The Numbers Game

(Heads up! Short run, Long post. Math is a funny thing ...)

There's a saying that is something like: People are in your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. Oh, my gosh, how easy is it for me to apply this line of thought to my consistent mental scramble to motivate myself to run?!

For as much as I have come to enjoy running these last three years, I am always concocting different forms of motivation to do so. From the serious to the seemingly absurd, my mind is always going!


Sometimes I forget I really can do this -
Then I see my shadow, and I think,
"Hey ... that's me!!" Dorky, but true ...

Reason: Sometimes, I use as motivation a moment like yesterday's quest to acquire more for the b.b. collection. Such inspirations don't tend to have staying power, but they're fun!
Season: Other times, I have a specific plan because I have a long run coming up (ie: Half Marathon). Those goals take chunks of time, but they need to be revisited and revived.
Lifetime: And, you'd think the inherent health benefits of running would suffice on a daily basis, but, if that were true, wouldn't all exercise in any form always motivate? I rest my case. (Oh, but I DO have a goal to enter runs when I'm 70 and actually potentially place in the 70+ age group. Totally serious, and if it takes that long to bring home a plaque -- very possibly brought home because there were three or fewer participants in the age group -- then I'm all for it! See? Lifetime, baby!)

No matter the source of motivation, I'm always on the lookout for it!

To that end, this calendar year, I've decided to keep track of a few numbers at the top of the blog. I recently realized there are certain numbers that really happily drive me!

For instance, I find it very necessary to keep track of the money I find while I run because that's just excellent. In truth, I planned about a month ago to start that count on January 1. But, that was going to be that.

However, when I was reflecting on the year in terms of how many miles I'd logged, that estimated number itself was inspiring. I would have never, ever in my whole life said, "Oh, yes, I will totally run triple digit miles in a year's time." That just seems unattainable as a raw number!! But, the fact is, it is totally doable because I did it! Piece by piece. Big pieces, small pieces, they all added up! How cool is that?! Not only that, but the miles inherently span the reason-season-lifetime thing. No interpretation required, it's just there. Excellent.

Of course, I also had to credit Elly her miles. It's the least I can do (that and make keep her in fashion). I added keeping track of the number of days as a math function to get an average; days in and of themselves don't really do much for me, so let's move on.

What this really boils down to for me is that keeping track of progress and watching it grow by my own doing is really inspiring! And, the bigger the numbers get, the more motivated I'm going to be (I just know I work like that)! Perhaps there's a particular way to look at something or keep track of efforts you make that will make it more fun! It doesn't have to mean a thing to anyone else, just you. Do you want to keep track of how many days or hours you've put into a task, exercise or otherwise, and then reward yourself incrementally? Is a visual representation of your efforts what you need to inspire you? It sure works for me, so if it can trigger an inspiration in you, I wanted to share my reasoning for the numbers game!

One of these little gems never hurt in the process, either!

Rewarded even on a short run ... yahoo!!

See you on Rest Day! (No need to keep track of those ... just savor them!)