My Love/Hate Relationship with Running

Running and I have a love/hate relationship. It has been this way for years. I hated running when I was in high school because it was always used as a punishment during volleyball or basketball. When I was a freshman in college I discovered I actually enjoyed running and took it a little overboard and signed up for a marathon and within 6 months did a marathon and half marathon but then I was burnt out and didn't run much for the next few years. Now I have once again started running on a regular basis but it is getting boring!! Maybe once it warms up and I can run outside in the daylight it will be better, but for now running on the treadmill is no good. I have to force myself to go running and I only do it because I am training for the Wasatch Back in June. I also run because my mom and I have challenges and well I don't like losing. So here we are 4 1/2 months from a race that I need run a minimum of 3 times a week for 4 to 7 miles and I am already struggling to find motivation. In case you were wondering the exact same thing happened when I did the marathon, training went so well for several months then not so well for the last 4. I will keep running and keep training because I do not want to be a failure and instead of just having the weight of finishing on my own conscious I have 11 other people counting on me to do it. But I am thinking maybe once this race is done I will explore new workout venues. I took a zumba class once and it was really fun so maybe I will do that more or take up swimming (triathlon anyone?) or anything other than just pounding the pavement. Because while it can be relaxing, stress relieving and awesome sometimes, other times it can be boring and tedious.