Secrets to Motivation

It’s Saturday, July 24, 3:00 am. Alarm clock goes off. Snooze. Five more minutes, cell phone alarms. Snooze? Time to wipe the sleep away and get to the starting line of something spent last 10 hours preparing for, the Deseret News Marathon.

That’s right, I said 10 hours.

So much to do in 10 hours: check the batteries, inflate the tires, don’t forget the helmet, which lenses to bring, one camera or two? Tough call, I’ll bring one. Do I have enough memory?… Sleep?…

I covered the race this year on a mountain bike for the newspaper and I must admit, I was feeling a little bit left out of the loop not having trained enough to actually run the race.

My last marathon was in May in Ogden and since then, the motivation has been, shall we say, absent. I’ve run since May but never more than 15 miles a week and I really can’t say I have been that excited about running.

Motivation is a huge factor in running and I have officially reached a low point in this area. Oh, there are other things I am motivated by, ironically also beginning with “M”, McDonalds, M&M’s, Mormon Muffins and Macho Nachos.

After much thought, I think the reasons for this slump include the fact that I haven’t registered for anything I need to train for.

Has this happened to you? I’m sure there are tons of folks who need no motivation at all to run, no races, no weight goals, no speed goals. I’m just not one of them.

So spill it, what motivates you to get through the alarm, the mattress off your back, and out the door? For me, I guess I need to sign up for something. What’s your secret?