What Moves Me

I must be crazy. What possesses a young woman, whose only background in running is chasing after a plastic disc, to declare that she's going to run a 10 kilometer race in the spring?

Especially in January?

I'm not sure I can rightly say what gave me the bright idea. The bus strike, as mentioned in my first post, was a good start. But to go from 'this is boring, I want to move faster' to 'let's run a 10K!' leaves a lot of bridging to be desired.

I knew I was going to have to make a financial commitment, so I couldn't just say, "I don't have the equipment, it's not worth it," or, "I haven't paid for the race, so I'm not obligated." But now I am. I have good equipment and gear, and I have obligated myself to the race by paying $30. Sounds cheap, perhaps, but I want to get my $30 worth.

What gets me out the door? To be honest, thinking about the race. When I think that I do want to run these 10 kilometers, I remember that there's hard work involved. And I can do it. I've had a lot of shifting of personal beliefs in the past two years, and one of the biggest is reminiscent of Barack Obama's campaign phrase: Yes, I Can, combined with another phrase batted about on TV: I'm Worth It (Dove).

So now I've committed myself financially, and I've rethought my personal value, and I'm out the door. There's gotta be something to get me moving, and keep me moving. A lot of it my music. When I listen to it, I have fun. Some people are purists - listening to music ruins their concentration. Not me, man. It's the thing that keeps me from thinking about running (which is very dull for me - there's only so many steps I can count before I don't care anymore). When I'm listening to music while I run, I mouth the words, I do little dances at red lights, I have fun with it. I don't suggest trying to do the Time Warp, though (the start is fine, but the pelvic thrust is a bit hard). Music has always been a part of me, albeit shut away recently, and now that I can incorporate it into something dedicated in my life, I find it's coming back to me too.

Speaking of Motivation, Runners' World has a hilarious series of articles called the Newbie Chronicles, written by Marc Parent, a self-admitted over-weight, over-40 year-old father who has recently gotten in to the running scene. His latest article that I read in RW's February issue, is on what keeps him moving - action movie scenes in his head.
Frankly, reading any of Mr. Parent's articles motivate me, because I think they're hilarious - even if I wasn't into running, I would enjoy his humour. I highly suggest it for a laugh.

And finally, what gets me back out there? Visualizing the end of running 10 kilometers, and that feeling of amazement, of excitement and pat-on-the-back. At night, as I lay in bed trying to sleep, my brain keeps me up with visualizing the end of the run. I take part of my visuals from John Stanton's book, as he describes visualizing the race - ending strong, feeling in charge, and hopefully, very hungry! If I don't watch it, I might just get up at that point and go for a run! But the PJs aren't waterproof, and it's cold outside, so I tell myself, "Tomorrow, we're gonna have a great run."