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31 July 2020

Do we lose motivation when there is no race?

We believe that everyone who practices a sport does so because they love it. When you train a lot, it is normal to participate and love competitions. We do our best at competitions, and our work and dedication come to the fore.

But now we have a situation when there is not so many competitions, and everything stopped for an indefinite period of time. We are all familiar with the situation about the virus and how much it has affected sports all around the world.

Blog by Snezana Djuric

© instagram.com/JohnWolfrik

Do we lose motivation in that case? We have a preparation period, a competition period, a recovery, all of which are planned throughout the year. And then, all of a sudden, everything stops. As for me personally, I have not lost motivation to train. Fortunately, I have a good team, we support each other and make some new plans.

So far, only one trail race has been taken place in Serbia, in which I participated. We all hoped that everything started to get better and that the competitions will continue.

I was supposed to go to Sweden together with team Arduua and take part of the “Åre mountain marathon week” and run the famous race “Kia Fjällmaraton 43K”. Of course, I was very happy about this. Working together, new races, mountains I haven’t been to, to see world runners, to learn something new.

Unfortunately, a few days before I was supposed to leave, the situation in Serbia started to get worse as far as the virus was concerned. A few days before my trip, a decision was made by the European Union that the citizens of Serbia cannot cross the border. The situation here was getting worse and worse … I also received an email from the airline that all flights had been canceled. At that moment, it was certain that I could not go to the races in Sweden. I definitely had no motivation that day! I was in a very bad mood because of everything … I sat and thought. We have been preparing for something important all year, we are happy about it and then suddenly the wall.

I overslept, a new day came, I went for a light run on my own and thought all the time. The most important thing in this situation is that we are healthy. It really is so. Some people here say, when you are healthy you can do whatever you want. And when you think about it a little more, that’s really true. All this will pass, and the mountains will not escape anywhere.

We don’t only train for racing, we train for our health, strength, lifestyle, enjoyment, an always with a big smile after training! All this is motivation for the future. As we know, the results are not achieved overnight, we will be stronger for next year.

Again, fortunately, races are held in our neighboring country, Bosnia and Herzegovina. And that is the country where we can go, so I signed up for the Jahorina ultra trail and I must admit I was very happy. I was not in the race in Sweden, but I was thinking about the people from my team the same day J.

It’s nice to spend time with athletes, with people who enjoy nature, it’s nice to have healthy competition, and it’s best to be healthy. I know that many races all over the world have been canceled, it is normal to lose motivation for a moment and have a bad period. But think about why you train and of course … tomorrow is a new day :).

I hope that soon all this will be left behind, we will all learn something new and move on!

Keep running J.

/Snezana Djuric, Arduua Frontrunner

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