My Extra Motivation Arrives!

My training t-shirt and 26.2 crab sticker

Just had to share my new gear that arrived. I also just finished reading one my favorite running books ever for the second time. The Non-Runner's Marathon Guide For Women by Dawn Dais. I love this book!

This book is perhaps one of the best reads for anyone who is not a gifted athlete, but is looking to make a change in her life. I actually bought this when I first decided to train for the Baltimore Half Marathon last year. I found it was an easy read, but that it mixed humor and sarcasm with realistic and good advice. What I found most refreshing about this book is that it is written from the perspective of a woman who is not in love with running. She actually chooses to run a marathon as a way to honor her grandfather who passed away from a stroke. She not only includes advice from everything to how to start training to different strategies for completing a long distance run, but she also includes many of personal journal entries that describe her experiences. Not all the experiences she has are enjoyable, but her take on running is real. She highlights both the ups and downs of training through her story. I have taken more away from her book in regards to advice then I have from any technical manual. But as the author conveys throughout the book, she is by no means a running expert, just someone who completed an actual marathon.

So back to my "extra" motivation. I bought the 26.2 sticker and I am going to hang it on my refrigerator, much like I did with the 13.1 sticker a year ago. To be honest, even though I had training set backs last summer and had to stop training mid-August, my decision to run my first half marathon stemmed from three important facts:
1. It was a week after I turned 28, I really wanted to do something major for my 28th birthday.
2. I had that damn sticker, and I really really wanted to put it in on my car.
3. Half-marathons aren't cheap, and I missed the cut off date to defer for another year.

I figured since last years sticker makes me feel super cool riding around letting everyone know that I can complete a fairly long distance, then the 26.2 sticker probably would provide the same motivation. What can I say, I am a person of simple wants and needs :-)

I bought the shirt because like in Dais' book she gives the advice to tell everyone that you know that you are training for a marathon as that extra motivation. She recommends this because she says nothing is worse than telling people you are doing something and then having to explain to them later why you have given up. I figure the same concept applies to a shirt. I will feel like a complete tool wandering around with a shirt on that says I am "in training" if I have in fact given up. Or, I will feel as thought I cannot wear the shirt because I did not complete the marathon. As we have learned from reason #3, I don't like to waste money. Plus, I can't take advantage of the awesome UA shirt in the swag bag. Anyone who knows me, knows that UA is my achilles heel.

So there it is, my less meaning and perhaps more amusing explanations for why I will keep subjecting myself for longer runs! Yes, not every reason is truly about self-fulfillment, even though some of it is. Planning on going for a run either this evening, or tomorrow. I hear the weather is supposed to be nice!

Well, happy running!