Why am I doing this again...

 In order to achieve something you need to have a target or a goal. How can you say you have been successful or accomplished what you set out to do, if you didn’t have a point that you wanted to reach from the beginning?

The goal setting is usually the easier part of the challenge. Most people sign up for their first 5k, then a 10K; some people set themselves a certain weight loss. Even athletes set themselves a goal, to break a record, win a gold medal or beat a personal best.

I often think that athletes, whether professional or recreational, and people with a weight or fitness goal in mind, are very similar; I often relate a lot of my training philosophies to athletics, especially running, as I think the mindset required is very similar to that of someone attempting to lose weight. But at some point, no matter what the goal, we will question what we are doing, and this is the challenge. Mindset is everything.

"It's very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit." - George Sheehan

Take for instance myself. I consider myself a recreational athlete. I push myself to my limits and truly believe that if something isn’t a challenge then there isn’t much point in doing it. I believe that the challenges that we face physically, help us mentally. When you present yourself with the question during a training session, during a long distance run, or even while preparing a healthy meal “why am I doing this”, take a moment to think about other aspects of life that are tough. For instance when paying the bills, revising for an exam, or even getting through a hard day at work, you don’t think about it, you just do it. It is this mentality that should be applied to all aspects of life in order to achieve happiness and health. It is this mentality that can be applied to weight loss or a fitness goal. See these goals like paying the bills; failure is not an option, they have to be paid, your goals have to be achieved.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Health isn’t just something that should be achieved because scientists and the government say it’s what is right. Health is life. Without good health, how can we achieve all that we want to achieve, or see and do all that we aspire to? Again I like to think back to running. Running becomes easy when you train hard and give it your all, without seeing failure as an option. This is the same as life and health; if you think that failure is not an option, you often find a solution and it becomes easier over time.

"Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it." - Oprah Winfrey

So when you ask yourself, “Why am I doing this again...” whether it be that you are trying to lose weight or run your first 10k, think of the bigger picture. Those small moments when you doubt yourself, push through them and succeed, then believe that anything is possible.

"Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'"
- Peter Maher, Canadian marathon runner