Day 8/9: Mental (State of Running)

I am free. I am flying.

Today my run was more interesting than normal. I ran the standard 2+ miles, but something was different. I still struggled up the hill and checked my watch periodically grudgingly noting my 11-minutes per mile pace. I still felt the hot rush of nerves as I picked up my pace on the downhill. I still felt the wind chill my cheeks and the distant sun glare in my eyes. But my brain was elsewhere.

I wore my headphones, but my ipod was dead. This caused me to think about different topics while I ran; my brain jumping from thought pattern to thought pattern. My headphones fitted snuggly in my ears blocked out most of the topical noise, such as birds, chattering neighbors, and the wind. But what it didn’t block out is what was way more exciting. I could hear each short, stout, little breath I took; one in, one out. I could almost hear my heart lumping in my chest and the blood pulsing through my veins. I could hear my feet, thud, thud, thud, thud on the sidewalk. I felt like I could feel everything in the world and it was amazing.

After spending a long while being caught up in the beauty of bodily functions (the PG rated ones), my mind drifted to the other side of the pool. I, for no particular reason, thought about an article I had read recently in Runner’s World Magazine called Collision Course. This article is about runners, drivers, and safety on the road. Although I run almost always on a sidewalk or trail, I do occasionally venture into the street. I always try to run on the side of the road where I can see the cars coming at me (and react) and I never wear headphones while running in the street, but I am still scared that I’ll get hit. I thought about the amount of injures and deaths of runners and cyclists each year due to negligent drivers. Like I said, my brain ran over to the seedy side of the tracks. From these thoughts of driver/runner collisions my brain bounced over to thoughts of my recovering friend and his recent sports-related injuries. This in turn reminded me to be grateful for my current ability to run and be thankful that I have healed so quickly. Before I knew it, my short run was over and I was back in the locker room, showering up and putting on my stiff work clothes.

Then, as if I hadn’t been through enough mental activity thus far today, a very nice woman asked me, “What’s wrong with your knee?” Since I had been so wrapped up in my brain activity, I felt befuddled and stumbled out a crumby explanation that I fractured my tibia and knee cap and while healed, I was just getting back into training and trying to air on the side of caution. She asked me how I fractured both my knee cap and my tibia, and I said simply, “running.” We started to discuss training and running and I admitted to being overzealous in my marathon training, which most likely caused the fractures. She told me how she does triathlons and recently ran her first marathon. I told her that I too recently did my first marathon and am currently training for a 50 miler. When we were talking about the weekly mileage we rack up she asked if I had read “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall. I said I had, and that it is my current standing favorite. She said she loved it too, because it showed the awesome mental state of distance running. She said that with all the training she has done for triathlons, the mental component is what makes it a challenge and what makes it fun. I agreed whole heartedly in regards to my experiences with the mental state of running. The conversation completely made my day.

I find it inspiring and extremely motivating that the universe places me around and with things and people to encourage me in this journey I am on toward 50 miles. It’s those little moments in each day that push me forward and give me drive.