Resilience.

Well today was my rest day, and I must say, I find it VERY difficult to sit around doing nothing on my rest days. Part of the reason I like staying active is because it gives me something fun and productive to do! I never know quite what to do with myself on rest days.

I did however have a friend over to keep me occupied until just after mid-day, so it was ok 🙂

I was so pleased to wake up and find that I have no muscle pain anymore! It’s all gone! I’m a little surprised to be honest, I expected to be crippled for at least another day. I’m going back to BodyPump tomorrow 🙂 Then I’ll run for 20 minutes on the treadmill then 20 minutes on the stationary bike. Seems like it’ll be a good workout day for me. Note to self: Remember to take sufficient fuel and water to re-hydrate with after.

ANYWAY. Moving on…

Two days ago I was lounging around and started watching videos on Youtube. I was looking up Jillian Michaels in particular, and I stumbled across a really great one which really got me thinking.

She talked about when you lose someone very dear to your heart, how do you manage that? And then she went on to talk about resilience.  The dictionary defines the term “resilience” as: “able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions“. And most of the time, it’s about making a choice. When you lose someone you love, you can either choose to curl up in a ball, push away the world and stew in your grief, or, you can find healthy, positive ways of addressing your grief, and then use that to help better your life. Honor the person you lost by living a healthy, fulfilling life that they were unable to.

That kinda hit home to me in a big way, because my Grandmother died of breast cancer when I was very very young. I was about 3 or 4 when it happened, so I didn’t understand. But I do remember her and I remember what she was like. Also, I’ve had so many people talk to me about her and tell me how amazing she was and what a beautiful person she was, and I know that 250% it’s all true.

Something about my Grandmother is that she was a runner. And not just any runner, she was FAST! She ran a marathon (26 miles/42 Kilometers) in three and a half hours! That’s an average of 8 minutes per mile the entire way! She would SMOKE people during her races.

I am so SO proud of all she accomplished and how great she was at everything she started. She was determined and it really paid off.
It was of tragic misfortune that she should be unlucky enough to get breast cancer. However, after Jillian’s speech, I realized that I can use that to motivate me to go further and push harder as an athlete to do my best. I want to make her proud and carry on her legacy. She died at a terribly young age and deserved so much more life, but it was taken from her. So I want to do whatever it takes to be as successful as I can to HONOR her! I will fulfill all my goals for her, I will run every K with her in mind. As I cross the finish line of my first marathon, I’ll be thinking of her.

From now on, I will never lack the motivation to get off my booty and go for a run, I will always have my inspiration there to point me in the right direction.

Thank you Jillian for helping me realize all this!

What do you use for motivation when you’re feeling lazy?