Week # 1; Day # 2

Day # 2 of training; scheduled to do 6 miles...check, 6 more in the books!

Weather at run time: 79 degrees; humidity 73%; yielding a heat index of 82 degrees. A little muggier than Tuesday, but at least it's overcast with a slight breeze!

Today we are up to Lesson # 5: Get Motivated. Motivation and determination pretty much go hand in hand in my book, but I think motivation carries that extra element of emotion. You need to find out what motivates you to do this for 18 weeks and make that your inspiration and drive to keep you going. There will be days, maybe lots of them, when you'll want to blow off training - think of your motivation!

For my first marathon, the biggest motivator was simply finishing. Many times during my long training runs I would visualize what it would feel like to cross that finish line at the end of my marathon - that was inspiring to me! And believe me, when that moment arrived, it was an awesome feeling - such a sense of personal achievement! But in subsequent marathons, when I knew I could do the distance, motivation got tougher to find - especially last year for some reason.

Every year however, there are two things that never fail to motivate me:

1. When I read marathon results online or in the newspaper and I see where a 72 year old person ran a marathon - and did it faster than me - that motivates the heck out of me! I mean, if they can do it at 72, then I have no excuse at 52!
2. I read a quote once in a marathon article that said "Only one-tenth of one percent of the world's population has ever finished a marathon" - that is a pretty exclusive club, and that motivates me as well! Have no idea if the stat is accurate or not, but I like it!

So...when you're out there on the road, thinking about somewhere else you'd rather be (like anywhere else!), think of your motivating factors and use them to keep you moving!

Todays "Song of the Blog" for your running MP3 pleasure is: I Love Rock and Roll by Joan Jett.

Ciao for now - more tomorrow!