Motivation

...or lack there of.

Not being much of a winter runner or a fan of the treadmill, I was really hoping that registering early for an April 50K would motivate me to do more regular running over the last few months. Didn't work. Now that spring is on the doorstep, I'm finally getting excited to get out and hit the trails again. Probably too little too late for Chippewa, which will most likely be a power walk rather than a run, but I'm going to toe the line anyway.

Anyhoo, I decided to visit Stan Jensen's ultra site for some motivation, and found a bunch of fun quotes that might describe my upcoming experience:

"Those of us who finish near the back make the rest of you look good."
- Submitted by Tom Kaisersatt

"You'll be wistful for the "wall" of the marathon,
when you hit the "death grip" of the ultra."
- Bob Glover

"If you under-train, you may not finish, but if you over-train, you may not start."
- Tom DuBos credits Stan Jensen with this one

"Any idiot can run a marathon. It takes a special kind of idiot to run an ultramarathon."
- Alan Cabelly

"Last is just the slowest winner."
- C. Hunter Boyd

"Anybody running beats anybody walking, and anybody walking beats anybody sitting."
- Tom Bunk

"Your body will argue that there is no justifiable reason to continue.
Your only recourse is to call on your spirit, which fortunately functions independently of logic."
- Tim Noakes

"... slowed my pace to the point that I could have been rear-ended by a sleepy snail."
- Dave Olney

"I want to thank the rest of you for making me look normal."
- Gordon Ainsleigh

"Don't worry - you're supposed to walk the uphills."
- Shelley Black

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep."
- Robert Frost

"If you can't fly, then run.
If you can't run, then walk.
If you can't walk, then crawl.
But whatever you do, keep moving."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"You hear about how runnin' ultras is all mental; well, I sure wish it'd hurry up and get mental, 'cause it's feelin' awfully physical right now."
- Ken Loveless

"It's very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit."
- George Sheehan

"Start slow, then taper off".
- Walt Stack
(fellow 2008 shoot the moon runner Jim uses this one too, so it must work).

Hoping to get a good run in on the trails tomorrow - probably at Afton.