is when you feel uncomfortable - think about intervals. Solid base fitness, you are getting complacent, you do a very hard interval spin session and you are almost vomitting. Yay, that's when you know you just got that little bit fitter.

Of course you can't keep levels of intensity up like this all the time. Have to balance it with good recovery sessions and a bit of a life too.

I've never really found running "pleasurable" well not pleasurable like an afternoon nap, or a glass of wine with friends. It isn't about that for me. It's about virtue and perseverance, I feel great after a run because I know I've done something positive for my health and well being. And that brings an enormous sense of satisfaction.

I think there comes a point where you realise that you’ll never really enjoy something. For me, I didn’t enjoy running to start with but stuck with it for the health and fitness benefits and slowly grew to enjoy those moments in the zone and loving the endorphin rush. Not to mention getting addicted to said endorphins and getting grumpy without them. But other things I have eventually stopped doing. And usually it’s been because I’ve been no good at them. I did gymnastics as a kid, enforced by my father-coach, who was determined to see me at least achieve my iron badge. Which I did (along with grade 1 and 2). And then promptly quit. There just weren’t any of those moments where it all came together and I enjoyed it. Dancing was another one, I did Jazz from the age of 5 until about 13 or 14. And never got any good at it. Again, eventually it sort of dawned on me that I really wasn’t enjoying it. And after 8 or 9 years you’d think I would have developed some kind of competency. It’s admirable to not quit things, but I know I had to make priorities or otherwise my life would simply be overfull.

One of my favourite things about triathlon is that it's taught me to keep at things I hate. Like riding my bike, and, even more so, riding my mountain bike. I absolutely LOVE cycling now, and mountain biking gets better all the time, but it's taken a lot of tears and reluctance to get here, and it's worth every little bit.

I have just started running (well, I use the word running loosely, people can overtake my very gentle jog at a fast walk)and for the first week my legs hurt every day (I ran 5 out of 7 days). But I have kept at it, and am now in week 2 and it does not hurt anywhere near as much and I am really enjoying how good I feel afterwards. I don't go far - just two or three times around a big park, but the whole workout including the brisk walk to the park and back take about 45 minutes so I do think that is about right for my fitness level right now. I just think as long as I keep moving I will get there eventually. I think what I am saying is that even tho you will have days when you don't enjoy it as much, as long as you are getting something out of doing it in the long run then just keep it up. However if you are not finding that it is meeting the needs you thought it might, then stop, life is too short to waste on things that don't do it for you.

So true Ann! My mum used to say that if it something was meant to be easy it wouldnt feel so good when you got it done. I too have tried many sports over the years, and am lucky enough to be reasonably good at most things I try, for me the challenge is finding the headspace to stick with it, if it doesnt grab my attention then it's hard for me to stay involved. I hate running, it's hard and I dont have the head for it, but I stick with it because, as you said, there are moments when it's amazing (like finishing my first 10km in 60m 46s!).

@AT my mum was a gym coach and she was amazing - pushed me but only because she knew I wasnt giving 100%. I quit when I changed grades and at the age of ten my new coach told me that I had to diet because no one wanted a podgy gymnast. My mum said some not-nice things to him, and got me involved in netball instead - best decision ever!