Motivated 11/07/2011
 
There's nothing like watching 47,000 people run by you as they push to complete the insane challenge of running 26.2 miles to motivate you to do something active!  This past weekend Lindsey and I took the train up to NYC to support my big bro as he ran the New York City Marathon.  Now me, my marathoning days are more or less over, I have ruin 12 in total, 10 of those over the course of a year, along with a 50-miler mixed in for good measure.  While it was an incredible year and beyond for me, my activity goals have shifted from running for countless hours.  The feeling of crossing the finish line on one of these things in indescribable, and I applaud with cheerful passion anyone and everyone who prepares properly and achieves the impressive goal of crossing the finish line, 26.2 painful miles under their feet!  It's one of those things I think everyone should take 6-12 months out of their life and do!

Watching all these runners, and especially my brother run this race, lit a little fire beneath me to get back out and train like there's no tomorrow.  Knowing the challenge of setting your sights on an end goal, preparing you training schedule, "putting in the miles", changing your life so that it fits with your end goals, and in the end, getting out there and doing everything you trained for, well, there's something wonderfully motivating about that whole process.  I have spent too long just "winging" different events.  Signing up for something, heading out the day of, and hoping for the best.  I respect the process of training for something too much to insult it by not doing it myself.  So, my message to all those things out there in the next year that i want to achieve:

Watch out, I'm training seriously, and I'm coming for you! 

Thanks for the motivation Hermano!

To all those people out there wanting to take a new step in your fit life, to all those of you who want new and exciting challenges: Find an event or two you really think looks cool and exciting, register for it/them, and respect the hell out of it by taking your training seriously.  I have seen way too many times people sign up for things and then arrogantly expect that they will probably be fine to just go and do the thing.  This leads to all sorts of excuses for either not doing well or not finishing, like me in last years Regionals for the CrossFit Games.  I didn't take my training seriously, I used moving back East as an excuse to skip training days and let my nutrition slide.  And in the end, I finished 24th out of 30.  yes, this is respectable from an objective standpoint, but I insulted all those athletes who trained their butts off by not taking my training more seriously I did not deserve to me there and I will NOT make that mistake again.  Others may look up to you or respect you for just showing up, but myself, and all those people out there who worked their asses off to compete have zero sympathy for your inability to perform well becuase you didn't respect the challenge. 

Good job to all the runners who trained and finished yesterdays race, I hope it changed your life for the better and motivated you to do even more crazy fitness challenges in your life.  And good luck to all you people in the midst of training for some crazy fitness challenge.  I hope your training is changing your life and that you enjoy the struggle of pushing your psychical and mental self to new levels!!

Never Stop GET FIT.

Josh Courage
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Yeah, I guess we do kind of look alike... (I have bigger arms! Ha!)
Today I got an email with an attachment about a little Q and A with my brother as he trains for the New York City Marathon!  Add this to the the excitement I have for the last weekend of the month when I'll be up in NYC for the Spartan Race and spending a dude's weekend with my bro and my dad!  So, I figured I'd share a little about this guy who I've looked up to my entire life.

Growing up I always felt like I lived in my brother's shadow.  The guy was insane at pretty much every sport (I may be remembering this wrong but I think he dunked a damn basketball in 9th grade!).  He dressed in a way I thought I'd never be able to pull off (the dude wore a leather jacket in High School, god that was cool!), and he had such a comfortable personality with everyone.  To add to the versatility that inspired me so much, he headed off to a great school where he excelled at diving, and, for fun, played on the baseball team.  Why not right?  Then graduated and just like that began a damn impressive post-school life.  Started his own web-design company, worked online marketing for some HUGE names in publishing and magazines, even started a now-pretty successful film festival! 

Over the years we have have had our basic brotherly ups and downs, but every time we get together it seems like we just sort of feed off of each others pretty distinct energy.  We have gone in very different directions with our lives; he is what I would call a stereotypical New Yorker: works online marketing, rides a "fixie" to work across the Brooklyn Bridge every morning, works out at totally ghetto YMCA, walks his albino pit pull around his relatively sketchy neighborhood while chain smoking some form of "hipster" cigarette.  I of course am a fitness junkie who would go WAY out of his way to avoid being in a major city, I practically gag at the smell of cigarette smoke and have never sat at a desk for work besides a couple internships between baseball games in college.  And despite our differences I still look up to this guy with never-ending respect for what he has achieved in his life.

He has basically taken control of his life from the second he had the freedom to do so.  He has fallen over so many times, and yet he seems to have no problem finding his way back up to an even higher level (a Courage Family trait I am finding out...).  And now he's done it again!  I would easily say that about 6 months ago I could probably be seen picking fun at him in a back-handed way for being so damn unhealthy and out of shape.  But now the guy is cooking all sorts of incredible foods (he has given me some AWESOME ideas for how to keep my fueling fun and exciting whole staying simple) whole training for a marathon.  And to top it off, he is committed to raising at least $3,000 for a YMCA kids program (helping kids into health and fitness programs that they can't afford).

So, while I continue to look up to the guy, and aspire to to be as cool as I see him, I ask you all to give him your well wishes with his training, and perhaps donate a buck or two (or more...?).  And while your at it, take a moment to think about someone in your family and the positive things they have inspired in you.  No matter how you've grown, I can pretty much guarantee that you'll be able to remember something positive (hopefully lots of things!) in each and every one of your family members.  Feel free to share if you'd like!

Good luck brother!  Looking forward to seeing you in a couple weeks!

Check out the article here

Donate to the cause here

Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage
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