Running Motivation

Mileage total this week (Sunday-Friday) = 22.5miles
Total Miles since Ultimate Season ended = 35.5miles
I skipped Sunday and Wednesday.
Last week I only really count as half a week since I was in Florida I got 13miles in (Running Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday).

I've had a pretty successful running week thus far and I'm happy to report that I think of gotten back in to the rhythm of running which is not easy to do. A lot of people have a hard time getting into running because in all honestly it's not that much fun to do on a consistent basis when you first get started. Sure that first run is invigorating, you feel awesome cause you just did a run. Then the next day comes and you realize you have to do it again because the run yesterday only counted for yesterday. I've always found it easier to run with a schedule that is usually tied to a race. For example it's easier to say "I'll run those 10 miles because I don't want to die during the marathon" than it is to say "Oh hey, it's -20 out I think I'll run 10 miles". So obviously a good way to get in to running is to get yourself committed (monetarily) to a race and tell everyone you know you're doing it.  Why tell everyone you're doing it? Because of a few things: they won't get mad at you when you're busy and can't hangout because you're on a run, they don't judge you when you eat a 10" pizza* by yourself because you'll probably run it off, and they will ask about it and your training. People will ask you how your training is going, so you can't be a liar liar pants on fire and say you've been running when you haven't. So go on that training run because nobody likes a liar. But beware, that doesn't mean they want to hear you talk about your training, they are just confirming that you are still their weird friend who pays money to run races.

But what do you do when you don't have a race to set up a training schedule for? Like I do right now. Which is not totally true since I have some races in the queue I just haven't paid my entry fee yet. When you get in to running you're sort of always training because you are trying to get faster so you can get a certain time. However, it's still not easy to get yourself excited to go out multiple days in a row. I was finding this really hard right after Ultimate ended. I wanted to give myself a fat week to just laze around, but I couldn't. I needed to jump in or I would continue to find a reason to not go for a run. So I just did it, I went on a short 3mile run and set myself up for miles of fun in the coming months. I was jazzed on Wednesday, so proud of myself as I wrote a three next to the date on the calendar, imagining all the mileage totals I'd be racking up. How pumped I'd be to tell the world in this blog how much I've been running. Then Thursday came and I realized that three I wrote can't also count for today. Thus I had the fight in my head, "do I really need to go running". If you've run you've probably had this same internal conversation; "you did run yesterday, and your body is still recovering from ultimate, and you deserve to ease into it....etc". No I had to ignore it. I needed something to out shout the voices in my head. Would it be rock and roll? Hip Hop? Could I blast it out with some Thrift Shop echoing into my head from my ear buds? No I needed something more. Something that would block those thoughts out for good so what did I choose? What was my secret weapon?

You guessed right! Peter Sagal and the crew of "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" the NPR news quiz. A couple things to quell you naysayers. First of all Peter Sagal is a runner. He actually had a great article in Runners World about training for the Chicago Marathon to beat his PR. He's run a lot of races and he chronicled his journey along with some great pictures. There was one of him peeking out from a port-o-potty but I couldn't find it so you get some nice white thighs instead. I also knew that I had a buttload of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me podcasts on my ipod that were begging to be listened to. I wanted to listen to them so I made a deal with myself - you can listen to the podcast, but you have to go on a run. It was prefect because podcasts are about 45minutes long and I needed to go on a 5 mile run. So that has been my secret weapon all week. Listening to NPR. The most obvious choice to inspire any athletic endeavor. I'm sure it also amuses those I see while on my run as a blond haired runner hops by giggling to herself about something Mo Rocca just said.

But really if you need to find motivation to get yourself out there maybe you need to give yourself another incentive not a punishment for not running. For me it was getting to listen to a great podcast. For you it could be a book on tape, or maybe you love sour gummy worms and you stash them in your pocket and you get to eat one every half mile, or maybe you want to look at Christmas lights in your neighborhood. Running is fun, and after you get into your routine it's pretty easy to want to go out for a run because it just becomes a thing you do. But there's nothing wrong with combining it with something else fun.

*who am I kidding, I can't finish a 10" pizza by myself. Although the guy at Hops and Pie last night did say when I ordered it "is that all you want?".