Wednesday, January 15, 2014

What is Your Motivation?

I've been having a hard time getting up in the mornings to get my runs in. The weather here has been unpredictable--freezing one day, in the 60s the next. How is a girl supposed to know what to wear?!?

If the fountain is frozen, this girl doesn't run.


So I've been thinking a lot about motivation. Why exactly am I getting up every morning to run? What is the motivation behind it all?



At first, it was my weight. Between baby weight and my ongoing affinity for Pepsi, I was carrying more pounds than I cared to admit. And while I'm still not quite to my "happy weight", I'm in a better place than I was. That little piece of motivation isn't quite as shiny as it used to be.

For awhile, trips to Disney for runDisney races were a huge motivation. My next runDisney event is 2015--a little too far out to start training for quite yet. So that motivation is on the back burner for while.

I knew I needed some fresh motivation if I was going to get myself in gear for upcoming races. Something to light a fire under me every morning and get me out from under my comfy, warm, covers.

I've started coming up with daily motivations to get myself moving. My current favorite? There's no finish lines, shiny medals or runcations if you don't take the first step.  You can follow me on twitter to see more of my "Morning Motivations."

A penny for your thoughts: what is your fitness motivation? What do you say to get yourself out of bed in the morning or to go that one more mile? Do you ever have to "freshen up" your motivations?

11 comments:

  1. Great post, Allyson! My primary motivation when I began was to lose weight. Now it's to train hard and right for my upcoming races so that I don't injure myself along the way and hopefully PR (in a big way) this year. :) So far, so good!

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  2. My motivation is to make my wife say "Hello Hottie" every time she sees me...

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  3. Interesting post! Currently for me, it's races. I'm doing 14 in 2014 this year and I'm a new runner so I want to make sure I train enough to not humiliate myself by collapsing in a race :) I started a blog recently and knowing that I'm going to have to post about my weekly runs is also motivating. I don't want to have to admit on the blog that I skipped a run for lack of motivaiton.

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    1. Peer pressure is a powerful motivator, isn't it? :) Good luck with your 14 races!!

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  4. Right now I am having trouble with motivation. I need to just get out there!

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  5. Love this!! Somedays, I'm honestly motivated by guilt. I know that I'll feel guilty or upset with myself if I don't run. My main motivation, though, is to keep me happy, healthy, and sane. And now that I'm going through a break up, it's to keep me from crying :)

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    1. Guilt is a big one, isn't it? I always feel awful when I look at my calendar and know I've skipped my runs. Keep running through your break-up...it'll keep you stronger in so many ways!

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  6. This is great. My motivation has been the Blue Ridge Mountain Half Marathon. The elevation change has me freaking out so I just keep chugging forward with my runs and cross training. I am totally with you on the weather. I packed my running gear for today only to realize I needed to unpack and repack with warmer gear. UGH.

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    1. It's so hard to plan, isn't it? Good luck on your Half! I bet the views will be beautiful.

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