(Re)Motivated

RUNNING...

mo·ti·va·tion  

/ˌmōtəˈvāSHən/

1. the general desire or willingness of someone to do something

On Tuesday I wrote a letter to my dear friend, MOTIVATION.  In a nutshell, I let him know that I was missing his presence...big time.  I'm not totally nuts.  I do realize my motivation wasn't up in a cloud listening to my letter and waiting to respond.  But, maybe the running gods were listening.  Or maybe (and more likely) I just got lucky.  On Wednesday, the head coach of our high school track team emailed us to let us know that Olympic athletes Molly Huddle and Duane Solomon were going to be doing a photo shoot down at our track for Saucony, their team sponsor, and that we were welcome to come down to watch and meet them if we so desired.  WHAT?? As you would expect, I bee-lined it down to the track.  I had a feeling my buddy MOTIVATION might be down there hanging out as well.  Turns out, I was right.

Duane Solomon & Molly Huddle

Watching these two athletes run completely blew me away.  They are insanely strong, super svelte, ridiculously fast and....totally down to earth.  So freakin' cool.  They joined our team after the shoot to talk about running.  They discussed things like how and when they got started, what their typical day is like, and how they, yep, you guessed it, stay motivated.  I have never seen a group of 95 girls this excited and quiet at the same time.

LHS girls listening intently to what Duane & Molly
have to say about life as a pro runner.

After we chatted with them they signed photos and took pictures with our girls.  The buzz in the air was tangible and exactly what I needed.  I am a runner.  Not every day is easy.  Not every week is easy.  But I am easily motivated, or re-motivated in this case.  I am motivated by professional athletes who have such a true passion for their job.  I am motivated by my high school runners who love coming out to the track every single day, rain or shine, to work hard and get better.  And I motivated by the feeling I get when I am surrrounded by runners of all levels, all ages and all shapes and sizes each and every day because we all love this amazing sport.

Me & some of the distance squad with Molly (in the middle)

As it turns out, my buddy MOTIVATION never really left.  He just wanted me to remember how much I appreciate him.  

...AND MUSIC (always an instant motivator for me as well)

Listen to this:

Make It To Me - Manchester Orchestra & Grouplove 

NOTE:

“Make It To Me” is a collaboration between Manchester Orchestra & Grouplove. It will be available exclusively as a 12-inch single for Record Store Day, which will also include "Architect," a collaboration between Frightened Rabbit & Manchester Orchestra.

Record Store Day is Saturday, April 20th. For a list of participating indie stores, head to recordstoreday.com.