Sunrise Motivation
There’s a common saying that goes, “It’s not how many times you fall down that counts, it’s how many times you get back up.” And while I’m fairly certain American military leader George A. Custer wasn’t talking about running when he uttered those words, he certainly could have been.
Running is both as simple as tying up your laces and getting out there and as difficult as tying up your laces and getting out there. There are often many obstacles that come up in our day-to-day lives that keep us from hitting our running goals, from logging three or four runs a week, every week.
Those excuses are merely the reminders of a past life when Sunday mornings were filled with newspapers and croissants rather than Garmins and long slow distances.
It’s all so simple in theory. The reality is more complicated. Take, for instance, my friend Jayson. He asked for my help last fall to get him started at the gym and away from a life filled with ice cream and poutine. When we started training, he could barely run from telephone pole to telephone pole. Now he can pull off an 8k without problems, has lost 30 pounds and gained a sense of accomplishment. It hasn’t been easy. Living a healthy and active lifestyle is new to him and the adjustment has been tough at times. He has also had a chest infection, sinus infection, the stomach f lu and so many colds he has stopped counting. While these obstacles have slowed down his efforts, they have not completely derailed him. He always gets back out there, ready to go further and faster.
Sure, Jayson has come up with his share of excuses not to go for a run: I’m too tired. Forgot my running shoes. Didn’t set my alarm. But those excuses are merely the reminders of a past life when Sunday mornings were filled with newspapers and croissants rather than Garmins and long slow distances.
Jayson is starting to realize that running doesn’t just happen; you’ve got to get out there even when conditions are not ideal. Wait for perfection and you’ll still be sitting on your couch 20 years from now wondering when the planets will align. So when the excuses start pushing you down, pull yourself back up by embracing the best of what running has to offer: an ethereal beauty that connects body, mind and soul. That’s why one recent Sunday morning we headed to the Salt Marsh Trail, a former railroad line that cuts through Cole Harbour. Showing Jayson how privileged he is to witness the first light of day on a stunning trail, I knew would be the nudge he needed to fall in love with running just for the sheer beauty of it.
One gentle run to the soundtrack of lapping waves under the rising sun delivers enough motivation to erase a month’s worth of excuses. While Jayson might occasionally spend Sunday mornings at a hip coffee shop, now, at least, he’s wearing running gear and is still f lushed from a sunrise run.
Deborah Wiles, editor of Herald Magazine in Halifax, also writes CurlyGirlRuns, a weekly column about health and fitness. Follow her on Twitter @CurlyGirlRuns