Use Strava for social motivation and community

What to Do

Create a Strava account and connect with friends, join local clubs, and use the "kudos" feature to give and receive encouragement. The social layer turns solo running into a shared experience.

Why It Works

Strava's massive community, segment leaderboards, and kudos system create a positive feedback loop. Seeing friends' activities in your feed normalizes running as part of daily life. Local Strava clubs organize group runs and virtual challenges. The app excels at making running feel like a social activity even when you run alone.

Tips

• The free tier provides GPS tracking, kudos, and basic social features
• Premium ($11.99/month) adds training analysis, segments, and route planning — unnecessary for beginners
• Don't compare yourself to faster or more experienced runners in your feed
• Privacy controls let you hide your home location and specific routes from the public