What keeps me going…

Ok, so getting out the door is most times the hardest part of running but sometimes I lag in the middle of a run.    In the beginning I would try the grade school trick.  Remember that one?  Telling yourself that can run until that next tree or as far as the green mailbox.   You could take a walking break if you just reached the next block.     Sometimes it worked; sometimes it just made me cranky.     Finding myself cranky in the middle of a run was almost worse than lagging. 

As I can’t exactly use Pinterest while running to look at inspirational images, I needed something else.   A year or so back I stumbled across an article on Runners World by Christie Aschwanden about mantras.    It talked about how a key word or phrase could really get you back in the game.  Ok, so just words?  I could totally do that!  So I set out to make the perfect mantra.  I wanted it to be cool and maybe look good on a shirt.   Easy right?   Yeah, not so much.    I tried numerous possibilities that aren’t even worth remembering.   Some were famous slogans and some were horrible creations of my own.  Nothing stuck.

What finally ended up working sounded a lot like a little Disney fish.  Once I was out for a run and starting to drag, when I just started saying “Just keep running, just keep running”, over and over again.  Not sure where that came from but it worked!  I even made myself a screensaver for my phone.  Image

Anyone have any mantras of their own that they want to share?

9 thoughts on “What keeps me going…”

  1. “If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.” I read this online before my first half marathon last year and I always tell myself this when it starts to get hard to push forward during a run!

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  2. I love that! “Just keep running” i’m going to try that next time. I can’t wait to come back and see what other tips you have for running!

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  3. Its funny how the most simplest phrases are the ones that have the most inspiration or effect on an individual, especially coming from a Disney fish. Am guessing it was, “Memo?” Good job and keep up logging them miles. Number one thing to achieving anything is just simply showing up or in your case, making it out the door and taking them first couple of strides.

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  4. Trail running mantra: Ohm mani padme hum. All other running I am digging the music on my iPod and knowing that this run will get me ready for the next Hood to Coast relay.

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  5. Falyn, I went through a similar search for a mantra or cadence to keep my motivation (and speed, such as it is) up mid-run. Nothing profound or cool-sounding clicked for me, so I gave up. Then one day, while trying to ignore the pointless goosebumps I was getting on one arm and not the other (running makes my body freak out in a myriad of small, stupid ways), I remembered my Army brother talking on our ONE run together about cadences they use in the military. And I also remembered a goofy cheer from my time as a high school cheerleader (don’t judge me). So… here’s the monstrosity of a chant that stuck solidly in my brain and helps keep me goin when I need a mild distraction from how much I want to stop running:
    I don’t know but I’ve been told
    Rams make me lose control.
    Shake your body to the beat
    J-I Rams just can’t be beat!
    Sound off, 1, 2.
    Sound off, 3, 4.
    Sound off, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2… 3! 4!

    Make’s yours seem pretty profound, right??

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