What  Is Motivation?

The process that starts, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors is what we define as motivation. Motivation causes us to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge.

It involves the biological, emotional, social, and cognitive forces that activate behavior. In everyday usage, the term motivation is frequently used to describe why a person does something. (http://www.psychology.com).

The section below is a story shared by Frances Loeb.

“Growing up, I watched my parents train and run marathons and I always enjoyed running neighborhood races with my family, but I didn’t start competitively running until the beginning of high school.  I was new to school and didn’t know anyone; joining the cross-country team with my twin sister got me through the hard transition. I still remember our first race when we just hoped to make it through the race without stopping to walk.

And I also clearly remember the first race in which my sister and I made “varsity” finishing 6th and 7th for our team. That season I went from a PR of over 25 minutes for a 5k to a 21:01. One thing I’ve always loved about running is there is always a new goal to set and you can measure your progress objectively with your times in each workout and race. 

Unfortunately, I suffered from various stress fractures throughout much of my high school career. I learned a lot of valuable training and injury prevention lessons from that time and faced only a few much smaller injuries since then. There is always more to learn, though with preventing injuries and I think much of what I could accomplish during my college career came from the help of my physical therapist and injury prevention techniques. My advice for people just starting a walking or running fitness program is to make sure you build slowly.

Repetitive stress injuries are not caused by the amount of training you’re doing, but by building too fast in your training. By being able to train consistently in college, I saw my 5k PR drop from 18:52 to 16:39—again, setting objective goals made a big difference.

Like working toward goals and injury prevention, having teammates is another part of competitive running that is really important to me. I never would have improved so much at Johns Hopkins without my teammates pushing me.

We won Division III cross country nationals the last three years in a row (my sophomore, & senior years) and I think what set our program apart from all the others was amazing coaches and our incredible depth. We had a huge team and each workout group had many people pushing each other on every rep. And once your teammates that you work out with every week break a running barrier,

it makes you confident that you can do it too, when otherwise you wouldn’t have set your goal so high. Racing with my teammates was huge for me. Having a group of people who I trusted so much to stand on the line with made me so much more relaxed and confident going into races. Now that I graduated from college, I am so grateful to have found the Georgetown Running Club to train with. 

It is an outstanding group of people who love training and racing and even after only running with them for about a month; I feel a strong team connection.”  Frances Loeb placed third at the Navy Air Force 5-Miler (Washington, DC, September 20, 2013) with a time of 29:45. 

Let’s take a journey and review what “motivation” means to others in their words. In the process of reading, you’ll develop your meaning or change your current thoughts.

Motivation can push you to be your best and it can bring out your fears. Does motivation lead you to dream about what you can do?

“Motivation is anything that inspires you to lace up the shoes and step out the door when it’s anything other than perfect weather,” Steve Taylor, Head Coach, University of Richmond

“Thanks for reaching out. So for me, the motivation to run and exercise is healthy. Even days that my body doesn’t feel like running, I know I will feel better when I’m done, so I go anyway, and I felt better. I don’t love running by any stretch of the imagination, but I love what it does for my body, mind, and spirit. If there is anything bothering me, I can clear my head while I’m running. If there’s a problem, I need to tackle it. I usually have a solution after a few miles. I feel physically and mentally stronger than ever. Consistent running and exercise have done that for me, and I could not be prouder of myself for sticking to it,” Vi Davies, preparing for her first marathon in November.

“When I think of motivation and running, I think of pushing myself to be stronger, fitter, more passionate than the day before. I am continually looking to expand my limits and boundaries and that gets me fired up and inspired. I want to be the best person I can be,” Michael Wardian, Ultramarathoner.

“I would define motivation as is anything that spurs you to take a specific action. What motivates me to run is the joy I feel in doing it (even though that joy doesn’t kick in until I’ve completed a couple miles), the sense of accomplishment I feel after I’ve competed a long run (takes even longer than the joy), the yummy high-calorie treats I allow myself after a run, (now for the more immediate motivation) the great people I converse with along and after the run, and the beautiful scenery I see along the way… I could probably fill 26miles with what motivates me,” Commander Leslie Kindlwood, US Navy.

