Motivation Monday

I have to admit it – my motivation was waning a bit this past weekend.  I’ve been dealing with the aftermath of a chest cold for weeks, Leo wasn’t feeling well, and pollen counts are off the charts around here… the right combination to make me want to hole up inside and skip a long run.

But, just as I was ready to bag my planned six-miler, I saw this from Run Chat:

Game on. Time for the #RunChat Scavenger Hunt

March 14, 2013 By David 31 Comments

Get your camera (or phone) ready, put on your running gear and start searching. It’s time for the first ever #RunChat Scavenger Hunt.

In early March we took your submissions on what to find, then took your votes to narrow down the list. We’ve taken the top 10 items for you to find to snap photos of and post them to Twitter to show off all in the name of fun … and some great prizes.

The #RunChat Scavenger Hunt will run through 9 p.m. ET March 31 to give you plenty of time to find these items in case you need more than one run to do complete the search.

Here’s how it will work: you run, you take photos of the items below, you post them to Twitter with the hashtag #RunChatHunt and you’ll be entered to win our prizes.

Here are the items to search for (in order of your No. 1 choice to No. 10 in last week’s voting):

A running sticker (13.1, 26.2, etc.)

Bridge (bonus for covered)
A giant hill you’re going to run
Christmas decorations still up
Historical marker/sign
Letters from signs to create #runchat
“Welcome to” state/city/county sign
Water (lake/river/pond)
Trail marker or mile marker
A scene from your favorite place to run

I love photography. I especially love photo scavenger hunts.  And I needed more motivation to go run.  It was the Perfect Storm of incentives.  Minus the George Clooney.  And.  Marky Mark.  Though I did choose INKS Kick and Shriekback Oil & Gold as my albums for my previously mentioned album run experiment.  So I totally had the 80s music covered.  Yo.

Ahem.  I digress…

It was a gorgeous spring day here in west-central Florida, so I headed out to the beach and started running and shooting.

Not just "a" running sticker - three of 'em! Four if runDisney counts.

We don't have big hills in coastal Florida. But we do have bridges - this covers both!

Mile marker. D'uh.

Welcome sign - and to my very favorite beach, no less.

Water: a turtle pond at McGough Nature Park.

Does 1990 count as "historical"? It was  the previous century...

Last, but certainly not least, my favorite place to run! Bliss.

So, how'd it go?  Beautifully!  Literally and figuratively.  Taking time to stop for photos forced me  out of my run-data-filled head and into the world around me.  Paying close attention to the sights so as not to miss a potential photo made me more aware of my truly awesome surroundings; I'm darned lucky to run in such an amazing place.  And having a running goal that really had nothing to do with the act of running was just plain fun.  And... I finished my six miles feeling great.

Many thanks to Run Chat for posting the challenge; I may not win a prize in the contest, but I kinda feel like I already won big!  :)