Runner Motivation

It takes a lot of motivation for me to finish my workouts.

I wouldn't say I'm one to embrace grand challenges. I don't have what I see in other runners, that gritty determination to become a better, stronger, healthier runner. Well, maybe not healthier. I see a lot of dangerous stuff happening out there on the running circuit. Popping Neurofens before a race, abusing insulin medication, downing power gels like they're Powerade (they are not the same thing). Those who push themselves way beyond their limits and pass out 500m before the finish line.

I will write a different post about that one day, but back to today's topic - motivation.

I run for one reason and one reason alone - to stay slim. Neurofen and other drugs will not help. Powergels definitely won't. I need to put down that bag of Doritos I've been inhaling like a champion, grab my trainers, go outside, and suffer. Suffering is the secret to skinniness. Or not eating I guess, but that's just not gonna happen. On my death bed I want to look back on my life and think, "I ate everything I wanted everyday, and that daily double chocolate muffin habit was amazing." 

That will hopefully allow me to die a happy person and distract my dementia-ridden brain from all the stuff I didn't achieve.

But back to motivation (again). Sorry I keep doing that, I'm in a reflective mood today. 

I abhor pain, I absolutely hate it beyond anything. So, I need a LOTTA motivation to get out there and not give up half way through a run. 

I use of a lot of 'if' comparative analogies to keep me going,

"If Forrest Gump can run for three years, you can finish this."

"If Simon Pegg can do a marathon with a broken ankle, you can finish this."

"If Scarlett O'Hara can walk for twelve days or whatever it was, through a war zone, with a horse and cart and newborn, with NO FOOD, you can finish this."

"If Zatopek can... C'mon Allie, you can fucking finish this."

These motivational 'ifs' change every couple of weeks. I am currently obsessed with BBC's Ultimate Hell Week, so today it was,

But whatever the 'If' flavour of the week is, I always seem to return to the same motivational saying, if you can call it that. It's more like two words, my personal motivational strapline that has (at one point or another) got me through all my long distance races,

The two most important words in a runner's world. For me, anyway.