Motivation Monday: The get-outside edition

This section of Rock Creek Park was dusted with snow when we ran by it yesterday.

There are lots of things I tell myself when I’m not in the mood to work out: That I always feel better after a run, that even a slow, plodding run will boost my health and fitness, that if I just make myself run to the next light post, I can probably tackle the whole route.

I have a new motivation to add to the list: I run when I don’t feel like it because you never know what you’ll see if you just go outside and open your eyes.

We’d planned to lift yesterday, but found our gym closed early. So we headed outside, a little grumpy about the cold weather.

We shouldn’t have been. The bracing air immediately made everything from our cheeks to our lungs feel more alive. We took in our neighbors’ holiday decorations, and noticed the previous night’s snow weighing down the last remaining fall leaves.We saw Rock Creek Park with a dusting of powdered-sugar snow from the area’s first snowfall over the weekend.

We turned a corner to one of our route’s steepest hills, and spotted a car with a Christmas tree strapped on top. Then, we smelled a waft of clean pine air – there’s a tree lot at the top of the hill!

Up another hill, we saw two kids trying to sled on the inch or so of snow, without much success. Then, when we were almost home, we passed a spectacular-looking snowman with stick arms and a carrot nose in the front lawn of one of our neighbors.

I run for the same reason we all get up every morning — to experience and interact with the world.

What’s motivating you this week?