This is another blog aimed at those of you who are on the fence about running, getting off that couch, and having the self esteem to train for any type of race. I encourage you to get out there and clear your head. Every time I run I’m able to leave my troubles on the road or on the track. It doesn’t matter if the 3.5 year old is whining when I leave the house, if the 1.5 year old is screaming because we took away the iPad, if the husband and I are fighting, or if the dog has puked on the floor. A good run helps you clear your head.
My silly life has been filled with a jumble of situations lately; Christmas and the stressors thereof, job issues, marriage problems, kid situations, and car trouble just to name a few. Each one by itself can be pretty darn large, but then you put them all together and you have the makings of a meltdown and a stay in a padded room. Enter running! Each week I train and run, it brings me closer to a Zen-like state. When I run I can lock the whole world out and release all of my troubles into the Universe. My right eye has been twitching for over a month now and actually stops twitching from the time my foot hits the track/pavement to the time I’m in the locker room/house.
It also can help me work through things. I’ve stopped keeping track of how many epiphanies I’ve had while running. Am I solving world hunger or curing cancer? Nope. But I am working on my life one day at a time. A recent thought was that while most people are jazzed up about things because of the trill of the chase, I needed to be focused on what would happen to my life after the chase had ended. My focus was all messed up and too short-sighted. When that happens I have a tendency to get selfish. If I fixed my focus on what was really important, the thrill of the chase would be gone and the true meaning would show itself. Take the Fifth Third River Bank Run for example; I was focusing on the run itself and chasing it down. What about all of the runs before it? We have the Resolution Run on Saturday and a few others before the big day on May 12th. What about after the run? Am I planning on continuing to run afterward? When you take the focus off the thrill of the chase, the rest of the picture becomes so much clearer. While the adrenaline rush you get during the chase is wonderful, the accomplishment you feel when you open your mind up to everything else is so much more satisfying and fulfilling. The thrill of the chase is just that – a thrill and short-lived. The journey and being in the moment is so much more than I could have imagined. I’m immersing myself in this training and drinking all I can from it. I’m pushing myself to new heights and far beyond my own personal envelope. I feel this transformation I’m going through, physically and emotionally, and I’m loving it. Okay, I’m loving most of it. I don’t like blisters and hills with ice, but I’m working through those parts.
Can’t wait to see you at the Wolverine Resolution Run this Saturday. Come run or walk. Clear your head. It’ll do your mind and body some good 