What gets you moving?

It seems like every couple of months, Runner’s World publishes a “Motivation Issue.” I could use one of these every week. But for now, here are my own motivation triggers for running:

1. Sign up for a marathon. Once you spend the hefty registration fee, you can’t NOT train for a 26.2 mile run.

2. Sign up for a marathon with some friends. Now you really have to train, since others are counting on you.

3. Put on the jeans that fit you two months ago but are now cutting off your circulation at the thighs.

4. Borrow someone else’s iPod and go for a jog just to see what they have playing.

5. Take your son to any kind of practice at the end of the day when you really are not in the best of moods and are too tired and impatient for small talk with the other parents, so you need something else to do…like going for a run.

6. Remember that the Lemon Lime Gatorade tastes just like a margarita…and if you run far or fast enough, the endorphins at the end will make you feel like there were more than just electrolytes in that drink.

7. Look at ANY clothes catalog…where all the models are size zero with C-D cups making everything look perfect on them…and then when you try the outfit on, you just look plain fat.

8. Remember that when you’re running, you’re ALONE…with no whining, screaming, ungrateful kids nagging at your side.

9. Get a sexy husband (like mine) who works around young, flirtatious, pretty women all day…not that he’s looking….but I see them.

10. Go bathing suit shopping. But warning, not only might you start running, but you also might stop eating.

Those are my motivational techniques for now. And although I’ve been running a lot these past few weeks, I haven’t dropped a pound, and my belly hasn’t shrunk an inch, the cellulite is still showing on my thighs and butt, and those too tight jeans are still too tight. Oh well….I’m trying.