links for 3.19.10: expansion, inspiration and motivation

my first marathon: The Freescale Marathon, Austin, TX, 2005

Each Friday*, I do a quick wrap-up, posting links I’ve found throughout the week to articles, websites and blog posts that I find interesting, inspiring, helpful or a little bit of fun.

OnceMany: Expand Outdoors Says It’s Never Too Late To Play Outside

I launched my website this week in conjunction with a featured photo and write-up on OnceMany. I was introduced to the site back in January and found the concept and execution really creative and cool, and I wanted to support the project and be a part of it.

dailymile: Power of Exercise
Dailymile is a site I’ve used to track my workouts since the beginning of 2009. It’s simple design makes it easy to use and the features encompass most of what i want in a fitness-tracking program. They’ve also been incredibly responsive when I’ve submitted a problem or suggestion.

I haven’t, however, used it much as a social networking site. However, a few months ago, I’ve been noticing a ton of new activity. Lots of new friend requests and a dailymile team on twitter that’s made up of enthusiastic ambassadors for the program.

I clicked through to this post on twitter this week. It’s an inspiring, worthy read. It’s a short post about the support, community and encouragement available through the site, featuring pictures of people like us (normal, every-day folks) whose lives have been transformed.

Los Angeles Times: Motivation to Run a Marathon
A great write-up about the difference in effectiveness between external and internal motivating forces. A powerful quote from the story:

"...if it's about you and accomplishing something in your life, then it's intrinsic. Very few things are cut and dried, but at the end of the day, the majority of the day has to be intrinsic for something to be sustainable." [emphasis mine]

*Unfortunately, due to Internet difficulties this week, I’m posting Monday, March 22.