So true man… The thing that gets me motivated to run isn’t really to get “more fit” sometimes… I just think “geez two weeks of not doing it and I’ll probably be back on the couch” For real.
I read a study once that showed you lose whatever gains you make like 4 or 5x as quickly. So if it took you 5 months to get to a 2 mile run, after a month of not working out, you probably won’t be able to do it. Sad…
As for how “few” calories running burns, well that’s true but if you compare against other things, it’s pretty damn good. Plus, once the cal/hr rate gets high, the exercise is so damn hard that the average person getting back into shape can’t sustain it anyways! (i.e. cross country skiing, etc)