So, recently I went on a run. It was nothing special. The weather in Chicago was warm enough for me to run outside, so I headed out. There was no real goal in mind, as I’m not currently training for anything. I decided I would do somewhere between 3 and 4 miles.
Off I went and the first 2 miles were fabulous! I was thinking about work projects. I was thinking about future blog posts. I was thinking about missing my husband. I was thinking about my recent personal losses. I was thinking about my birthday. Basically, I was thinking about everything except running.
Then at mile 2, I returned my attention to the job at hand. “One foot in front of the other. Your slowing down, pick up the pace. Don’t trip on the rock. Man I really hate it when people pull there cars into the pedestrian lane. Oh no, 2 more miles to go.” All I was thinking about was running, how awful it was, how much work it was, how I felt forced to be doing it, how I’m not “good” at it, etc. And that mile ended up being my slowest mile of the run.
Towards the end of mile 2, crossing over into mile 3, I realized what I was doing and managed to shift my focus. I moved on to things that inspire me and the reasons I chose to run, instead of focusing on the running itself.
I discovered that the trick to successful running, is to not think about running. I’ve always heard that people run to clear their heads, but I’ve never put that idea into practice until that day. And look at this, because I was focusing on blogging, I knew exactly what to write for today’s Mastering Body post.
Thank you Nike. Don’t think about it. JUST DO IT.
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