What motivates you? Many of us say we want to exercise to be healthy, but when presented with an opportunity to workout, oftentimes we make excuses. The one that baffles me the most is saying you have had too stressful of a day to exercise. What? Don’t we all know that exercise relieves stress? I don’t understand it. In a way, I get it, because you have to exert yourself to feel better and you don’t feel like exerting yourself. But, you know that you will feel better, so why wouldn’t you do it?
The days I feel the worst are probably the days I get the best workouts, and feel the most fulfilled. So what makes me, and all dedicated runners for that matter, different from other people? What motivates me to get up before dawn and run in a downpour in 30 degree weather? Why will I go to the track and do a speed workout to the point of sheer exhaustion after a long day at work? How it is that I will purposely run up and down the streets in Church Hill or the hills on Riverside Drive on a weekend morning and love every minute of it?
I theorize that I am highly motivated because I see the benefits of running in my life. I am physically fit and proportional. I feel happy and well-adjusted. I don’t have any health issues. I eat a nutritionally balanced diet without any excessive high fat or sugary cravings. And I credit my running for all of these things in my life.
What good things can running bring to your life? You will not know until you try it! Next time you have a stressful day, use running to make yourself feel better!
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