Make Running a Habit

I have been running for almost 25 years now.  But I must admit, my commitment levels have varied greatly through the years.  In high school, I would run six days a week and many days I would run twice.  In college, I would run 4-5 days a week training for marathons.  In the past 10 years or so, my running has dropped on average to 2-3 times and I've started developing my "dad bod".  I've done a number of half marathons in the past 10 years, but haven't trained for much more than that.  

I was recently listening to one of my favorite podcasts, the Marathon Training Academy  and they interviewed an author by the name of Hal Elrod that wrote a book called The Miracle Morning.  It was a great interview and inspired me to do something I haven't done in a long time. I've started waking up early and going running 6 days a week.  I had a feeling that this something that could change my life.  Well, it certainly has.

Running everyday has become a habit.  I have lost 9 pounds in 9 weeks, I have had more energy and clearer thoughts, and I have been so much happier.  Is it aways easy to get up at 5:20 am?  No.  But I have many more good mornings than hard ones.  I am getting into better shape than I've been in for a long time and have done so injury free.  I'm finding that there's great power doing little things consistently over a long period of time.  What small habits can you form in your life that, over time, will make a huge difference? 

If you are looking for more inspiration on forming consistent habits, I highly recommend Darren Hardy's book The Compound Effect.