Is the 7-Year Running Itch Real?

Last Sunday I ran Southampton half marathon. The event was celebrating its 10-year anniversary, I’ve been either a supporter or running in the 10km, and I’ve coached the run club of the main sponsors (ABP) since 2017, so it’s fair to say it’s an event that is very familiar to me, as well as one that’s close to my heart.

But despite this familiarity, there were two things different about this Sunday’s race that really took me by surprise.

Firstly, it was SO busy. In all the times I’ve been I’ve never seen it so busy! There were people just everywhere, the visual of watching a sea of people run the incline of Itchen Bridge was quite breathtaking.

Secondly, despite the numbers and for the first time since the event started, there were only two other of my run club members running the half and just one running the 10km. Back in 2017, we had so many members enter this race we hired a bus to transport us to the event; just 8 miles down the road. What’s happening, I thought, as I ran among the masses, and why aren’t my runners entering races anymore, clearly races and running are more popular than ever?

I’ve noticed this lack of oomph and interest for entering races for quite a while now and as usual, it’s made me reflect on my own past relationship with running. I’ve been running for a long time, it’s not always been amazing, with the usual ebbs and flows of interest, times when I’ve put races and pbs on hold and focused on gym classes instead, but I’ve always, ultimately, come back to running.

I’ve also been married for a long time, 30 years this August, and like all marraiges, we’ve had our fair share of ups and downs, and then I thought…..

Is it possible that runners hit a “7-year itch” — just like in marriage?
A dip in satisfaction with moments of “why am I still doing this?”

Same old boring training routine, the fluttery feelings of butterflies at the thought of a new race, subtly replaced with indifference or dread leading to discord and dissatisfaction in what, at times, can feel like a one-sided, expensive relationship - months putting your heart and soul into a new cycle of training, for what? no new pb, no new distance conquered; even the medal is the same as last years!

As I continued my race, up and over the bridge, through St Mary’s Stadium, I thought a bit more about my run club members and how we’re all navigating different stages of life, where once some were parents of toddlers - relatively easy to control and easy to leave – there’s now the storms and stresses of teenagers - less easy to control and now we wish they wouldn’t leave on their own accord!

Some of us have been upgraded from parents to grandparents and whilst the saying goes “grandchildren are easy, you can give them back”, no one tells you that they also come with a whole host of rules you didn’t invent, don’t fully understand, but must strictly adhere to at all times!

Maybe this runners “itch” of restlessness is borne out of frustration as the “why” for why we started running in the first place has shifted, our intrinsic motivation of wanting to run for ourselves diminished over time, maybe it’s the pressure of all those external sources proving too much for us to bear - the performance and comparison culture can make it hard to show up and race when you know you’re not going to smash it!

Before I knew it, I was on the last stretch of the race, the tell-tale signs of the end approaching is tangible as supporting crowds swell, their vibrance infectious as the finish line moves nearer, yet despite the energetic noise, there was a silence I felt that was deafening, there wasn’t the customary RV support crew in our usual spot, zealously banging on the advertising boards, screaming “sprint finish”.

Another race, another medal and the usual question from my husband “did you win” he’d say when I returned homw….who says marriage is boring?

But I couldn’t stop thinking about this running/marriage 7-year itch connection, I had to find out if it could be a thing, after a bit of digging….I found it! YES - research suggests runners can commonly experience a psychological or physiological plateau (or both) between 5-8 years of consistent training – the exact time frame that most of my members have been running!

I found data highlighting that runners can experience performance plateaus which often lead to burnout, losing their long-term motivation due to training monotony…in otherwords bored!

Of course, it makes sense, this surge of increased participation in races in the world of running is a new generation of runners at the start of their running journey, thanks to the outsized impact of social media in recent years, whereas I’m seeing my runners, many of whom I’ve trained from beginners and started later in life, now reaching their potential burnout peak of the said 5-8 years, just about the same time as they’re entering their “sandwich generation” era - the term for when you’re still parenting, grand parenting and have care responsibilities for ageing parents or other relatives.

Luckily, there are ways to prevent this plateau, thank goodness there’s hope that the relationship can be salvaged, burnout doesn’t have to be inevitable, it’s not the conclusive and final verdict. The data has uncovered significant predictors as to whether you’re at risk of reaching burnout, or worse the point of no return where you hang your trainers up and metaphorically head to the divorce courts.

Like any relationship though, it’s not an easy process, but, sometimes exploring the intricacies of your relationship with running can make a world of difference to whether you stop completely or just adjust and reframe your mindset.

One of the predictors of NOT reaching burnout, and I like this one, is having high levels of “harmonious passion”- this is where running aligns with your personal values and is therefore pursued in a balanced way. Yep, easy, of course we all know we should be doing that but……

There is an opposite, literally a fast-track pass to burnout known as “passion imbalance” (I literally spat my tea out when I read the description), “runners may push themselves beyond healthy limits, and is characterised by a compulsive engagement in running, which can result in neglecting other important aspects of life and personal well-being”

Hands up if you’re guilty of this, pushing, pushing, pushing, to the point of no return, and again, I get it, my hand is up, because when you first start running, especially later in life, you just want to achieve EVERYTHING QUICKLY!

In addition to maintaining “harmonious passion” (and avoiding “passion imbalance”), having a high sense of “intrinsic motivation” is another factor to avoid burnout. Intrinsic motivation simply means realising, remembering and understanding what your personal enjoyment in running was in the first place, and then aligning this with your own personal goals, finding your why agai. Crucial point here - yours, not someone else’s!

There is in my mind though, and I see this a lot, a factor that we often blame ourselves for, feeling incompetent – “competency” – having “a sense of competence” in our ability as a runner – which essentially means experiencing personal achievements, managing to meet goals, improve performance and overcome challenges; if we don’t feel any of these when we either run or race, we can be left feeling inadequate and frustrated; almost a “what’s the point?”

Long story short, there is no quick fix to preventing plateauing but there are plenty of ways we can be wise to what leads to episodes of running burn out, adjusting, adapting and really asking yourself, just like a marriage, what would life look like if running wasn’t in my life? And what do I have to do to make it work again, because it did, in those early days.

I’ll finish with a story of a runner who inspires me, and hopefully will you too. Her name is Annie, she is now 83 years old and a bit of a local running legend around our area. I saw Annie on Sunday, as she was entered in the half marathon, she now walks a lot of local running events, her gait unmissable, her son by her side, affectionately and protectively with his hand placed on her back; it brings tears to my eyes every time I think about this.

As I passed her, it gave me so much pleasure as I shouted “well done Annie, good to see you!” She came 1^st in her age category V80, and that’s exactly what I aspire to, winning aged 83 years old because, when my husband asks me, as he inevitably will, if I won, I want to say “yes” “yes I did”.