Motivation

The hardest thing about runner, or any exercise program for that matter, is keeping yourself motivated. When I first started running, my motivation, primarily, was this blog, and the end goal of being able to run a marathon. I threw myself into this public arena, and I feel a pressure to follow through. However, as the blog has continued, my true motivation has changed.

It seems like at least once a week someone tells me about how they started running again because of me. People pretty regularly ask me if I'll run with them. I can't express how amazing it feels to know that I've inspired people to get healthy. It means way more to me then actually making myself healthy. There's no way I'm quitting anytime soon, I want to continue motivating people, and by extension, motivate myself.

However, for those of you that aren't blog-inclined, or maybe helping people just doesn't give you those warm-fuzzies I'm referring to, I do have a few motivation tips for you.

First of all, the best decision I ever made was to run everyday. I used to do that, "I'll exercise three times a week," thing, but that's horrible. I never followed through with the schedule, and it ended up, on a good week, I'd exercise maybe one day. When you exercise everyday, it is impossible to say "I'll do it tomorrow," because you already have to do it tomorrow. You have to do today's workout today, that's just the way it works.

Secondly, you need to make your run an extension of something else you enjoy. When I listen to podcasts or music, that's really what I'm doing. The run is just a side-effect of doing those things. If you like to bird-watch, run in an area with lots of birds so you can do that while you run, if you like to watch TV, maybe you should invest in a treadmill and run in front of your TV. Never allow running to become a chore. You won't want to do it then.

There are many other motivators, but I'll save them for another post. As always, comment, shoot me an email, or hit me up on twitter (twitter.com/terrybartley) if you have any questions or suggestions.