Evil, Thy Name Is Bed!

I have been dealing with a motivation problem.

I feel awesome during the day, ready to run once I get home from work and then I get home. And I see: My Bed. My best friend/worst enemy. Giver of rest and taker of time.

Hello Pillows. Hello Blankets. Hello Mattress.

It's a problem.

But the thing about me is, I'm a problem solver. In theory.

So here are the solutions that I have come up with/am putting into practice.

1. Get up in the morning to run. - This eliminates my get home from work collapse into bed problem. But a new problem arises: my alarm goes off and I want to keep on sleeping. Which can then be fixed by solution number 2...

2. Get a running buddy. - AKA Shelila, one of my BFFs from elementary/middle school. She recently moved in with my other BFF Pattserella who lives down the street. Now that she lives close by, it's pretty easy to arrange to get up just a little bit earlier once or twice a week to go for a quick 30 minute run. We've already done it once, and I found it really helped. She kept me paced pretty well too which is great cause I tend to sprint straight out and then can't keep it up. But at some point, Shelila might want to sleep in so that brings me to solution number 3...

3. Join a running group. - I was a bit hesitant about this one. I was (and still am) concerned about my pace. I know I'm not very fast, in fact I'm pretty darn slow. I don't want to slow anyone down and I certainly don't want to be the slowest person there. So I went into one of the local running stores and talked to them abut what groups they had set up and if they were appropriate for beginners. The guy I talked to anticipated my concerns and guaranteed me I would not be the slowest one. He also said that he was a pacer for a Galloway group and that they practice that during some of the group runs which really helped me feel confident about wanting to try the group out. Plus, it's right by my work and starts 30 minutes after my shift ends so it must be fate, right?

So that is my plan. Get up early to run, both solo and with Shelila, and start going to a running group where I will hopefully make more running buddies!

Also, less than 2 weeks until Expedition Everest! I'm going to be running as a team with my sister-in-law (I'll be dressed as Anna and she'll be dressed as Elsa) and I'll be doing a recap for another blog so stay tuned!

How do you stay motivated?