Motivation

My motivation has been low lately.  My motivation at work, my motivation at home, and my motivation with my running.  I am not sure what is causing this, maybe it's just the general manotiny of life (which really is a good thing, don't get me wrong) or maybe it's the weather (cold and generally blah).  I'm not quite sure, but there have been a few things I've been doing to try and break me of this lack of motivation.

In the running world, I ran my first 12k race on Sunday (Feb. 10th).  A 12k race is equal to 7.5 miles.  The race was the 9th Annual Fanconi Anemia Run/Walk  This is a great race that I also did last year.  Last year I did the 5k, and I remember talking to a lady who was doing the 12k, and I thought to myself, "Wow, I'd never be able to a 12k."  What did I know?  This race follows the Portland Waterfront right along the Willamette River.  It's just absolutely beautiful, and it's put on by some really great people who really are passionate about finding a cure for Fanconi Anemia.  My race went great.  I ran at 10 min/mile pace, and I was ecstatic about that.  After the race I ate a cinnamon role at the finish line, and then continued on for another mile so I could get my 8 miles done for that week.  Now I just need to hold onto my momentum gained from this race and keep on chugging along.  I think I'm halfway through my half marathon training, and I'm feeling really good.

In the working world I'm in the middle of preparing my 8th grade group for their District Festival Performance.  This is on March 21st, and I really think we are going to do great.  This group of 8th graders is pretty stellar.  They are all awesome musicians, and they are all really fun kids to teach.  I've been really motivated with them, but in my other classes I'm feeling a little worn out.  We're working toward our concert, but I'm just not feeling really excited about it.  I think I just need to start picking out some music for our final concert of the year, so I can keep moving the mind forward.  I really shouldn't complain, though because I love my job.  I work at an awesome school, I finally got some more hours this year.  I feel like things are on the upswing in my career so I just need to keep chugging along.

At home, I've just had very little motivation to keep the household running smoothly.  Being a Mom is so darn tough (as all Mom's know).  Sometimes all of the cleaning, organizing, book reading, food cooking, lunch packing just gets a bit overwhelming and boring all at the same time.  So I've been trying to get back into list making.  This makes getting the last piece of clothing put away a little more gratifying when I can cross it off the list.  I've also been up to my usual recipe hunting.  I find that cooking the family different meals throughout the week helps me stay happy about my job as Mom.  Hopefully these two things will help me get excited about my Mom job.

So is anyone else out there having a hard time staying motivated?  Maybe it's just a January-February thing.  We are all just trying to keep our heads up until Spring arrives.