My kids laughed, as I layered my socks with plastic grocery bags preparing to set out on a midweek training run. I googled “how long can I be outside before I get frostbite?” The answer is: 40 minutes on the 7 degree wind-chilled day. Snow was completely covering the ground and the outside air so cold my eyelashes were frozen together; I briefly thought to myself, “My neighbors must think I’m crazy.”
Truth be told, I don’t care how crazy I look. I won’t miss a training run. I have a marathon time in sight and there is a lot of work to do to get there. Here’s the thing, anyone can run when it’s warm and sunny outside. Anyone can set big, hairy, audacious goals and chase those goals when it is convenient. Anyone can consistently crush goals when the motivation station is bountiful.
The question is: when obstacles stand between you and your goal, all the hype and motivation run dry, will you do what it takes to keep pushing forward?
If you are a current 413 member, what were your goals going into this quarter? Of course you know them, because they are written on the goal wall of the gym. I love this wall! Your goals are in sight for your peers, for your coach and for YOU. We all know what you’re chasing and what a joy it is every time a member checks one of those goals off. Motivation is a fleeting feeling, like all other emotions, even determination has to be decided on. Accountability however, always has your back! Accountability always, always, always propels you forward even when you don’t feel like going. Accountability reminds you of what you said you wanted to do and encourages you to push a little more.
Who currently holds you accountable? A coach, yourself, a spouse, friends? How successful have you been in setting your goals and achieving them? Final question, did you allow yourself to be pushed when you lacked motivation? Bottom line, big goals are supposed to be hard. If it were easy, everyone would do it.
Not one single part of me enjoys freezing my rear off to get training miles in. In addition to battling the cold, I often find myself running the same boring loop around my neighborhood because being a solo mom means staying in close proximity to the house.
By no means am I super mom.
I simply choose to not quit. I am determined to do the hard things because my kids, who are my biggest motivations, are watching me! Not one single ounce of my being enjoys redundantly passing the same houses, mile after mile after mile, but it is what I have to do.
I busted back into my house, grinning from ear to ear, telling the kids how proud I was of myself. I couldn’t believe I actually braved weather and completed my run! Lydia, my 9 year old, without hesitation told me, “Of course you did, mom. That is just what you do.” That my friends, made it all worth it. I pray my kids believe that they too can push beyond what they are capable of and set big, hairy, audacious goals too! Hear me please, you are meant for greatness. Don’t settle. Go get some big goals!