Now, why should that be a big thing?
Well, to me it was. I always hated running.
But then I came to a certain point in my life (maybe I'll write about that in another post) where I had to make some major changes, a major difference in my lifestyle. And everything in my surrounding was telling me that I need to start moving, faster. I came to a conclusion that I need to charge my cardio-vascular system and fasten my blood circulation in order to somehow start cleaning all the waste that must have started accumulating in my blood vessels and entire body actually. I wanted to start restoring my body’s functions and abilities back towards its normal state. Fasten the blood circulation, stretching and flexing my spine, accelerating the fatty tissue and toxins removal, healthy greasing my body, especially my dry skin spots (dandruff, rash and eczema). As I already wrote in another post, as no diet actually works, I refrained myself from ‘buying’ another one, but instead I started to read and reflect a lot on the topic, always extremely doubtful and always trying to verify everything and see for myself.
So I decided to show my stubborn nature and conquer... my 'stubborn-self'. (a crucial first step!) I decided to start running. I have to start and I’ll just improve and add on the way – movement, food, sleep periods, etc. As I already tried to start to start running a few times :), I knew exactly that it’s not that hard to try, but a lot harder to persist on it. In the past I usually came up with countless excuses before and during a run, so this would just worsen the experience and drop the amount of my remaining motivation. I needed something stronger than my excuses. I tried with some selected good music many times. This time I chose some specific stimulative music which I always loved to listen to, with a little distinction this time - that I could only listen to it while running. So, if for example I wanted to listen to AC/DC's Thunderstruck, I could only listen to it during my running sessions and I had to wait to hear it until there was time to go to run.
I started in March 2017 and I made it almost till the end of the month. :| That was actually a win for me. But then I somehow ran out of all that good music that I wanted to listen to again and again and again. At that time I ‘accidentally’ ran into an awesome motivational music video. It was so subtly designed that it made me want to do something - go running and to test that power of motivation. And I did. The music video (saved as audio recording on my phone) managed to drown all my inner search for all the reasons and excuses for not to go running. And what I loved the most was that the recording did not dictate any tempo which I potentially couldn’t follow and would make me exaggerate or even hurt myself. All it did, was actually encouraging me not to give up, whatever tempo I was running at, not to stop if it’s not overly too hard and to squeeze as much as possible energy out of me and finish the distance I decided to finish - of course within the reasonable limits.
WOW, I still get the shivers remembering the incredible feeling after that run. I ran 1,5km with 100m inclination and back. And the most incredible thing – I wanted more, to go back even though I was exhausted.
Why I am writing this now? It’s been almost a year and I run almost every day. During that time I also tried several different things – motivational audio/video, audiobooks, podcasts, music,... I realized that I started getting bored again. I switched to music and finished listening to Rammstein – very stimulative, but I’m still slowly losing motivation, again. Today I decided to run with the ‘old good’ motivational audios and was literally shocked. It still gets me the shivers after all this time. These motivational audio/videos are full of extraordinary quotes, motivational speech, stimulation and they still make me want to do it all over again.
Good, saved by the bell, again. ;) But not to worry, I don’t intend to stop, I just need to ‘spice it up’ a little from time to time.
And if you need more motivation for running, I'm sure these can give you some and help you endure. If it'll help you overcome the hard start - it must be worth a try.
I warmly recommend the following:
Nothing more powerful than a human with a purpose
The hero in you (my favorite)
Be Powerful
I refuse to settle for less
Workout motivation
Prime your brain for success
I lost 20kg by running and adjusting my diet - you can read more in my PREVIOUS POST. Now I have to 'slightly' reshape my body. ;)
P.S.: One more thing - outdoor running, especially in nature beats fitness and treadmill every time, even in rain or snow. So, if you have a hard time running, you have to try it outside!
Thanks a lot for taking your time and reading my post! I’d be happy to see your thoughts in the comments.
X-Sample