Things people said that motivated you ?

dna_leri

Has anyone ever said anything to you that intentionally or otherwise motivated you to run or train harder?

I read a quote from Christine Kennedy recently that her family laughed at her when she said she was going to run a marathon and win one and she used that as motivation for her training and 5 years later won the DCM.

I finished my first 4 mile race a few years ago and I tried to catch a guy a few years older than me in a sprint finish and failed. Afterwards instead of doing the usual handshake and well done etc, he turned around and said "well you will just have to try harder the next time". Too right, I did. I have been tempted to return the favour to him a few times this year as he has slowed down while I have got faster, but I have resisted the temptation, so far.

ThisRegard

You're putting a bit of weight on aren't you?

tunguska

Not said to me directly but in "Miracle in the Andes" Nando Parrado tells the story of his fathers battle in a rowing contest with another competitor. How his father got to the point where he felt like he had to quit, the suffering was so intense. But he looked over at the other guy and realised he was in a jock too. So he said to himself: "Im suffering, but I can suffer some more" He didnt quit and he won the race. And when Parrado (starving and with no climbing equipment) had to climb a mountain in order to save himself and his friends, this is what he thought of when he felt overwhelmed and wanted to quit. Anytime Im suffering in a race I'll remember that story, say those words to myself and just hang on.

Christ compels you

I told my friend I'm going to be in the Olympics. He laughed at me.

I'll show him...

pgmcpq

These days any sentence that starts with "Well, at your age ...":mad::mad:.

dermCu

Not something that was said to me but whenever it feels like the wheels are coming off (running wise!!) I often think of the famous Samuel Beckett quote:

"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."

christeb

Me: "What are you training for?"
Clubmate: "Life. It's easier when you're fit"

SWL

When I am running I keep telling myself;

Nothing lasts for ever including pain, its temporary it will be over soon.

Christ compels you

Ciaran O Lionaird's recent blogs and interviews, I found really inspirational.

captain P

"You're dumped".

Well not those EXACT words, but you get the jist.

The general "you always feel better after a run" gets me out on nights like tonight when its windy and cold.

I was in a club race when I was about 15, it was my first 200m race. I was coming off the bend in about 5th place and my coach shouted "you're way faster than these girls, move up a gear". I did, and won that race, then the final

--amadeus--

"Pick up your f*cking feet and RUN"

From an overweight bloke on a bike close to the RDS during my first marathon when I was walking (slowly) and thinking about quitting...

(I did and I've been running ever since)

SWL

--amadeus-- wrote: »

"Pick up your f*cking feet and RUN"

From an overweight bloke on a bike close to the RDS during my first marathon when I was walking (slowly) and thinking about quitting...

(I did and I've been running ever since)

Did the thought of decking him cross your mind when he said that? It would cross mine, even though the guy meant well:D

figs

HTFU

works every time for me...

ChopShop

"Leave".

TFBubendorfer

"You cannot possibly do that" seems to do the trick for me.

clear thinking

"lane one is for the faster group" is doing it for me at the moment.

Ah nuts

You fat bastard

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

"You are very unfit/unhealthy for your age Mr JB" by a doctor as i was hooked up to an ECG on Stephens Day in 09. Have not looked back since:)

ILikeBananas

A friend of mine is incredibly mentally tough. He ran his first marathon in 3 hours after just 3 months training and 10 months later he ran his first 50 mile ultra-marathon. I asked him what his secret was and he said:

"The mind is an incredible thing. When I'm running and I'm pushing myself my body is screaming at me. It's telling me that it's hurting and to slow down or stop. Instead, I tell my body to quiet down. I tell it that it's mistaken and that it's not in any pain at all. I convince my body that it's fine and I keep on running".

marchino

Jan 2008: in rehab after brain surgery, from a fractured skull and the doc declares; ''do you know you should start jogging, its very good for blood flow to the brain and will really help the healing process''

(Few days Later in) Jan 08: started jogging for the 1st time aged 20 (could feel the screws moving in head with every step)

Mid Feb 08: joined Mullingar Harriers AC.

Start of July 2010: Won The Achill Half Marathon aged 22

Todays lesson: * The mind knows no limits * If you have never tried, you have never lived*

911sc

A photographer during the duathlon series in Phoenix Park, as i was passing by:
"You'r not pushing hard enough if you can still smile. Now stop smilling!!".
I picked up the pace, but there were only 400m left...

drquirky

In High School there was a fella who was a massive Massachusetts High School Cross Country fan. He knew everything about the teams of various schools and kept incredibly detailed notebooks that listed race results. He would probably go to 20 various races a week, always riding his bike no matter how far away the race was. The man was named Mike and had pretty substantial special needs. He would position himself at the top of the biggest hill during a race leaning on his bike with a big stop watch hanging from his neck. As you ran up the hill, a booming voice would inform you of your position, call you by name if he knew who you were and would scream the timeless advice to "FIGHT THE DEMONS !!!!!!" It was so loud and it always got me going- the man was an absolute legend

Seres

drquirky wrote: »

to "FIGHT THE DEMONS !!!!!!"

