Mark Twain said that the secret to successful writing was to apply the seat of one’s pants to the seat of a chair. The running corollary is to apply the bottom of your running shoes to the space just outside your front door. It really is that simple.
“Simple,” of course, doesn’t mean “easy.” Inertia is one of the most powerful forces in the universe, or at least the part about a body at rest tending to stay at rest is. (I’ve often thought that Sir Isaac Newton should have tried a few more 20-milers before definitively stating that a body in motion stays in motion unless acted on by an external force.) The desire to go run, to do something so drastically different from how most of us spend our days, is highly appealing in the abstract, but can be difficult to conjure when you’re already tired, or it’s cold and dark outside, or twenty seven people are making what they say are critical demands on your time right now. In that moment, it’s easy to justify avoiding the simple step of putting on your running shoes and stepping outside.
The best thing you can do about inertia, both on any given day and in a lifetime of running, is to acknowledge its power and then move on. Picture yourself going to bed that evening and reviewing the day. Will you be glad you ran? Yes, you almost certainly will. So defeat inertia and make that happen.