How to Turn a Boring Long Run Into an Invigorating Celebration of the Outdoors

This article is part of SELF’s 2024 Guide to Getting Outside, an editorial package that explores the connection between nature and well-being through the lens of awe. SELF will be publishing new articles for this series throughout October. Read more here.

If you’re training for a fall race, your weekly mileage—and the distance of your all-important long run—is probably nearing its peak. And that can bring up a range of emotions, no matter the number of miles you’re covering.

On one hand, you might find yourself amazed at what your body can do and how far you’ve come. But it’s also normal to feel anxious about whether you can handle new distances, a little dread about being out on your feet for so long, and even a Groundhog Day–type boredom at putting one foot in front of the other for up to hours on end. “The mental load is huge for a lot of athletes,” Alysha Flynn, founder and coach at What Runs You and a trainer for Every Woman’s Marathon, tells SELF.

These feelings are perfectly natural: “You’re going to get tired, it’s going to be painful, and you’re going to get bored,” Keith Kaufman, PhD, a licensed psychologist and certified mental performance consultant in Washington, DC, tells SELF. “Inevitably, you’re going to experience things that are uncomfortable.” So what to do about it? Instead of fueling emotions like doubt and anxiety until they become a full-blown negative spiral, notice them and bring your mind back to the present moment, Dr. Kaufman says.

One way to do this is by connecting with the world around you. Taking the opportunity to appreciate your environment can feed into a virtuous cycle of positive emotions, including a powerful feeling called awe, “an experience of vastness of transcendence,” Sabrina Little, PhD, a trail and ultrarunner, philosopher, and author of the book The Examined Run: Why Good People Make Better Runners, tells SELF. When we feel awe, “we become more porous or open to experiences bigger than us,” she says. Tap into it, and it can benefit your body as well as your mind: One 2015 study in the journal Emotion, for instance, linked experiencing awe to lower levels of cytokines, compounds that can promote inflammation in your body.

And you don’t need to be in a particularly awesome locale to experience it, either. Here, we asked runners, coaches, outdoor enthusiasts, and sports psychologists how they connect with the natural world, whether they’re jogging on a trail or through city streets.

1. Disengage from technology occasionally.

Leave your headphones at home every so often, or at least turn them off for a bit, Flynn recommends. And you can even consider—gasp!—running without a watch or app (or at least keeping it covered and silent).

“We’re always talking about optimization and biometrics. All that sort of information can distract you and keep you very much not receptive or open to experiencing beauty or truth or goodness,” Dr. Little says. “It can be good to leave your watch at home sometimes and practice being where you are and seeing things and appreciating.”

2. Use all five senses.

Channel what licensed clinical psychologist Karen Bagley, PhD, MPH, calls your “sensate focus” by rotating your attention between each of your five senses: “Focus on what you’re seeing, what you’re hearing, what you’re smelling—like what you’re touching as your feet are hitting the ground or noticing the swing of your arms as you’re running,” she tells SELF. Observe, for instance, the sound of birds overhead or that the air tastes like the earthy moistness of fallen leaves. “That’s enough, sometimes, to bring you into a different state of awareness.”

3. Touch a tree.

Runner and climate activist Tina Muir, co-author of Becoming a Sustainable Runner: A Guide to Running for Life, Community, and Planet, connects with the natural world daily in a physical way. Dozens of times per day, she reaches out to touch trees. “Maybe it’s the same tree you touch every time, or maybe you’re trying to find a different one each time to see if you notice the different feelings of the texture,” she tells SELF. Even the most urban environments typically have some small trees, shrubs, or other greenery you can brush against, reminding yourself of the immenseness of nature.

4. Give yourself a photo assignment.

Pausing her run to capture a photo of the sunrise or sunset helps Jamie Hershfang, a Chicago runner and coach for the Fleet Feet Racing Team, appreciate the beauty surrounding her.

Another runner, Erin Vandenberg, turned her Chicago Marathon training into a fun game of capturing nature. “I took a selfie-type photo on every run. It gave me a goal of looking around at my surroundings to find a spot that would make for a fun pic to show off where I get to run,” she tells SELF. “And one time I made it a goal to take a picture of a wildflower of each color to make a rainbow.”

5. Switch up your scenery.

Consider trading your regular neighborhood loop for a new location specific to your long run—preferably one rich in natural features. This automatically turns your run into an adventure as your mind navigates new paths and absorbs novel landscapes, Flynn says. Yes, it might take a little longer to get to a different locale, but that gives you some commuting time to get you into the right mindset and make the long run feel special.

