Running can be hard — there, I said it. It's not that it doesn't make me feel good (runner's high is everything), but there are times where not even the coolest playlist can get me motivated. I recently spoke to Peloton Tread trainer and marathoner Bec Gentry, who really did inspire me to work on my love-hate relationship with the treadmill.
Becs said, "To me, everybody is a runner, even if you walk. Everybody should be able to experience a way of enjoying that runner's high, and getting out there on that treadmill, and finding a community of like-minded people who possibly all started out thinking, 'This is awful, who would do this?' And then, a few months or days later, they are high as a kite on the love of running and finding this new strength within themselves to fly."
Whether you love it or hate it, there are tools out there to get you through your workouts (even pro runners have bad days). We've compiled a list of apps for a variety of fitness levels that will bring some sort of guidance to your runs. You can use a number of them to track your outdoor routes, and some let you pound pavement with follow-along videos or audio coaching. They're all worth a download — take a look!