I came across a quote from someone on my Twitter feed yesterday, that said something to the effect of “if someone wants an excuse they will find one.” Though I heard it before, it really stuck with me through the night and into this morning. This morning, just like last week, I woke up before 6am to get my workout done before my daughter woke up. My foot was bothering me because my navicular bone was rotated. I was tired. I was very unmotivated. I didn’t even have enough motivation to make coffee, so I didn’t. I went out for my run anyway.

When I arrived at the track, the college groundskeeper was standing in the infield. I really don’t like an audience when I’m running so I thought about scrapping the workout. I thought, “there’s an excuse”. I did my first set of track work. The groundskeeper moved up to the bleachers at that point and was just sitting there watching me. A little creepy, but not threatening. I thought I should quit. Again I thought, “there’s another excuse”. Though I had no pain when I was running, standing between sets made my foot feel a little pinched. I thought about stopping. Again, “just an excuse”. The sun came out and it started feeling hot. I had finished most of the workout. One more set wouldn’t make or break me, right? “Hello, excuse!”

I finished the workout happily and dry heaving, something I haven’t experienced from a workout in a long time. I looked at my splits and they were better than goal pace. In my training shoes. In a workout that I almost stopped countless times.

You can have excuses or you can make things happen. Today, I made things happen.

I'm training hard so this pace will feel easy again!

How do you squash your excuses? How do you pump yourself up for a workout when you just aren’t feeling it? Isn’t Twitter awesome for workout motivation?