“I get motivated to run and exercise by my desire to be competitive. I set short-term performance goals that help me get to my goal of peak fitness for potential record-breaking track performances. For instance; I use my Garmin to beat my last neighborhood run on the same course. Or I will aim for one more pull-up than I did the time before. I also keep things interesting by occasionally concocting track workouts that involve varied intervals. For example; jogging backwards, side shuffles, jogging, walking, sprinting and bounding.” Alisa Harvey, Coach and 4-Time winner of the Army Ten-Mile

“Motivation is whatever spark takes one to the center of one’s core being. (You, by the way, would be one example of a “spark” that motivates some of us mere mortals who are in awe of your distance running accomplishments.) Jena Litschewski, attorney / athlete.

What motivates me to run and exercise? 

For me foremost, I am motivated to run and exercise by my need to regularly dig down deep inside myself and to stay connected with the core of who I really am. Feeling emotionally strong makes me feel physically stronger and the reverse is true as well.

Running and exercise help center me and lead me to focus on my core personal values, principles, and priorities. Running and exercise also help me tackle pressures and challenges–some real and some that may only exist in my head–and allow me to see things from a different, more insightful perspective.

Every time I run or exercise, I ground, recharge, and reset myself again–and always feel better afterwards. The more effort I put into running or exercise, the closer I feel to nature and to getting to know who I really am. In a nutshell, running and exercise make me feel more alive and, hey, what’s not to love about that? (George Banker, M:M Expert Blogger and life long runner)

Motivation is a desire or willingness to do something.

I am motivated to run and exercise because I know it helps me to stay healthy and allows me to overindulge (occasionally) without guilt in foods that may not be good for me in excess.

“Distance runners are very goal-oriented, type A personalities. Their goals can range from just looking to complete their first marathon to something like Boston Qualifying or even Olympic Trials Qualifying. But whatever the goal, it’s goal achievement that is the motivation that drives them to get out there every day and train,” Cathlene Banker, attorney / athlete. George Buckheit, Coach, Capital Area Runners (CAR- DC)

“I think motivation is very personality and situation dependent, but in terms of motivation related to exercise or fitness, I think it’s primarily about goal setting, and your JFK goal is one of the best examples I’ve heard in a long time. It’s a great example because it meets my personal criteria for goal-oriented motivation, which has the three components of being 1) difficult but realistic, 2) long-term (can withstand temporary setbacks and is not tied to a single deadline or performance), and 3) is not dependent on the participation or performance of others.”

“My goal motivates my running workouts to test the limit of my ability, with a principle benchmark of attempting to run faster than I did the previous year at the Marine Corps Marathon – which is becoming a challenging goal indeed! Of course, I also run several other races throughout the year to provide some intermediate goals to motivate my running. However, the things I try to avoid, because I feel that they’re motivation traps, are to expect to achieve my goal every time, or set goals that are based on performance against others.

More Motivational Advice…..

Approaching a goal from the perspective of being prepared and ready to turn in a strong effort is powerfully motivating, but I find the opposite to be true if I approach a goal based on expectations for achieving a particular place or beating certain other competitors. In the end, sustaining motivation is about being self-directed and pursuing an endeavor because you enjoy it, while minimizing external pressures or things that are beyond your control,” Alex Hetherington, Retired Marine Corps, LTC, MCM Hall of Fame, and Race Director Marine Corps Marathon.

“For me, intrinsic motivation drives me to run and exercise. I am always driven to better myself physically, and that’s what gets me out there at 0500. I truly love to push myself and want to see results—running is such an awesome sport for that because the results are measurable. Times don’t lie and are easily compared, so I like to track my progress in a training log. That provides me motivation to keep improving and pushing myself. It proves to me that the hard work I put into training pays off. On days when my motivation is running low, I may remind myself that my competition is out there training hard and that will jump start my motivation,” Major Kelly Calway, US Army, 2013 Marine Corps Marathon Winner.

“It’s the opportunities from running that motivate me to run. Opportunities such as the ability to challenge myself through being a paratrooper; meeting my husband while running a race in Chicago; starting my own business a Running Development program and being able to continue to compete in the Master’s Championships.” Tina Klein, my Battle Buddy, coach Founder Balanced Running.

“Motivation inspires you to get started with your running or exercise regime. It comes in many forms. Motivation to gain something, motivation to lose something, or even motivation to maintain what you have. Motivation is strong. It get’s you out the door and through extreme challenges. The best kind is enduring, making your commitment to running, or exercise life long!”, Julie Hayden, Master Athlete, track and road.

*For more posts like this visit Off and Running With George Banker.