Jesus that does kind of sums it up when the bite comes on .

interested

"Bet you can't swim out there !"

LarMan

Ah nuts wrote: »

You fat bastard

Not quite as blatant but did have a cousin pat my belly and say what's all this:mad: Needless to say I changed my diet the next day!

User Friendly

Coach :
"there are 3 things needed to win this race,and ive always know them as the 3 D's. dedication,determination and fitness":eek:

thirstywork2

you like a sprinter in those tights

martyeds

Run 5k.....you would hardly be able to walk it.

pconn062

When I first started running a few years ago, I did a 10k race and came second last, my mother said to me "maybe you should try cycling instead?!" Since then I have knocked 25 minutes of my 10k time.

DULLAHAN2

Two guys in work discussing a race the just ran, me jokily turned around and told them that i could beat them the following year. They laughed there heads off at me and told me i was too fat. That pissed me off, the following year i bet them by 8 min's after loosing 3 stone.

Shut them up!!

I think about that when the going gets tough

charlemont

One of my friends was running at a track in Nenagh several years back and he had been overlapped and was obviously last in the race but as he kept going some spectators started shouting "Come on boy, C'mon, Your winning, Your winning". :pac:

nerraw1111

pconn062 wrote: »

When I first started running a few years ago, I did a 10k race and came second last, my mother said to me "maybe you should try cycling instead?!" Since then I have knocked 25 minutes of my 10k time.

That is hilarious! Proper laughed out loud at your mother's comment.

Seres

DULLAHAN2 wrote: »

Two guys in work discussing a race the just ran, me jokily turned around and told them that i could beat them the following year. They laughed there heads off at me and told me i was too fat. That pissed me off, the following year i bet them by 8 min's after loosing 3 stone.

Shut them up!!

I think about that when the going gets tough

Fantastic ! Would have loved to have seen that !

pconn062 wrote: »

When I first started running a few years ago, I did a 10k race and came second last, my mother said to me "maybe you should try cycling instead?!" Since then I have knocked 25 minutes of my 10k time.

Such a mammy thing to say , she probably had no intention of insulting you .

PositiveNegativ

September 1990. Austria. John Lenihen to me "Keep doing what you're doing."

He'd dropped out of the World Trophy race less then an hour before. It was more the fact that he looked beyond his own missfortune rather than his wording which inspired me.

pconn062

Seres wrote: »

Such a mammy thing to say , she probably had no intention of insulting you .

Yeah she was just trying to make me feel better, "maybe running's not your sport so don't feel bad!" Thankfully I didn't go near the bike and stuck at the running!

webpal

wasnt so much what someone said but more what I saw - I remember years and years ago seeing a billboard with an athlete on it who was after collapsing and was covered with a foil blanket over him. The caption said "Marathon runners have one less thing to do in life"

Always gets me

Larry Brent

I find it interesting that the things said that motivated people are almost all 'negative'. Any psychologists out there who could read into that? Is it an Irish thing?

One for me was when we were finishing a session that was really great, a 5 x 2k in tough cold, wet, windy, muddy conditions, on the warm down I was thinking 'that's really going to stand to us in 10 days' (big race 10 days later) and just as I was about to say it, the coach who was doing the session with us said 'we'll really benefit from that in a year or so'. Lesson learnt, inspired and motivated.

T runner

Larry Brent wrote: »

I find it interesting that the things said that motivated people are almost all 'negative'. Any psychologists out there who could read into that? Is it an Irish thing?

I suppose the ego is a large psychological area in itself and its suprising the role it can play in running. (Ego is more a western problem rather than an Irish one in general though id say BTW). Some of the negative comments that motivated above may have been direct strikes to the ego, others werent and were just comments that had the side affect of making people realise that they wanted to improve or change.

I have reacted to comments that challenged my ego on a few occasions. The motivation from these comments didnt last long but it did latch me onto more positive things: love of running, being fit, being active outside, training etc.

I have come face to face with the ego in a running contest many times though. Late in races when the crunch comes at least one of the demons i have to face has been my ego. And when it manifests itself negatively it is a powerful foe, taking many forms, inflating the bodies negative whispers and always distorting them into cast iron convictions of negative self doubt.

