{"id":73512,"date":"2020-11-08T07:11:09","date_gmt":"2020-11-08T06:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/runlovers.it\/2020\/that-extra-bit-of-motivation\/"},"modified":"2022-11-15T15:53:27","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T14:53:27","slug":"that-extra-bit-of-motivation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runlovers.it\/en\/2020\/that-extra-bit-of-motivation\/","title":{"rendered":"That extra bit of motivation"},"content":{"rendered":"

November, for those who run Marathons, is a month that brings to mind many names:
\n
\n Ravenna<\/a>
\n <\/em>
\n<\/strong>, Verona, Florence<\/em> and many others in Italy, and of course
\n
\n New York<\/a>
\n <\/em>
\n<\/strong> among the international ones. With the cancellation of the vast majority of the competitions, they only survive.
\n
\n those of national interest<\/a>
\n <\/em>
\n<\/strong>, but as the health situation continues to evolve, I do not know how many of these will actually take place. In any case, for the time being, regulations allow everywhere in Italy to run outdoors, albeit with
\n
\n different expedients depending on the region<\/a>
\n <\/em>
\n<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I don’t (any longer) plan to run a real race for this year, but I set out to train anyway as if I were going to do it for real. I also thought about the route, one of my usual routes from when I follow a training schedule of just over twenty-one kilometers and modified slightly for the occasion, because even small changes to the routes we routinely take can be important in these cases. Partly to have something to pursue, because running with a goal gives you just enough extra motivation to do something different, and partly to prove to myself that I can still do it. Of course, it’s also laughable to think about, I’m definitely not trying to prepare to win gold at the Olympics, but even in the head of an amateur, concentration and dedication are as important as for great champions, and very often it’s enough to try to beat your only real opponent<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, yourself, to find them.<\/p>\n

I look at the chart put down for training with two other runners next to me, the me from a year ago and the me from six years ago. He says I am to run for half an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening today, with some stretching and trying to pull for good half the time in each of the two workouts. I read these few lines and plan where to go running, and the me from a year ago smiles and thinks, “routine, I can even do forty minutes and an hour and ten, come on.” The me of six years ago looks at her and thinks, “I must be going crazy, something like this is masochistic, and just believing that it is possible for me to do it is beyond the rosiest optimism.” Today’s me looks with proper concern and respect at the watch screen, checks to see if the workout has been loaded correctly, waits for the GPS signal to arrive, and presses “start running.”<\/p>\n

Cerca il tuo avversario<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n