Motivation

I went for a bike ride this afternoon and on my way out, I passed this family of a mom, dad, and two boys maybe 8 and 4.  The youngest had training wheels, the dad seemed to spend most of his time at the front of the group stopped, looking behind at his crew, and the mom was in the back barking orders basically the entire time.  I saw this family early on my route and was surprised to see them still on the path on my way back home also.

When I came up to them the second time, I passed the Mom first (still yelling at everyone ahead of her), the youngest boy, then the oldest boy (looking bored, wanting to go faster), and the dad (stopped, turned around, listening for orders).  It wasn't until after I rode on past that their conversation sunk in and I realized what I had just heard.

The youngest boy slows and starts to get off his bike.  The mom screams, in one of the shrillest I'm-glad-my-mom-doesn't-scream-like-that voices, "keep going, Riley.  KEEP GOING!"

The boy, Riley, then dismounts his bike turns back to his mom and in a cross between a request and a demand proclaims, "Thirsty.  Want a drink."  The mother is not having any of it and continues to yell, "KEEP GOING!  KEEP GOING!" until the voices fade behind me.  It was a few seconds of riding, before it all soaked in and I started laughing.  I couldn't help but acknowledge, that in that moment, I was Riley.

I hadn't ridden in a few weeks, and had started out with more intensity than usual trying to hold a faster pace for longer periods of time.  On the way back home, I was feeling both the time off and the increased effort.  My legs were going away, my water was getting low, and what was left in the bottles was warm.  Best of all, I knew the biggest hills of the day's ride were waiting for me in the last two miles before home.

About 28-ish miles of good hard riding (for me), with about 6 to go (don't forget the hills.)  In that moment, I was Riley.  I wanted to demand, "Thirsty.  Want a drink."  Oh how refreshing a big glass of ice water would have been instead of the last eight ounces of 85 degree, two hour old water.  I wanted to stop the bike, get off, and tip over onto a couch.

Instead of all the imagined comfort, what I received was that shrill, annoying  encouraging scream, "KEEP GOING!"  I thought about those words for the next four miles coming up to the base of the last and biggest hill.  I finished off the water, stretched a bit, set my gears, and committed to being intentional about climbing the hill, not just suffering through it.

It extends for over a mile through a well-to-do neighborhood.  At first it's not much of a climb, but with ever corner you turn there's another climb just a bit steeper than the last.  It's kind of like stair-steps where every step up is higher.  Finally, there's a small dip just before the biggest climb up a sweeping turn.

As much as I didn't want to ride up that hill to finish the ride, I heard the encouragement from the screaming mom.  I blocked out all of the, "thirsty, want a drink" thoughts and channeled the shrillness of the "keep going, keep going, keep going."

Where do you find your motivation?  When you're running that last mile, climbing that last hill, lifting that last set, what is it that pushes you to finish strong?  Or do you finish strong?  Maybe you're like me, and sometimes you talk yourself out of a strong finish, feeling justified with the effort of the first 90%.

And it's not limited to workouts.  It could be a day a the office, a month of the personal or family budget, or maybe a meal choice that's less than bikini friendly.  What are the ways and where are the places you find the motivation to push through and accomplish your goals?  I'm not the best at finding that inner push, but every so often I come across a Riley moment, where get that affirmation to not give up, to "keep going, Riley!"