Chased by slugs

Okay, here's the thing.  In all honesty, my major motivator to run has been to stay ahead of those 20+ pounds that I lost over three years ago which have been chasing me ever since.  I literally run from them.  If I stop or slow down, they WILL catch up and attach themselves permanently onto my pear-shaped lower half.  My minor motivator has been an effort to stay within a certain range of fitness so as to be able to participate in running events in an acceptable manner because those events are so.dang.much.fun!   And that's it.  Do I run because I love it?  No.  Only that I LOVE what it does for me.

Since the advent of our 10 week fitness challenge, just over 9 weeks ago, I have been successful in losing approximately 8 pounds so far, placing me solidly in my pre-30s weight range.  Yes!  Ta-da!  But my brain has wandered onto the thought that I don't NEED to run as much.  The fitness challenge works!  If I just stay in a fitness challenge forever, who needs running?  I could just walk - which is much easier and actually IS fun to do, regardless of the benefits.

This new thought is a bit unsettling.  I KNOW of the power of motivation.  It drives everything I do.  Without it, I would most surely turn into a big useless SLUG.  And I'm not just talking about diet and exercise ..... everything I do is because I'm motivated to do it.  Think about it.  It's true for you too.  And we can only hope that our motivation is good, meaning we're not motivated by greed, pride, jealousy, etc., and instead we are motivated by integrity, love, righteous desires, health, size 6 jeans, and so forth.  Therefore, losing motivation to do something good, is not good.

Another motivator is habit.  They say to develop a habit, do it everyday for 30 days.  Yeah right.  For BAD habits, yes, it works quite well.  But good habits -- not so much.  I'm not sure how long one must do it for it to become deeply embedded in one's routine, but a month is definitely NOT enough.  I think we need to bump up the timeframe to a number ending in years.

Having been a runner for 3.5 years now ..... is it enough?  Have I developed a habit strong enough to carry me?  I don't know.  I WANT to be a runner for as long as I physically can, but I don't know if I'll want to RUN that long.  There IS a difference, you know.  I want to BE it, as opposed to wanting to DO it.  But wanting-to-be is also a motivator.

So even though I'm not currently being chased by unwanted pounds, I will always be chased by slugs.  Particularly a certain BIG one with my name on it.

Ee-yew ....