How to Motivate Yourself

Why a picture of a shoe?  I always say, "Just put the shoes on".  That's the easiest motivational tool that I have, it's a good pair of running shoes.  I wear Brooks Ariel shoes, they help with my flat feet.   Once the shoes are on, I can head out the door and have a good workout. If I look at the shoes, or think about the shoes in the closet and don't put them on or touch them, I won't work out.

It sounds so simple, but we all know when it comes to working out that it never is that simple.  There is always something else to do, whether it is actually important or not.  I need to eat dinner, I want to play with the evil dogs, I need to make 5 phone calls or I need to check my email and oops, now it's dark outside.  I know all the excuses, it's amazing that I have ever completed a race.  When I was in high school, I was not good at cross country and my old stand by excuse was that my shoelaces were untied, it was a great opportunity to stop and rest.  Terrible.

Encinitas Sunset, much like the one I saw tonight

What is motivational?  I am so fortunate, because I can walk out of my house and go for a run on the beach at low tide, or I can run along the road and still hear the waves crashing and usually see a beautiful sunset, like I did tonight.  That's motivational, especially when you see people taking pictures of the sunset.  I don't do that, I want to keep it exciting to see and I need to see it live, that is what gets me out of the house most evenings.  When I didn't live near the ocean, I would find nice places to run that were in parks.  I would look for wildlife, like deer or rabbits, that kept it exciting.  I would also notice the changes in the plant life from run to run.  It's nice to pay attention to the change of seasons on the runs.  Spring to summer to fall, one of my favorite runs that I could extend as far as I wanted to was from the Pennsylvania border into Delaware, in White Clay Creek Park.  Finding several good running routes to keep the workouts different is so important.  A good tool to use is mapmyrun.com, you can find popular running routes in your area and even add your own. 

What do you do to stay motivated?

Are you ready for the Olympics?

I have been watching the U.S. Olympic trials for the past two weeks.  It doesn't even matter which sport.  I am partial to Track and Field, but I have been watching diving, swimming and anything else that I come across. I loved seeing the clips from Ashton Eaton setting the Decathlon world record and so far I like watching all of the events, even the distance races.

The Olympics are always so inspirational.  The athlete stories, the agony of defeat, the drive to win and be the best in the world at something all add to the charm of the Games. That brings me to my point, the most disappointing bit of the trials had to be the drama around the Women's 100m dash 'dead heat'.  This situation got so many Americans excited about Track and Field and the run-off would have been one of the most watched 11 seconds ever.

Photo Finish

1. The USATF didn't have any provisions in place for a 3rd place 'tie'.
2. Jeneba Tarmoh declined to race against Allyson Felix for her spot in the individual race.

The options boiled down to both athletes selecting either a run-off or a coin toss.  If they don't agree, it's a coin toss. Or someone could concede their spot to the other, much like Michael Phelps in the 200m freestyle swimming race. He granted the opportunity of a lifetime to one lucky and talented swimmer, Ricky Berens.  I don't consider this the same issue because Michael Phelps has a gazillion medals and it's insane to compete in 8 events at the Olympics.

I understand leaving things to God, but this is the Olympics.  Fight for your spot, even if it is against one of the fastest women in the world today.  You trained for this and you never know what will happen, that's why we race.  Jeneba will be representing the United States as part of the 4x100m relay pool - but how does this leave the rest of the team?  I would want someone who wants to run hard all of the time.  Athletes are, by nature, competitive and who wouldn't want to race, even against a friend?

What would you have done?

Nonetheless, I am excited for the Olympics and I can't wait to watch.  Go USA!!!!!