the honeybadger??

First and foremost..welcome! If you have found your way to my brand new shiny blog congrats. I'm glad to have you. So what's the honeybadger mode??
 Well folks, a few years ago finding myself on the wrong side of forty and about ten pounds (or maybe more) too heavy I decided something had to be done. But what? I'm not a dieter, I like my food too much so the only answer had to be get out there and get in shape. The gym is grand and I have come to the realisation that I actually CAN enjoy working out in a gym but really and truly I like to run. Come rain or come shine, there is something pure and simple about lacing up the the shoes and going out the door. When you get as far as the front gate you have to do the work because you come this far and you might as well.
In the beginning....( oh that sounds like the start of the bible or something ) I wasn't a runner, I was barely a walker. I can admit that now. In my innocence I thought there was nothing to it, all I had to do was go for a little run. Right??
Wrong!
After being a mum and not doing much more strenuous than pushing a hoover around the living room for 17 years or so, I was seriously out of shape. I tried to run and found that I couldn't manage to jog for more than about two minutes. My heart was pounding, my legs were like jelly ,and what the hell boys and girls everything bounced! My flabby belly, and everything else above and below it. Running couldn't be this hard could it? But that's where the honeybadger mode kicks in. "Honeybadger don't care" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7wHMg5Yjg Noone was looking at me, I live in a rural part of Ireland and the roads and byways are quiet. So I laced up the shoes and stuck it out. Honeybadger mode. Get your head down, don't worry about the shit and just keep on,.. keeping on.
Well to cut a long story short that's what I did. Took me the best part of six months to run for a full mile, and what a feeling that was the day I managed it, granted it was downhill all the way home  but it was an achievement that felt really good.
I have discovered in the few years since that that ole honeybadger has a lot to answer for, because I just keep going. Through all that the past few years have thrown at me, running has been a constant. I run about three times a week when I can, usually three miles when I'm just keeping fit and ramping it up from time to time if I'm entering an "EVENT!!!!"
The best way ever to motivate yourself for this running gig is to spend your hard earned cash on entry to something.. anything.. once you've spent the euros, you've got no choice but to show up on the day and do it. And... if you're gonna show up and do it you can't disgrace yourself ( or put yourself through too much pain) so therefore you've gotta train. That's what gets me out the door on wet and cold and horrible days. It's knowing that if I don't do the work I will suffer on the day of  "the event"
Another major motivator is that having worked this long and this hard to get fit, I can't let it slip away. And it does slip, at my age (I'm 46) I find that if I don't run for about two weeks it's just that little bit harder when I do go out, and I pant up the hills instead of fly up them. So I have to keep it up. It's that simple.