The Quest for Motivation

I know that many of us are struggling right now with finding the motivation to run.  So am I.  Although I said I would run on Wednesday or Thursday, that run didn’t happen until today.  Somewhere between writing my post on Tuesday and yesterday, I realized exactly what it was that gets me out of the house, and out pounding the pavement.

You see, when we tell ourselves to get out there and run, there is always the little voice that gives you an excuse not to do it.  “You should run today – But I don’t have time.”  If you accept this excuse as valid and legitimate, you are not going to do it.  Instead, you have to counter every excuse with a reasonable explanation why it’s not a valid excuse.

To give you an example of what I mean, here is a typical inner-talk I have with myself at night:
“I’ll just lie here with the TV on and fall asleep.”
“Except you don’t fall asleep when the TV is on.”
“But I want to watch this show.”
“You haven’t even watched the first 20 minutes of the show, how do you even know what is going on?”
“I don’t have to get up early tomorrow morning.”
“Doesn’t matter.  You need to stay on a decent sleeping schedule.”
“Fine”  *off goes the TV*

Now apply that to running, stop making excuses for yourself, and get out there and run!

PS. After only running 2.4 miles on Sunday, I was able to run 3.75 miles today.  If I can do this, so can all of you. 

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