what gets you out the door?
Besides the pure joy I get from the activity, the main reason I run is very simple – to stay healthy. No big surprise there and I suspect not much different from most other runners.
What may be different between myself and some people is my resolve to keep running over the long haul. My motivation to keep running doesn’t waiver because I’ve had the good fortune (?!) of experiencing the opposite of being healthy. Not long ago, I went through a time when I was largely incapacitated with terrible back pain. There were times when I didn’t leave my home for days on end and when my back would cause me grief for weeks on end. People who suffer with constant pain, usually also suffer with depression and I was no exception. I remember the pain and I remember the depression like it was yesterday.
That memory alone will always keep me running.
Over the past few years, I’ve acquired some powerful new reasons to keep running.
Becoming a husband and father provides all kinds of positive reinforcement for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I’m 36 and have children aged six and two which means by the time “the boy” is 15, I’ll be 49 (ouch – that’s hard to think about!). I’d like my kids to have a dad who can run around a soccer field with them, shoot some hockey pucks and play catch. I don’t want them to have a dad who lays on the couch watching TV with a big gut hanging over his belt, complaining about his aching back and missing out on the joys of fatherhood.
Finally, one other very important thing keeps me going – my running buddies, Aaron & Tom, Corinne & Doug, Nick and Lesley (aka “Mother Goose”)!
What keeps you going?
