Motivation Monday - Running On The Sun

Today is a scheduled day off but I feel like mowing the lawn this morning should have counted as a workout. I know I sound like a broken record, but it's hot out there. The forecast for this week:

That's a little ridiculous. It's weeks like this that make it hard to get out and get the miles in. I'm always looking for ways to stay motivated at times like this and I've amassed quite a collection of books and movies about running that help keep me going. I thought I would occasionally post about some of the things I do to keep my motivation up. Given the weather, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about the movie, Running on the Sun.

Running on the Sun was made in 2000 and is a documentary about the Badwater Ultramarathon. Technically, anything longer than a marathon is considered an ultramarathon. The Badwater happens to be 135 miles long and it's run through Death Valley every July. It's hard for me to imagine a more horrible idea.

The movie follows several runners through their experience at Badwater. It's inspiring to see such a variety of people push themselves to such extremes. It's also gross. The temperature can get so high during Badwater that runners have to run on the white stripe on the side of the road or the rubber on their shoes will start to melt. That kind of heat over that kind of distance does some pretty disgusting things to the body. The movie involves some especially nasty footage of people dealing with blisters on their toes.

Running that kind of distance in that kind of heat is also pretty amazing. I always get a little misty eyed when the runners finally cross the finish line.

I've watched Running on the Sun several times and it's inspiring every time. An ultramarathon of some kind might be in my future, but I have absolutely no desire to run one in that kind of heat. Badwater will always sound crazy to me, but I'm always up for watching other people run it!

Monday
Goal For The Day: Rest
Distance: 0.00 Miles

Daily Miles: 0.00 Miles.
Blog Totals:
  Run - 105.22 Miles.
  Bike - 67.68 Miles.
  Swim - 3,700+ meters.