Motivation Tips

Since the run I did tonight was not as far as it should have been, I decided to look up some motivational tips. Here is what I found online. In black are the real tips, below them in red are my thoughts. Enjoy.




Motivation Tips

1. Sign up for a race as soon as you feel up to it. Don't sign up for a race because your sister says so, because you are bored, or because in your wine haze it sounds like fun. Want to know the real reason I wanted to do my first race? Besides the tee shirt and the bumper sticker, it was because I wanted to go through the water station. Judge me. I don't care.
2. Find a committed running partner. It is much harder to skip a run when you have someone else depending on you. Especially when your partner appears to run on some sort of alternative energy source.
3. Remember that you will have plateaus in your progress and tough days along the way. Tough days? Like when you cover up the part on the treadmill that tells you how far you have gone because you think it will help you to run further if you are not staring at it the whole time? Then you uncover the distance-o-meter, whispering "come ooooon, at least 2 miles, at least 2 miles!" and read: 0.70? Next you drop to your knees on the still spinning treadmill, get thrown off of the back into an elliptical, all while hysterically screaming "its not worth it!!!!!". You mean tough days like that?
4. It gets easier. Pray that.
5. Accept and appreciate the fact that not every single run can be a good one. Accepted. Thanks.
6. Be prepared to remove the words “can’t” and “never” from your vocabulary. Replace those words with "oh dear goodness" and "the race is ___ days away"
7. Do not compare yourself to others. Run within yourself and for yourself first. That's actually really good advice.
8. Don’t expect every run to be better than the last one; some of them will hurt. Like the run I did tonight where my big toe nail (although cut very short) seemed to hook on the top of my shoe for all three miles making it now a deep purple? Hot.
9. Don’t think too much about it or you won’t do it. So true. Just keep your bag in your car, and keep driving to the gym. You'll get it done when you get there. Or you will walk in, realize you left your shoes at home and walk out. Its cool.
10. Even a bad run is better then no run at all. Hahaha, sometimes I disagree. :)
11. If you normally run with music try skipping it and listening to your feet to hear your pace and your gait. I tried this. Not because I was being creative or trying to challenge myself but because I am forgetful. I ended up wogging 8 miles without music. BAM! The fact that I had the promise of Jimmy Johns and the movie Ms. Congeniality didn't hurt either.
12. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t experience weight loss immediately. No comment. Mostly because my hands are full stroking both my chins.
13. Start a running blog and read other running blogs regularly. Oh, oh! Here's an idea! Read my blog!
14. Running is not an excuse to triple your intake of doughnuts because runners gain weight too. Lies.

Motivated?