No matter how much you love running, you’re going to have days when you’re not feeling it. Sometimes these days can really interfere with your training plan. If you read our last motivation post, we gave you five tips for these days (check it out here if you missed it). Today’s tip is a little more simple, but a little more complex all at the same time. This concept comes from Simon Sinek’s Start with Why. The concept is simple. No matter what you’re trying to accomplish, you must first start with why you’re doing it. Sinek describes your why as “the purpose, cause or belief that inspires you to do what you do”. To find it, he says “all you need to do is to have the will and the desire to want to understand what drives and inspires you”. If you can truly figure out what the underlying motivation is for what you do, that will fuel you to continue on the hard days.
Earlier this week, we shared a story on our Facebook page about a mother, who has never been a runner, who is training for a marathon. She has a daughter with a rare genetic condition that causes almost constant seizures. She found that when she pushes her daughter while she runs, the movement and feeling of the air on her daughter’s face is one of the few things that brings a little relief. Her daughter is her why.
We’ve heard stories of runners with why’s from losing weight to proving they can do it with a disability. We’ve heard many people say their why is that they know how they feel when they don’t run. Maybe your why is that you signed up for a marathon to prove to yourself you can do it. Fitness trainer Chalene Johnson says to “only work out on days you want to feel good". Is that your why?
We challenge you this week to figure out why you run. Find your deepest motivation. When you wake up in the morning, remember your why, then get out and log those miles.