Hi,
Firstly, you have to know what kind of person you are when comes to sports – is it task oriented or ego oriented. Through this, you would be able to identify the purpose of participate in this run.
Before participate, there must be some kind of force that pushing you to join this run. And that force could be the motivation or goals. A few days before the actual run, you should have thought of the motivations that would push you when you feel like giving up during the process. Preparation is very important. There 2 kind of motivation- extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic could be monetary term (winning the prize money) and having the limited shirt from NIKE.
Intrinsic motivation could be having a sense of satisfaction after completing the run, making new friends during the run, complete something beyond your limits (personal record), be part of the successful runners who complete the run, treating yourself a sumptuous meal after the run, telling myself completing this race would make me feel fitter and healthier.
Telling myself I can’t back out from this run, after running 6km how can I give up just like that. I just have to endure another 4km!!!!!!!! I have complete 6km; another 4km is not a problem. Everyone else can do it, I can do it too!! Telling myself, if I stop running, my girlfriend/boyfriend will run away from me / one of my family members will die.
It is best if you have companion to run with you. Encouragement and motivation would be much more effective. If possible, bring MP3 along; listen to music while running is quite an enjoyment.
You might ask why do I have so many motivation- My answer is – It’s a 10km run, I would need more than 10 motivations to keep me strong enough to complete the run.
FEEL LAZY OR TIRED? Require lot of mental strength and determination.
Think positively and do not think about how much distance is left to cover.
Overall, I have to say that different people have different desires and thus different motivation is require and to have to find it out on your own.