I read a motivational quote today that said “Take pride in how far you have come and have faith in how far you can go”. I really like that and it got me looking back at how far my running has come over the past 18 months in particular.

This time last year I was running 10km and it was a struggle for me and it took me a lot longer to recover after the run too. I had to be pushed very hard by some good friends & run leaders to make the switch from the 7km group at run club to the 10km group. I struggled with the 10km group and switched back to the 7km a few times so i could not say that I ran it with any consistency.

But when I became a run leader late last year meant I had to up the ante. There was no more getting out of the 10km runs and we also had a 12km which I needed to be ready for. After the first couple of 10km runs as a run leader I started to feel confident that I could make this distance more frequently. I think that was the beginning of what I now call categorise as a ‘short’ run. Our club also added a 12km course a few times and I even took 2 monday sessions for a 17km supercourse prior to the half marathon a few weeks ago.

How did this happen? I don’t really know. I guess I just never stopped running and I always put my hand up to have a go. Like they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

So the last part of the quote was to have faith in how far I can go, and after struggling with my long run last sunday (see previous post) I was feeling pretty deflated, but i’m not going to let it stop me. Instead I’m going to change the scenery for my long run this weekend and try to trick my brain. Then maybe it won’t know what i’m up to and will have lots to look at and think about to help me have a good run. Let’s see if it works.

I’d love to hear about what motivates you? What do you do to stay on track, or get yourself back on track?