PosNegs comments struck me.

John Lenihen to me "Keep doing what you're doing."

He'd dropped out of the World Trophy race less then an hour before. It was more the fact that he looked beyond his own missfortune rather than his wording which inspired me.

As well as his own misfortune, his humbleness allowed him to look beyond his own misery in races. So his demons stay small and hidden....or arent created.

And consistant training seems to reduce the bodies objections a little and makes us more humble too.

So..ahem...to summarise.. a reaction to the ego which involves more running may be the only such reaction wgich actually weakens the ego. Im rambling now..carry on!

huskerdu

Once upon a time, I was overweight and underfit and was really struggling with my attempt to take up running. It being the days before the internet, I had never heard of Cto5k, but was sort of doing that.

I would regularly see a very fit guy running on the same loop as me, just much faster. He looked like he could run forever.

One evening, as I was really struggling up a hill, he overtook me and said, "Keep it up, you can do it" as he passed. I really, really needed the encouragement and it was great to get it from someone who treated me like a real runner.

Thanks mate, it was the best piece of encouragement I ever got.

kingQuez

The comment that got me from the couch to my first marathon was "hahahahahahahahhahahahahahahaha, a maration? seriously?" (I'd just told a friend *why* I was trying to get out and run for 10mins each day lately). I'm easy to manipulate, tell me I can't do something and I'll try to prove you wrong.....

Lately its a throwaway comment someone made last year to me at a training session "you need to run faster". Pops back into my mind most times I start to slack off in a hard run session. Guess it all depends on the person who says these things to you; that ones kept me going for the guts of a year now.

kit3

Not quite something someone said but telling the kids I'm going to do something motivates me. Definately made me finish my first half marathon when I was undertrained and dying - I remember thinking 'Why the hell did I tell them I was doing this ' Couldn't let them see that you could give up on something

rom

My physio "Your not really built like a runner"

Younganne

The Irish Mammy again...."you're not still at that running lark? you're killing yourself...will you ever get a bit of sense and stop it"....so i just keep going!!!!
She is the very one who use to run in the over 40 teams when i was in the u10:D

forestgump123

“Clay lies still, but blood’s a rover / Breath’s aware that will not keep. / Up, lad: when the journey’s over there’ll be time enough to sleep.”

Micilin Muc

I haven't really had a reaction to anyone's negative comments before, it's usually the positive ones that get me going. My favourite from the DCM this year:

'You're not going to hit the wall today' (was wearing a Connemarathon top).

The only 'negative' one was by my Dad when I passed his car in the Hell Fire Club carpark 19.5 miles into my 20-mile LSR over the Dublin Mountains Way 30 minutes later than planned: 'Would you not just give up?'

I just laughed and said no chance! I would never expect a former marathon runner to say something like that!

Oryx

I was once told 'This is only a fad. You never stick at anything'. I never forgot, and I swore I would never let myself get lazy and quit at this, I would show em. I also never got a medal for anything, ever, and that kept me going in my first few events - I wanted my finishers medal.

The other thing I always have in mind is a phrase I was told by a kayak instructor during my first ever lesson. As I spun in circles, exhausted and near tears, unable to grasp even the basics, trying to console me, she said 'well, you look strong'. To this day, if I do crap at something, I laugh and say, well, at least I looked strong.

run44

Younganne wrote: »

The Irish Mammy again...."you're not still at that running lark? you're killing yourself...will you ever get a bit of sense and stop it"....so i just keep going!!!!

Totally the same story with me. Parents always asking me if I was mad, telling me I was going to kill myself and that I was overdoing it. It was only watching on the sidelines of DCM earlier this year that they finally understood!

Cabaal

currently reading just a little run around the world, loved the quote

‘You run with your feet, but it’s with your head you stay the distance.’

Have found it so true when it comes to doing longer runs, once you get into the right mindset things are so much easier

Slogger Jogger

I was born with a club left foot, a condition which was operated on but which leaves my left foot with restricted mobility and the left leg is underpowered compared to the right leg as a result. In the late 80s I was working in a clerical role in the civil service when I applied for a job in the gards. Progressed through interviews but after an all day medical I was failed on the presumption that my gammy ankle will incapacitate me at some point down the road and that would have problems walking never mind jogging after a felon. There was no evidence for that finding except for a scar on my ankle. I was reasonably fit at the time. I didn't take up running immediately, I was doing some football and stuff, but anytime I need inspiration I just need to look back at that and thank god I failed that medical 20+ marathons and 100+ hill races later I'd like to meet that medical examiner for a quiet word.