Determination keeps you going
Whether your goal is to get healthier, fitter, leaner or stronger, reaching your goal all comes down to one key factor: determination. Last weekend, the ASICS FrontRunners account asked me if they could use one of my pictures for an Instagram post. First of all, how cool is that?! Full disclosure: I am not significant on Instagram at all so this was a very cool thing for me. Yes, I did a happy dance… The caption of the post? Motivation gets you out the door, determination keeps you going.
It inspired me to write a post about the role determination plays for me and what this dedication to my goal means in daily life. Because saying you want to run a marathon is one thing, training for it and adapting your life choices is a whole new deal. It means that sometimes, you need to say no to stuff you like, and sometimes to do things you don’t feel like at all.
Last week, I had a two-day training with colleagues from work. We were informed that other trainee groups had liked to work out before the second day, in the forest surrounding the location. That knowledge made me happy, because I had to cancel my track training on Thursday for this. I figured I could do a training on Friday morning with some other running junkies!
And we did… At seven in the morning, because breakfast was served at 8. Oof. I always wake up for work at 5.45am, but the last time I had a workout this early must have been 3 years ago.
Don’t we look all sporty and ‘runners highy’?! When we left it was pitch black outside so we kept together as much as possible and ran with flashlights on our phones :). Oh and yes, you can make fun of my overly red face haha! I always get red quickly, but the radiation therapy intensifies the effect!
But if you want to run a marathon… Whenever I don’t feel like going out in the rain (last Sunday), don’t feel like leaving my warm cosy blanket (last Tuesday) or have to rush from work to training to dinner, I remember why I want this. Why do I want this? It started out as a bucket list thing, running a marathon once. But it has transformed into a goal that means a lot to me. It can be difficult to feel strong and normal when your body doesn’t work the way you want it to. My hospital visits twice a week are always a reminder there’s something ‘wrong’ with me. But when I run, no one knows about this.
I can still put in the effort to become faster, to enjoy myself or to run a little further than the time before. Running a marathon is the ultimate reward for dealing with my disease: I can still do amazing things. And that is all I need to be determined, I will run a marathon regardless of what life throws at me.
Motivation gets me out the door, and if I temporarily lack the motivation, dedication keeps me going. And the funny thing? I always feel so much better after a run! I am able to get out of my own head and make space for other people, to be there for them as well.
When I can’t go for a run, I find alternatives to do something productive that gets me closer to my goal, training my core, legs, shoulders or booty at home for as little as 15 minutes gets me one step closer to a calm mind in a healthy body. This years’ ASICS slogan #SoundMindSoundBody is exactly what I live for. And you? What role does working out play in your life?
Running Ella 