Get Off The Couch
Sometimes just a simple picture can motivate us to get into gear. I took this photo while traveling from Salt Lake City back into Nashville after the 2011 California International Marathon. I was a bit disappointed in my race result.
I ran a 2.32.24 to finish 49th overall within the race. I had hit the halfway point (13.1 miles) in 1.09.42 getting passed by the chase pack who consisted of a few American who went on to qualify for the 2012 US Olympic Marathon Trials.
I was just about on goal pace (5.18 per mile) but could not sustain the pace from mile 16 to the finish. We still need motivation when we hit a few road blocks along the way to achieving our goals.
If you are setting easy goals for yourself than you may continually succeed but there is far greater power in taking risks and asking much more out of yourself, rather than make easy goals that really don't challenge you.
World renowned Physical Therapist and former 7-time Irish National Triathlete Champion, Gerard Hartman, said it best in his new book, Born to Perform.
A racehorse may have a laid-back disposition, and be slow to get moving and slow to gallop, but when cajoled, when warmed up, he may be able to run faster and further than the rest. Another racehorse may be biting at the bit, frothing at the mouth to get going, but that does not guarantee he is any faster than the laid-back horse.
Horses for courses, as they say, but the person with drive, who is positive, who loves what they are doing, will nearly always succeed.
If you have not already, I highly encourage you to purchase this book.
It was written by not only one of the world's top triathletes but someone who has shifted all of their energy from athletics into other pursuits. Keep the above photo in mind when you feel sorry for yourself.
What is something you can do today to inspire yourself, to have someone see what you are doing, see you in action and plaster your photo up on a billboard somewhere?
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