# Inspiration for Kicking Ass in 2015 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 29, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiration-for-kicking-ass-in-2015/708478 "2014-12-29T21:28:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiration-for-kicking-ass-in-2015/708478/21 "2015-01-07T15:50:32Z")
Mine is simple: My damn pants don’t fit anymore I also want to actually look better. Sure I’m skinny, but I want to be fit too and I’m kinda angry that I’m not! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiration-for-kicking-ass-in-2015/708478/22 "2015-01-07T16:38:42Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > Drinking - forbidden > Smoking - forbidden > Caffeine - forbidden > > Quitting all of these things is surprisingly easy when the alternative is dying of a stroke. > > So now I guess I just have to work on exercising more. You might be surprised how few people would consider this a legitimate deterrent. People drink, smoke and caffeinate their way into an early grave on a regular basis. Kudos to you for choosing life. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiration-for-kicking-ass-in-2015/708478/23 "2015-01-07T17:27:43Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > Oops, I just noticed I put the wrong time in my post, you get 12 hours to complete the 32 mile trail race. I don’t know if they let you take longer or send you back at the next checkpoint. Perhaps you can ask them to emulate the Iditarod finish and hang out a red lantern: > [@](#): > > A “Widow’s Lamp” is lit and remains hanging on the arch until the last competitor crosses the finish line. The tradition is based on the kerosene lamp lit and hung outside a roadhouse, when a musher carrying goods or mail was en route. For this reason, the last musher to complete the Iditarod is referred to as the “Red Lantern”. They also present a Red Lantern Award. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiration-for-kicking-ass-in-2015/708478/24 "2015-01-07T18:59:47Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > You might be surprised how few people would consider this a legitimate deterrent. People drink, smoke and caffeinate their way into an early grave on a regular basis. Kudos to you for choosing life. For example: my friend’s grandfather who used to go out behind the shed to smoke because if he did it inside, his oxygen tank might blow up the house. :smack: I think my unofficial resolution this year is the same as yours, **Spice Weasel**. I keep telling myself to Do The Thing when I want to procrastinate and it’s helping. I don’t have such a large pile of stuff that needs doing lying around. Can I keep it up? I hope so. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiration-for-kicking-ass-in-2015/708478/25 "2015-01-08T18:53:23Z")
> [@nicole1912](#): > > I think my unofficial resolution this year is the same as yours, **Spice Weasel**. I keep telling myself to Do The Thing when I want to procrastinate and it’s helping. I don’t have such a large pile of stuff that needs doing lying around. Can I keep it up? I hope so. How much time do we spend planning, worrying, strategizing, or daydreaming about the thing we have to do, when we can just do it? WODs (Workout of the Days) used to be a terrible burden for me psychologically, because I would spend the whole day obsessing about the fact that I wasn’t doing them. So instead of a 30 minute workout or whatever, it would feel like hours and hours of time invested (wasted) in doing it. So it became this great psychological burden, ‘‘I don’t have time for that.’’ What I really meant was, ‘‘I don’t have time to worry about that for 3 hours before I do it.’’ I’m trying now to do WODs on a schedule. I never have to ask myself, ''Should I be doing WOD now?" Because if it’s anytime other than the scheduled time, I don’t have to think about it at all. So far this approach seems to help. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiration-for-kicking-ass-in-2015/708478/26 "2015-01-08T19:05:06Z")
This is my motivation right now…I was getting excited about my running this year, and decided to re-read some books for more info and inspiration. This was the first paragraph of the first book I picked up, and it couldn’t have been more perfect: > [@](#): > > This is about you and your near future. You, the athlete - and I use that word with full consideration and intent. Because wherever you are in your running life, you can make the choice to be an athlete. You can adopt that mindset and make it your own defining essence. Being an athlete _is not_ something you’re “born with.” That’s a misconception, a myth, really, that is all too often also an impediment - or, even worse, and excuse. Being an athlete _is_ a choice. And making that choice, taking up that mindset, is the step that allows you to move toward a new level of achievement. That’s what this book is about. And that’s what I’m going to ask of you. - Eric Orton _The Cool Impossible._ And since I’m posting anyway, this was freaking hilarious: > [@Eutychus](#): > > My plan for kicking ass is to always be out of bubble gum. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiration-for-kicking-ass-in-2015/708478/27 "2015-01-08T19:16:37Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > This is my motivation right now…I was getting excited about my running this year, and decided to re-read some books for more info and inspiration. I just started the Couch 2 5k running program today. Do you have any running books to recommend? ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiration-for-kicking-ass-in-2015/708478/28 "2015-01-08T19:32:58Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I just started the Couch 2 5k running program today. Do you have any running books to recommend? Eek, I’ll try! Some that I enjoy and are on my re-read list: [Why We Run:A Natural History](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_We_Run) [Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_to_Run:_A_Hidden_Tribe,_Superathletes,_and_the_Greatest_Race_the_World_Has_Never_Seen) [Finding Ultra: Rejecting middle age, becoming one of the world’s fittest men, and discovering myself.](http://www.nomeatathlete.com/finding-ultra-review/) I’ll also point out that that I am becoming very fond of [nomeatathlete.com](http://nomeatathlete.com), from the above cite. [Running Through the Wall: Personal Encounters with the Ultramaration.](http://www.amazon.com/Running-Through-Wall-Encounters-Ultramarathon/dp/1891369377) [Eat and Run: My unlikely journey to ultramarathon greatness.](http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Run-Unlikely-Ultramarathon-Greatness-ebook/dp/B005OCHOZS) I think there’s a few more I can’t quite come up with now. And there are several “classic” running books that I haven’t gotten around to reading yet. ETA [The Cool Impossible](http://www.amazon.com/The-Cool-Impossible-Running-Yourself/dp/0451416341) from my post above. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiration-for-kicking-ass-in-2015/708478/29 "2015-01-08T19:40:19Z")
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