Boldly running where I've never gone before

I’ve recently been looking for a mantra that I can recite to myself to keep me moving forward.  When I was in medical school, I used to repeat “failure is not an option” over and over because it really wasn’t.  By the time I’d taken out all those loans, I had no choice but to succeed.  I couldn’t have paid them off on a secretary’s wages and I would have been so embarassed by failure, I would have had to leave town.

My quest to be an athlete is dissimilar in that I will never fail as long as I never quit.  The physical activity is its own reward as both the means and the end.  What I need is something that will make me push myself to go longer, farther and harder when I think I can’t do it.  It needs to be inspirational but not schmaltzy and matter-of-fact but not macho—–somewhere mid-spectrum in between Louise Hay and Jillian Michaels, I guess.

I have a couple of cool quotes stuck to the side of my fridge alongside my recent racing bibs:

“When you have the enthusiasm and the passion, you end up figuring out how to excel.”
– Deena Kastor

and

“If you’re starting out or trying to get to the next level, surround yourself with people who keep you motivated and energized–people who inspire you to achieve your best every day.  When you do this, you can’t lose”
– Anthony Famiglietti

Now these are both just great and they give me a rush every time I see them, but they’re not exactly chantworthy.   A mantra needs to be something that can gush forth through clenched teeth in lieu of vomit when I feel like I can’t go another step; something I can repeat with every determined footfall as I stride to victory; something that can fit on a T-shirt if I ever became famous.  And I’m still searching for it.

Today’s training session was a brief but enjoyable trio of short workouts with Fred.  We rode the bikes for about 30 minutes, then walked the dogs a couple of miles, then went downstairs and did a quick upper body weights workout followed by a bit of half-hearted corework.

We rewarded ourselves by going to see “District 9”, the new sci-fi movie that came out today, at the new theater complex they built at the local mall.  It was a good movie and the seats were so comfortable.  Then we came home and ate pizza.  I didn’t put mayo on it like Bill Rodgers but did have creamy garlic dressing on my side salad.  Gonna have to run an extra mile tomorrow for sure.

More to come…