Starting out walking, running and/or any combination or trying to make a comeback is never easy and when I first started my walking and running journey, I was so impressed at the mounds of motivation other people seemed to have. Somedays I’d think – what is wrong with me. I’m doing this thing but I don’t really want to do this thing and it doesn’t really feel good. But because I associated it with my well being, both physically and mentally, I kept moving.
The thing about relying on motivation, it’s based purely on feelings, feelings that often times are not enough to push you out the door. If you think of Motivation and Discipline as people, Motivation is the one in the room with big ideas and a big mouth to go with it – we all know the type. While Miss Motivation may have really really great ideas, her feet often wear out before they even hit the ground. She is all talk and no walk. Discipline however – that girl gets shit done. Day after day, discipline keeps you in the game and introduces you to parts of yourself you are proud to meet. Is motivation totally worthless? Absolutely not, we need her, she sparks the great ideas in the first place and makes them seem exciting but after that, we can’t rely on her for anything – especially not to get us across the finish line. What we need is a date with discipline. Self-discipline is the ability to regulate our behaviors and actions to achieve the goals we set. One reason we don’t have self-discipline is because it is human nature to run from hard and uncomfortable things. We would rather do the easy and familiar and so often times we remain stuck in a bad relationship waiting around on Miss Motivation to show up – blaming all of our failures on her.
For those of you asking how to become more self-disciplined? Number one for me is to write it out – exactly what is my goal and get really specific about it. Number two, you have to prioritize what you want to accomplish and make a plan on how to get there. Thirdly, know your weaknesses. What behaviors could sabotage my goal and what is my backup plan if something unexpected happens.
As I wrote out my goals for the coming year, I knew in my heart I wasn’t ready to completely give up on running. I mean how could I? I’ve committed a huge portion of my life to it through Coastal Race Productions, RunCRP, She Moves, Run Clubs, Training Groups and on and on. Being totally honest though, I wasn’t 100% sure where I stood with it either. Somewhere along the line Miss Motivation encouraged me to make 2024, my 58th year, the most epic year of my life and I began registering for races across the country ready to revisit my quest for all 50 states. She quickly began to fail me and once again I needed to turn to and rely on self-discipline. It’s been an up and down battle as I’ve slowly begun to rebuild my milage, I’ve taken it slow and honestly, I’ve felt discouraged. A running friend that has recently re-entered my world reminded me this past week that discipline will take us places that motivation can’t.
I thought a lot about what Dawn said to me as the week went on and as I made plans for my long run, I knew I had to push up beyond my magic number and see what would happen. I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect. Would it feel the same or would it be an 8 mile struggle and a heart wrenching let down at the end, one that might force me to decide my running days are over? I set my goal, my route and made my plan and early this morning with all the self-discipline I could muster I set out to see if the magic would come. I started slow and gradually picked up my pace and at the top of each mile I stopped to walk for 30 seconds and drink some water, doing everything I could to set myself up for success. At mile 6 I began to experience a lot of self doubt and questioned why I thought I was ready for this distance I mean I just started back at the new year and today is only February 3rd – what was I thinking. Yet, I had to know if I could and if I did how would it feel? Just before mile 7 I switched off the podcast I’d been listening to and changed over to one of my favorite playlists and that really helped! My pace grew stronger and I knew I’d be able to at least complete the distance and make it back home. Partway through mile 7 though just as I was rounding a curve, I glanced up to see the sun shining through the trees up ahead and much to my surprise there she was, gloriously rising up from the road to greet me like a dear old friend, almost embracing me to say I’ve missed you patting me softly on the back and whispering in my ear – you got this. It felt like a cleansing of sorts. My shoulders relaxed, my gait both softened and sped up as I settled into my stride. In that moment, I felt like I could go on forever and It Was Magic. As I turned on to my street embracing the high, I started fist punching the air in front of me like I’d just left the movie Rocky and almost ran right into my neighbor, he laughed and said if I didn’t know better I’d think you’d just won a fight. I smiled and said, I did.
Keep Moving Forward ~ JoJo