Gotta Get My Head in the Game Now or Never

Over the past weekend, I was feeling this song. Or at least the message of it. I’ve got to get my head in the game. My next half marathon is coming up quickly. On April 5th, I’ll be running in the Hollywood Half Marathon. My workouts and running has been lacking since the Surf City USA Half Marathon. It’s almost as if, without a race coming up, I’ve lost motivation to keep going on. There have been plenty of distractions for sure. There’s been illness to deal with. I’ve had the GPS on my phone go crazy. I’ve had times where I forgot to charge my phone, leaving me without music to run with…and that’s just not going to happen on solo runs. Then, there’s been the feeling of being burned out at the end of my day. I’m not a morning person at all. Getting up early for long runs on Saturday mornings are a real chore for me. Getting up early for those races? Not easy. So, I run in the evenings during the week. When I have stressful days or days that are boring, I find that the energy just isn’t there when I get home.

Yeah, this is something I’ve learned all too well. Success comes from learning to love the uncomfortable. It’s not always easy to remember. I remember very clearly that when I started running, I would think that it would get easier. Running doesn’t get easier. Why? Because you just keep pushing yourself to become better. It’s hard to turn that off. I went to the LA Marathon Expo on Saturday to recharge my batteries and I’m hoping that it helped me get my head in the game.

This song is buried deep into my playlist. It comes up in the final 5K of my half marathon playlist. Why? It’s Now or Never. Sometimes I need that sense of urgency that this song conveys. It’s easy to skip workouts when you don’t have anything in the near future on the calendar. However, with less than 4 weeks until my next half marathon, it is truly now or never. I’ve got to get back at this and go all in if I want to see the results that I’ve been dreaming about. Another reason this song is placed so far back in my playlist is the section where the music stops. In High School Musical 3, as you see in the clip, Troy is feeling tired and trying to catch his breath. Gabriella encourages him to keep going. I know it’s silly, but in my strange mind, I can see my wife doing the same for me. The song comes up in a section of the half marathon distance where I would feel the tiredness Troy is feeling. So, this part of the song takes on that motivation to keep going in spite of the tiredness. Now, if only I can make this sentiment the theme for this week. No matter how tired I feel at the end of the day, I need to go out and get those miles in because it is now or never.