Monday Motivation

I've got a few things for you runners today.  First, a quote I found while reading some running discussion boards.

"I refuse to tip-toe through life just to arrive at death safely."

Don't know who said it, but I loved this quote.  It can be easily applied to running, but to life as well. 

The next little bit of motivation or inspiration, would come from Runners World.  They occasionally showcase a celebrity who is a runner.  I'm not really into doing things because celebrities do, but if you look at them as just normal people telling their own running stories, as we do here on this blog, their stories are quite motivational and inspirational.  So click on the link below (they wouldn't let me embed the video here) and watch.  It's in the middle of the article, so scroll down a bit for the video.  If you keep watching, more running stories from celebs will come up.  Enjoy.

Runner's World I Am a Runner Videos


And finally, I wanted to share an article I found, also at Runner's World.  I find it very inspiring and it keeps me motivated to listen to this woman's story.  Enjoy! 

Shedding the Past

A former fat girl reinvents herself one mile at a time.

By Lisa Delaney  

Image by Jonathan Bartlett From the May 2009 issue of Runner's World

I felt no pain as I rounded the corner onto Columbus Circle, not far from the finish line of the New York City Marathon, my first 26.2-miler. It didn't have anything to do with the gel I'd taken earlier. It was the sound of my name echoing through the streets that made me forget the cramp in my left hamstring. This must be what it feels like to be a rock star making her debut at Madison Square Garden after struggling for years on the club circuit, I thought. I have arrived.

Of course, all runners who crossed the line that afternoon many years ago heard the race announcer call out their names. I wasn't anything special. Or was I?

Five years earlier, I had been 70 pounds overweight when I first stepped onto a dusty, quarter-mile cinder track in Austin, Texas, looking for a way to shed the powerlessness that I'd felt most of my life. At that time, I was the girl who ate until my stomach hurt, who pilfered cookies from the pantry by stuffing them up my sleeve, who never turned down a second helping. I was stuck with a poor self-image and was settling—for a "big-boned" body, for jobs I could do in my sleep, for being the passive partner in my relationships.

That night, on the track, I felt like an intruder. At 5'4" and 185 pounds, I thought I didn't belong. I took comfort in the darkness and decided to start with one lap. This was an exploratory mission, after all. I coached myself to take it easy. As I rounded the final turn, I took inventory: Nothing broken, nothing burst, heartbeat steady (relatively). So I tried another. And another.

I ended up running four laps. That's a mere mile—nothing to a real runner. But for me, it was like crossing four finish lines. Each lap was a cause for celebration, a reason to believe that, maybe, I can. Until then, losing weight had always been about "I can't." I can't have that piece of cake. I can't eat another Girl Scout cookie. But running was already showing me that I could set goals and achieve them. It was one big Yes.

I decided not to worry about my diet at first and just focus on running. I hit the track every night, adding a lap or so a week until I was up to five miles. Within a year, I dropped from a size 16 to an eight. I quit a dead-end job, went for the job I'd always wanted, and practiced saying no to other people and yes to myself. Eventually, I got down to 115 pounds, where I've stayed for about 20 years.

Running has transformed me, inside and out. It's as much a part of my identity as being a writer, or a mother, or a wife—maybe even more, because I truly don't know if I'd be any of those things if I hadn't toughed out that first mile. I still experience those rock-star moments, every time I make it through a 5 a. m. six-miler when I'd rather be in bed, or finish a hard set of intervals on the treadmill at the Y. There may be no cheering crowds, no medals, no booming baritone announcement. But the finish-line feeling lives on, in my head and in my heart.

Lisa Delaney, the author of Secrets of a Former Fat Girl, blogs at formerfatgirl.com.

What I take away from this article is that it's all about that first mile.  She started simply and that's all we need to do.  Just start, whether it be a 15 minute run or a whole mile.  Just start. 

Have a great week running everyone!  Also, some friends and I are hiking to Table Rock (in the Tetons) on Friday, fairly early in the morning.  If anyone wants to join our hiking party, let me know and I'll let you in on the details.


Happy Running!!