Motivation - Getting Out the Door

You might be thinking, "It's only week 2 of your 12 week plan, Karelin.  Why talk about motivation now?"  Let's just say that from experience, I know... You never know when your motivation will leave you.  It could be week 2 or 6 or 11... Preventive measures are the best. 

Looking over the many pages of running sites on the net, you will find a vast array of things to get you going.  There are the common sense things like making goals, using a training log, or entering a race.  Well, I've done that, and still I can find myself wrestling with not wanting to head out the door.

But I realize that there are things in my life that I do that are non-negotiable commitments.  Things like getting to a doctor's appointment or taking my daughters to dance class.  Those things I do whether I want to or not.  And I do them on time.  Why is it that my running schedule seems to be optional?  So many days I wake up early to run and before I get out of bed I'm already bargaining with myself, "Oh, I could just run in the afternoon..." or "Looks like it's going to rain."  Bad idea.  The longer I lay there trying to re-schedule, the easier it is to cave in. 

So I have developed a mantra that I begin to say whenever I feel myself start to deal...

Don't think, just move!

Don't think, just move!

Don't think, just move!

I start saying it over and over as my body gets out of bed.  I force myself to slide into auto pilot and shut off the brain.  It works.

Not very high-tech.  Maybe good ideas don't have to be.

The great thing about this mantra is that it can be used for all kinds of stuff I don't really want to do.  It could be doing the dishes or taking time to help someone in need.  From the mundane to the critical, it gets me moving without leaving room for making excuses.  I'm a natural procrastinator.   The mantra helps me overcome.
 

Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.  So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.  Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.

Galatians 6:8-10 (NLT)

It's human nature to get tired of doing what is good.  Running disciplines my body and my mind to do what I know is good for me.  That skill can then be transferred to other areas of my life.  Opportunities to bless others won't be so daunting if I have the "Don't think, just move" attitude.  It's a choice to live by the Spirit.



If you like tech, I've found a great supply of motivating videos. This one features a heart-wrenching marathon finish at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.*

*The runner who staggers over the finish line in this video is Gabriela Anderson-Schiess.  Here is her bio from Wikipedia:

Gabriela ("Gaby") Andersen-Schiess (born May 20, 1945) is a former Swiss long-distance runner who participated in the first women's Olympic marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Though living in Idaho and working as a ski instructor at the time, Andersen-Schiess represented Switzerland in the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
Fourteen minutes into the 1984 Olympic marathon, Joan Benoit began to pull away from the rest of the pack. She went on to win in a time of 2 hours, 24 minutes, and 52 seconds. Twenty minutes after Benoit finished, then 39-year-old Andersen-Schiess entered the stadium.
The crowd gasped in horror as she staggered onto the track, her torso twisted, her left arm limp, her right leg mostly seized. She waved away medical personnel who rushed to help her, knowing that, if they touched her, she would be disqualified. The L.A. Coliseum crowd applauded and cheered as she limped around the track in the race’s final 400 meters, occasionally stopping and holding her head.
While the effects of her heat exhaustion were plainly evident, trackside medics saw that she was perspiring, which meant that her body still had some disposable fluids, and let her continue her march to the finish line. At the completion of this final lap—which took Andersen-Schiess five minutes and 44 seconds—she fell across the finish line. She finished 37th, ahead of seven other runners. Medical personnel tended to her immediately and, miraculously, she was released two hours later. Her time of 2:48:45 would have won the gold medal in the first five Olympic marathons.^[1]
Andersen-Schiess won the inaugural California International Marathon in 1983.^[2] She has also held Swiss national records in the 10,000 metres and the marathon.^[3]