Never Stop

“Never stop running.” Our simple mantra. Lace 'em up or go barefoot, get out the door or get on the treadmill, but whatever you do, don’t stop. That’s all there is to it. 

You’re a runner (or on your way to becoming one). Somewhere there’s a voice inside you that says, “I want to run . . . no, I need to run.” So what could be easier? What could be more natural? 

But it’s not that simple. Daily life conspires against our running-self and finds various ways to pull us off the roads, the trails, and the track: work presses, family calls, humidity soars, rain pelts, wind chafes, joints protest, and doctors discourage. It seems every day there’s a new reason not to lace up, not to start out the front door, not to run. And this drip, drip, drip of discouragement and distraction can cause even the hardest will to soften until we ask ourselves - why am I even doing this? what is the point?  

“I want to run . . . no, I need to run” starts to sound obsessive, selfish, foolish, and maybe even a little dangerous.

Have you been there? Are you there now? Do you know a fellow runner who’s in a funk, lost her mojo, or forgotten why running made him so happy in the first place? We thought so. So then what to do about it? The good news is there are countless ways to make “never stop running” a reality. For each circumstance that takes you out of running, there is a doorway back in. Here are just a few:

• Join a running club
• Run with your spouse or partner, kids or parents, colleagues or neighbors
• Test yourself over a new race distance
• Run with a dog
• Ditch your GPS and HR monitor and run by feel
• Go see a physiotherapist and really fix your injury or niggle
• Move your running from roads to trails, or trails to track, or flatland to hills
• Stop racing for a year - or sign up for your first race ever
• Add aqua-jogging, plyometrics, HIIT, or LSD to your routine
• Bring someone new into running, show them the ropes, be a mentor and a guide
• Run barefoot on the beach at dawn or on dewy grass by moonlight
• Run around every new place you visit; do it before you unpack your bags
• Run with a smile and a wave or a nod for the people you pass, especially for those other runners 
• Run with gratitude for your legs and lungs and the possibilities rolling out in front of you as you move your body across the ground 
• Run slow or run fast, run short or run long, run early or run late 
• Or as the song goes, run in the rain till your breathless, when your breathless run till you drop . . . 

The truth is that running is both easy and hard, restorative and depleting, cathartic and addictive. Like most worthwhile things in life, running requires time, work, and commitment, and then it gives back everything you put into it and more. If you’re a runner, you know these things to be true, so why would you stop?   

Never stop running.   

Our site is dedicated to this mantra, and we created it to provide runners and aspiring runners with a few resources to help make it a reality. Our local content is currently focused on Dubai, UAE, as that’s where we are based, but we hope to expand our coverage soon. See you out there - we’ll be giving you a wave.