Motivation

mo·ti·va·tion/ˌmōtəˈvāSHən/

Noun:

.        1. The reason or reasons one has for  acting or behaving in a particular way.            2. The general desire or willingness of someone to do something.

Motivation is a funny thing. It’s a word that just about everybody will apply to their self on a daily basis. We all have this is common. However, where a lot of us differ is our motivating factors.

A motivating factor for one person may be positively de-motivating for the next. Learning and accepting what your motivating factors are and using them can go a long way in achieving one’s goals.

Fear of failure is definitely the biggest of my motivating factors. This is why I usually go public with my goals and expectations of my races. In my mind, if I don’t meet these goals then I’ve failed and everyone knows I’ve failed. This gets me out training and also keeps me going in races when all I really want to do is stop.

A friend made a comment last week whilst congratulating a mate of his who broke 1:30 for a half marathon, as it being something that both him and I had tried and failed at. He knew this because I did my usual Facebook/Twitter/Blog trick of telling everyone I knew (and a lot I didn’t know) that I was gunning for a sub 1:30 in the MK Half Marathon in March and I missed it by about a minute. I had failed and everyone knew I had. I was just about over it (but not quite!) when he unknowingly re-opened the wounds. Lol

So, what did I do that evening? I had a scheduled 1:30 run to do anyway so I made sure I ran more than 21.1km whilst doing it, I actually passed the HM distance in 1:28:56. It was on a treadmill so doesn’t really count as a half-marathon PB but it made me feel better. J

Of course the silliness of proving that point knackered my legs for 2 days but that didn’t matter.

Hence the major reason and title of this blog. Yes, I’m probably bigging myself up a bit with my lofty aims and I know there will be those who read my blog who will think I’m being over-confident and will be willing me to fall flat on my face. I’ve had a couple of emails from friends who think my target times are beyond my ability, but all that does is invoke another motivating factor: “wanting to prove people wrong”.

Another major motivating factor for me is competition. I usually get involved in “Smackdowns” with friends around my ability doing these races. The way it works is you can either issue a Smackdown or accept a Smackdown off a rival. Once a Smackdown pact has been made, all manner of trash-talk prior to and during a race is expected. It’s all good natured fun but it does add spice and having people to chase or knowing that others are chasing you really does push you harder during the race. 

Let’s face it, I’ll need all the motivation I can get over the next few months to get myself into the shape I need to be in standing (or treading water to be more accurate) on the start line. Once the gun goes, I shouldn’t need any more motivation than the carrot that’s waiting for me at the finish line.

TTFN!!