I can't get over the fact that it's a painful way to get from A to A. Some optimizing party of me is always screaming WE COULD JUST HAVE STAYED AT A!
Now, if they're is a ball to chase and a game to win, I can run until I fall over...
It is kind of a gamified running game, with audio clips and interactive elements. For example, at certain times zombies appear and you have to increase your pace for a bit. In the meantime you follow a story about a post-apocalyptic world, with characters etc. I tried it for a while, worked pretty well!
Well, there's the solution :) Make a game out of it. Some find it helpful to reward themselves if they can reach some sort of goal (under X minutes per km) and not otherwise, then you have something of a game.
Otherwise, if you're a bit competitive, find another competitive friend and compete who can run for longest without giving up. Loser buys the other one beers for evening.
Even though they're complete strangers, there is some social pressure to keep going.
I'm sure a running group could also work for me.
I feel absolutely the same... about taking a walk. That seems incredibly pointless, as you say.
However, if I jog the same route, I burn X kcal, and after dieting for a while, I know how much X is, weighed in food. Very tasty food, this long into a diet. That makes it incredibly easy to instead go for that jog.
It's incredibly weird. I can also take a 1h walk no problem to go buy milk at a shop 30min away. That ticks a box, so it's a Job Well Done for my brain.
So yeah, running... not for me.