Staying motivated

Any runner goes through the struggle to stay motivated when training.  I struggled with this over this past winter and early spring before getting into my groove.  I had a really solid summer of training, which resulting in hitting my goal half marathon time at the Philly Half Marathon.

As Dopey training progresses, I really want to make sure I stay motivated.  It's been going well so far, but as it goes on it is going to get harder.  It'll be darker out and weather will get in the way so I'll be doing more miles then I'd like on a treadmill.  I have never trained for a marathon in the middle of winter.  A spring marathon?  Yes.  A true winter marathon?  No.

So I've come up with a little system to stay motivated.  Bribery.  Seriously.  I have seen this on a couple of other blogs (Kim did it while training for Dumbo) and it sounds like a winner to me.

I am going to give myself $1 for every mile I run.  I am going to use an empty Disney Coffee can as my "piggy" bank (although I will be depositing it every now and then.  Let's be real, there is no need to keep that much cash in my apartment).  And then when I get to Dopey in January, the money saved will be my spending money for the expo.  I think this will be a good motivation for me as the training progresses.

Any other suggestions on how to stay motivated?

PS - Did everyone watch this epic (and yes it deserves that description) lip sync contest on Jimmy Fallon this week?  Amazing.  I love me some Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  If you need convincing, check out this link.