That Final Push Out Of The Door

This week I’m finding that just having put my name down for a marathon is not enough to get me up at 6am every day to run.

Motivation doesn’t magically arise from the fact that I have to run 26.2 miles on 6th May. Or perhaps it did for the first few weeks of training, but now I’m tired, so tired. I need to mix up my motives:

1. Background Motivation

I love running. I love being a runner. I love having been for a run. I love telling people I’ve just been for a run. I love eating twice as many biscuits because I’ve been for a run. I love being able to fit into my clothes and not having to buy new ones. I love the feeling you get when you’re 10 minutes, or 40 minutes, into a hard run when it suddenly clicks and you feel invincible. I love seeing the seasons change. I love being outside. I need to remember this in February when it’s dark and cold and I have eaten all the pies and even though I’m running nearly 40 miles a week my jeans are still tight.

2. Training Goal

I am going to run a marathon in 3:30 this year.
I am going to run a marathon in 3:30 this year.
I am going to run a marathon in 3:30 this year.

3. The Final Push

If I get up now and run it will be done and tonight I can come home and fall asleep in the middle of my dinner. If I get up now and run I can eat three slices of that delicious bread I bought from the farmer’s market on Sunday for breakfast, with proper butter not flora light. If I get up and run today it will make it harder not to get up and run tomorrow.

If I don’t run today, I won’t make my mileage for the week. If I don’t run today, I will have to run tonight when I’m hungry and even more tired. If I don’t run today, it will be easier not to run tomorrow.

I wrote most of this yesterday, after I had got up to run – an interval session no less – when I really didn’t want to. I am finishing it today, when I didn’t get up to run. I will run tonight.