6. Or appreciate the everyday.

While a stunning vista can inspire awe at first glance, traveling the same route regularly means you can tune into even the most subtle natural nuances, Dr. Little says. For instance, as the seasons change, you might identify how the shadows shift in the sinking sun or watch the leaves turn colors and eventually drop from the trees.

Though it seems paradoxical, repetition can build a portal to a larger experience of the earth and our place on it. “Often we talk about awe in religious settings, and the way they channel experiences of awe is through liturgy. You repeatedly do the same set of actions and it allows you to rise above your body,” Dr. Little says. “Redundancy frees us, in a way, to experience awe.”

7. Flow like water.

Many trails and paths pass bodies of water, and for good reason. “As humans, we’re drawn to water,” Dr. Bagley says, noting that about 60% of our bodies are made up of the stuff. If you run near a lake, river, or stream, tune into the sound of rushing rapids or the lapping of waves along the shore. Even if you’re landlocked, try heading by a fountain—or just imagine the feeling of flow, thinking about how the movement of your arms and legs is similar to the rhythm of a current.

8. Commune with wildlife.

Sometimes, the water holds even more natural delights. “I run along a lake and look out for the beavers,” Seattle-based runner and coach Morgan Jaldon tells SELF. “It never fails that they’re out swimming every morning around 6:30 a.m., and I follow them up the lake.”

No matter the climate, you can likely spot some type of critter if you look closely enough. “I scan the ground quite often,” Callie Vinson, an ultrarunner and coach in Scottsdale, Arizona, tells SELF. “It allows me to see things most wouldn’t notice, like a teeny-tiny little inchworm in the middle of the Moab 240, or a beetle on my weekly trail runs, or sometimes a lizard that can’t decide which direction to dart off to, so we do a little dance together.”

9. Delight your inner child.

Awe can sometimes appear when you embrace what Dr. Kaufman calls “a beginner’s mind”: a state of openness and curiosity rather than anxiousness. To get there, Dr. Little imagines running with her two young daughters, picturing what they’d be saying. “They have this joy and presence and surprise,” she says. “They are talking about the colors of the trees and getting excited.” If you’re running with friends or a group, try discussing what you’re seeing, pointing out the eagle overhead or the unexpected pop of color in a leaf underfoot.

10. Play an ABC game.

Another childlike exercise: Go through the whole alphabet, naming things around you that start with each letter. “So—I see an anthill, I see a bush, I see a car,” Maddie Petry, MS, CMPC, a senior performance coach at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, tells SELF. This can stop your brain from fixating on negative emotions like anxiety and also help you appreciate your surroundings.

11. Give in to gratitude.

“Gratitude turns your attention toward something you feel you’re the beneficiary of, like you’ve received something from the universe,” Dr. Little says. “You can’t feel grateful and sad at the same time.”

When using your senses to notice the world around you, reflect on the aspects that feel like gifts from Mother Nature. “Think: How awesome is it that I’m running in Chicago right now and I’m by this beautiful lake, that I can hear the birds and feel the wind in my face?” Dr. Kaufman says.

You can also take a moment to marvel at your body and its capabilities. “As runners, we sometimes take it for granted,” Dr. Bagley says. Instead of obsessing about paces and race times, reflect on how far you’ve come—you’re cruising through distances that, at some point, you would have thought impossible—and how fortunate you are to have a safe and scenic place to tread. “Recognize that our bodies are awesome and allow us to do these things.”

12. Finish with a grounding moment.

After logging your miles, kick off your shoes and stand in the grass or dirt, or on cement if that’s the only thing available. “Just take a moment to feel your feet on the ground—know that, even if you’re in a very urban environment, you’re still standing on the earth,” Muir says.

No matter how you do it, feeling a little awe has benefits that go far beyond a day’s training. Added bonus: Learning to bring your mind to the present moment can pay dividends come race day. As Dr. Kaufman points out, you can use these anchors to navigate doubts and anxieties about your performance, which can help you keep going even when it inevitably feels tough.

Related:

• Living Next to a Botanical Garden Taught Me How to Feel Happy in New York
• The Scientific Reason Why the Smell of Autumn Makes You So Emotional
• How to Practice the ‘Leave No Trace’ Principles While Enjoying Nature

Get more of SELF’s great service journalism delivered right to your inbox.