Motivation

Obviously, it's something I'm seriously lacking lately. The Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon in August is passing me by, and the Chicago Half in September is quickly looming as well. My hopes for running another distance race this summer are fading. But I ran yesterday and came across this interview that Nike+ did with Kara Goucher several years ago. She's a competitive runner who is married to another competitive runner AND she just had a baby. So she pretty much rocks. I've been following her for a few months now, and her personality seems pretty consistent with a real live human being.

Since I don't make money on this blog, I hope it's okay that I'm sharing some of her motivation with you guys....

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Getting ready for an event you've never run before takes a lot of preparation. Mentally, you just have to accept the unknown. You might not know exactly how you're gonna feel. You just have to be mentally prepared that it could go great and it could go bad but you're just going to get out there and see what happens. Same with the physical side. You're not sure what's going to happen so you just kind of have to go for it. Plan as best you can and then just, you know, get a lot of feedback when you're done.

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When you're racing there are physical and mental components every time you race. Physically, you're tired and your body is giving you signals that it wants to slow down or it wants to quit. Mentally you have to be able to tell your body, "No. You can keep doing this. You're strong enough. You're fit enough. So usually the mind is what helps you overcome the physical parts that are starting to tell you that it's getting long and tiring.

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I think that life is very challenging for everybody. Whether it's dealing with an illness in the family, or an injury because you're an athlete, or a job that you didn't get... Life is constantly throwing you challenges. I feel like all the challenges I've faced, and will continue to face, it just makes me who I am. Everything that you go through in life makes you stronger. There's always something positive that comes out of all negative situations. I feel like challenges are there for a reason and they make you a better person.

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I developed really bad race anxiety because I had been away for so long. Then I had all this self-imposed pressure when I finally did race. [I thought] that this was my one chance to show everybody I should be doing this. I really had to work through that. I realized that it's ok. There are plenty of opportunities in life and in running. No one race was the defining moment for me. When I finally was able to realize that, that no one race was going to define me as an athlete for the rest of my career, it opened my eyes to enjoy what I'm doing more. And to enjoy the experience of racing more. That really helped to alleviate a lot of the anxiety.