Motivation

I worked out alone this morning. My plan was to run 3 miles outside and then do some core work at the club. I changed my mind and decided to run a hill on the treadmill. Just one hill. I warmed up for one mile and then set the incline to 15% and the speed to 4.0 mph. I imagined I was running up the long gravel hill after the 10K mark in the Afton race. My practice one mile hill took 15 minutes at that slow speed and my HR was in the 144 to 150 range. I won't run the hills like that in the race.... I'll do more of a run/walk up the hills.

On to motivation. While running my hill I was thinking about my motivation for running. Part of my motivation is that my Mom used to run. She passed away in '96 but years earlier she started running when she was about 50. She ran small-town races and had several age group wins in 15K and 10 mile distance. I didn't run then and I'm not sure if I ever watched my Mom run a race. Those years I was in college or working out of state or down here.

About five years ago I started getting back into shape and lost ~35 pounds. I still was not a runner but worked out quite a bit at the club. A few years later, just before I turned 46, I decided to try running. It was so hard in the beginning and the first 10 minutes of each run was very uncomfortable. There was no doubt what my first race would be. I was going to run a 2-mile race in my hometown. Race day came and I ran a 14:34. At that point in time I had only run outside a total of 20 miles and maybe 50 total miles. I was 2nd in my age group and the guy (Scott) that beat me was someone I knew as a kid. He always wins his age group.

I was determined to beat Scott the next year. I trained as well as I could as a beginning runner and my only goal was to beat Scott. So it was race day again. Scott and his buddies were lined on at the left side of the start, I was on the right. Then off we went. About 1/3 of a mile into the race I passed Scott and he never caught me. I finished in 12:56 which ended up being 1:12 ahead of Scott. Yeah, baby!

I was sitting on a bench during the awards ceremony and there were 2 women sitting on a picnic table behind me. At about the time the 2-mile awards were starting, one woman said to the other "This is where Scott will get up". I was thinking to myself "Wrong, lady. This is where I will get up!" My 7th grade gym teacher called my name and was smiling widely as she handed me my medal. I was proud of myself and knew my Mom would have been proud of me too if she were there. I was very happy to have gotten a 1st place age group finish as she had done years earlier.

That motivation and personal success has continued and today I stretch my goals to longer and longer distances. What I enjoy about running now is being able to train with my friends. I look forward to running with them several times a week, talking about future goals, races, current events, and normal chit-chat. I can't wait to get together with them for a 12-miler on Friday.

--Mark