I have always been a procrastinator. I was the girl finishing her homework seconds before passing it in. Waiting until the last day of the month to renew her inspection sticker for her car. Not saving any money during the month and then scrambling to pay rent. I still haven't written anything for my fundraiser show on Thursday. (You guys know about the fundraiser show on Thursday, right? The Rhoda Monologues? At Mottley's? 8:00? 12 bucks? With raffle prizes and amazing comedy? With tickets available at www.mottleyscomedy.com? Oh, you know? Great.)
I've always done it because it's never not been okay. I always manage to pull something out of my butt and make it work at the last second. It is becoming increasingly clear that that's not going to happen with this race. I can't just show up on race day and expect to be able to move myself 13.1 miles without putting in the work first. I need to do the training. I need to work to accomplish a goal. It sounds really weird, but that's not something I've ever actually done. Most things in my life have just sort of come easily to me. I'm really smart, so school was no problem. And when it was, I left. I have a lot of great friends who are willing to help me out with stuff I can't do myself. If something's too hard, I either don't do it or just get someone to do it for me. But no one can run this race for me. No one can make me eat the right things, keep the right schedule, put on my sneakers and put in the miles. Those are all things I have to do myself, and I have to keep doing them, all the time, in order for it to get any easier. This is not something I'm having an easy time of. But I'm trying to remember that the goal isn't just to get across the finish line, but to get across strong, on my own two feet. And to do that, I have to work for it.
I know I have a few readers who are runners. How in the crap do you keep yourselves motivated?
One girl's attempt to run away from her problems. Oh, and to save the world.
How I stay motivated:
ReplyDelete1. I wear cute running clothes and think about how much hotter I'm going to look because I'm running.
2. I think about all of the runners I've known, both living and passed.
3. I think about what I'm going to eat when I get home.
4. I try to remember that when I'm running regularly, everything in my life is better.
5. Dailymile.com A great running log site, and it will tell you how many doughnuts you've burned and how many TVs I've powered.
6. Um, I got a big tattoo of a heron, my spirit running animal. I think about how it looks when I run.
7. I think about fitting into smaller clothes.
8. I think about feeling strong and superheroiney.
For starters, anyway. Also, races are super-fun--the excitement, running in a herd, pushing yourself, etc.
Yay! And I'm totally going to donate...eventually.
Your first point actually works against me. Cute running clothes don't fit me. Everything rides up and I'm constantly picking my shorts out of places they shouldn't be. But I do feel better when I think about running enough to be able to wear cute running clothes. :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you were a readed! Donations are welcome anytime, no pressure.
Ditch the shorts. Get a skort with a longish skirt and longish shorts underneath. Seriously. I'll send you some links.
ReplyDeleteI keep a log of how much I have run with timings and distance to see if I can at least match, if not better, my running times. It sounds trite, but it helps give you some gauge of how far you've come (pun kinda intended), which is a really good feeling. Even if slip back some in time (I have), you can at least know that you're capable of doing it, which is a great motivator for trying that much harder.
ReplyDeleteI am crap about motivating myself to exercise - just ask my wife.
ReplyDeleteBut I wanted to point out that I believe in you and want to support you so much that I'm going to Mottley's and not here: http://grab.by/6Al4
Holy cow, BobHolt!! I am totally honored.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mark. I miss you.
Hey Rachel - So sometimes, you get into a routine and when you've planned to run, you just go. And that is amazing. And sometimes, when you've fallen out of that routine, the hardest thing in the world is to, just, go. The only way I can motivate myself sometimes, unless I have all the time in the world and a workout is a way to kill time (It's happened! Rarely, but still.) is to choose to view the run the same way I do a job, or a deadline. "If I don't get on the bus at 8:22, I'll be late and I'll be in trouble. I was late yesterday, so today is the last straw, I'd better make it." "If I don't get this done by 4:30, it won't be accepted, and this work will have been for naught." If you can get yourself into that headspace where you actually think, "If I don't get out the door and start running by 6:45, I'll be so angry at myself," then you can start to, basically, prioritize it emotionally.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, just so you know, some running clothes will always ride up. It's a physical fact. I've been in all kinds of shape since I've reached my adult size - from competitive figure skater-shape, to college athlete-shape, to armchair athlete-shape, to seriously unhealthy shapes (bigger and smaller), to recreational runner-shape - and shorts have always ridden up on me when I run. Some of us are just built that way. I spent my high school soccer career picking my Umbros and spandex out of my butt. So don't think about that as anything you should gauge yourself by. But (teehee) - there are some great anti-chafing running products out there, and they actually help prevent shorts ride-up, too. Marathon Sports and the like will carry at least two, if not more, brands of these; Monistat makes a great anti-chafing lotion I discovered when I was on crutches one summer, and of course, Vaseline, while messy, gets the job done. But (there it is again!) - deodorant, in stick or spray form (gel probably works, too, but who wants to wait for that to dry?), is what I swear by now - I don't leave for a run in shorts or leave the house in a skirt without applying it to my inner thighs. It prevents both ride-up and chafing. So hey, if nothing else, maybe increased comfort can be motivation!
Also, get on the bike path this time of year. The idea of running past the changing leaves, and the fact that a surprising number of near-Bostonians have wood-burning stoves that you can smell from the path, make it an enticing fall outing.
Good luck!
-liz mckeon
Yeah. my motivation is to stop me from nagging the crap out of myself. I can put it off for a while, but then the Little Voice starts talking, and she's just fricken MEAN.
ReplyDeleteI will see you tonight, with sister in tow. We're skipping the Sheila Divine reunion show, so you bitches bettah bring it!
(See, I told you she was mean)