Running Motivation or Discipline

So, if you spend 2 minutes trying to research how to get motivated, you will quickly come across people saying that you can’t rely on motivation, you have to be disciplined. And I guess that’s true, but I don’t think that this means you shouldn’t try and be motivated. Discipline, means you go for a run when you had planned to, never-mind that your day at work was more tiring than usual, or the commute took longer, you just go. Motivation, means you have a reason to go running when it’s cold, wet, too hot, you’re too tired. It also means you have a long term goal and you use that too balance everything. If making yourself go for a run today would be damaging to your goal or to your health (physical or mental), then go tomorrow.

So be disciplined, but use your motivation.

Committed

So I have signed up for the Bath Half Marathon 2020!! Now I have a commitment which makes it easier for me to keep going. I signed up when I got back from work and then went for a 5k. It wasn’t a great run, but knowing that I have to build up my miles kept me going.

Where I live there is a cat that often sits on a bridge over the canal where I run. I call her Bridge Cat. Today she was there as I finished and I gave her head skritches as my reward! I’ll have to take a picture of her next time I get chance, she is a local celebrity!

London Marathon 2019

How do you motivate yourself to run?

I watched the various race starts this morning as my motivation. I like to see the impressive athletes, who show that the human body is capable of, but I love seeing the people in fancy dress and all the people out there just doing it because! Once the mass race was on, I put on my kit and went for my run. Someone I know of was running the London Marathon but in the elite category. Just before I left the house he had done 5k in about 16 minutes. I was planning on running for 30 min, and I would have been ecstatic if I ran 5k in that time. I didn’t, but I wasn’t far off. It was a great run though, 30 minutes non stop and out and back and I explored a canal path further than I had been before. One week done, now to keep going.

30min 4.79k