What is your motivation??

Motivation is such a strange little thing isn't it? Sometimes we are heavily motivated for the "wrong" reasons and sometimes for all the "right" reasons. Sometimes we find motivation in things that we never planned or thought would become motivators.

Most all of us have motivation for our weight loss. Mine was two-fold. My friend Susan was doing WW and looking great and made it sound so easy. To this day, she is an awesome motivator. The other part of my motivation was to get healthy and be a healthy influence for my children. While my daughter begged for some of my yogurt mixed with Kashi, almonds, blueberries, and grapes, I realized that I am getting to this goal and it's a great feeling.

My motivation for running came from reading about people doing C25K and they were people like me. Not runners, not even athletes, but normal moms hoping to get a little fitter and follow an easy plan. When my friend Jennifer confided that she was in Week 6 and how awesome it was, I knew then and there that I could do it. Jennifer continues to motivate me to sign up for races together and buy cute running clothes. LOL! I'd like to think I contribute to her motivation also.

I have been running a new route about once a week and found the strangest motivation when I needed it most. Around 10-12 minutes into a run, I get bored. I'm not tired, just bored. I think I might have adult ADD, but that's a story for another day. Anyway, this route is near my home in an area in which I grew up. Every day after school, I rode to the pasture (cows) with my great-grandfather and sometimes when his work schedule permitted, my uncle. We had a great time. I loved going down there with them. After my great grandfather died, I would go with my uncle when he went sometimes and looking back, I learned so much on those rides. He taught me about cows, weather, what the yellow lines on the road meant (lol), talked about things he did when he was a kid, etc. When I got older, I would meet him down there every now and then and share a beer and just watch the cows. He loved that.

I have a couple of people at work that every now and then catch me in some strange habit (like eating salt out of my hand) and they laugh, shake their head, and tell me how strange it is to see him in me sometimes. He passed away 5 years ago and it's funny how sometimes it still gets to you.

When I get to around 13 minutes into my run, I come upon the pasture. It's gorgeous and full of grass, trees, cows, and horses. I pass the wreaths laid out at my uncle's birthday and the old tractor that I still remember them both riding me around on. It motivates me. I smile, pick up my pace, and move on. I think they would be laughing at me and why in the world running sounds fun. Not sure why, but it really makes the rest of my run more enjoyable.

Finally, I have found so much motivation from our weight watchers members at work. They are only a few weeks in, but their progress motivates me to stay on track. I don't want them to think this lifestyle isn't able to be a long-term thing. In training yesterday, lunch was provided as well as snacks. Them asking me about their selections was awesome. They are doing so well!!

So, what motivates you? family, money, friends?