Staying Motivated

Training in Montreal between November and March is a less than comfortable enterprise, and I am a pretty good example of this, although I'm not exactly a fairweather runner anymore. I may be slow, and I may not have the so called natural runner physique, but I am determined and persistent. I do admit that I'm kind of getting tired of being at the receiving end of the predictable "at-least-you're-here" mantra shield of disappointment. That said, I don't have any real magic potion to stay motivated. In fact, as I write this, I am avoiding my treadmill training for the day.

E-V-E-N-T-U-A-L-L-Y doesn't have to be never.

Is just getting off of one's butt and out the door really enough? After years of running official races, I am trying to actually speed up. Actual. Speed. This is really hard to do without supervision as I'm discovering. And so I have been training on a track at McGill University here in Montreal with about 20 Elite Athletes. Seriously elite. And, serious. And elite. They are very sweet, and awesome in their physicality and commitment. In fact, my worst fear is that I'm just in their way, but they very generously high five me after a session. In French, we exchange a few "bravo" and "bon travail" comments. For a nano-second, I almost feel like I'm one of them. It's a weirdly good feeling, this almost being part of them feeling, that I wish could last longer. In my most paranoid moments, I think these runners must sense that I'm on fragile ground. Or that I'm oblivious.


All of that whining aside, I've just signed up for The Pacific Road Runners First Half in Vancouver to be held February 10, 2013. I am taking a sabbatical from my college for next term and by the time the race is run, I will have spent several weeks on a solidarity project in Nicaragua, and New Years in Belize. I will have also, hopefully without too much pain, run my actual first half marathon of 2013 in Miami. I am trying to take ten minutes off of my time in each of those races. It may seem self-evident that to run faster, one simply needs to (ahem) run faster. Wish it were that simple.Same goes for staying motivated, I guess.

Until then, I pray to the running mojo deities that I remain injury free.  Happy running...and all saints day too.