A couple of weeks ago I completed my first half marathon. For those who don’t know that’s 21kms of running or in my case jogging! Impressive huh! Let me tell you the actual running is much easier than the mental battle that goes along with it. Each time I went out for a training run, I had heaps of reasons (excuses) not to go, “I really should stay in bed and get more sleep”, “It’s too hot”, “It’s too cold”, “My feet/legs still hurt from last session”. Luckily most times I went anyway, but then the next mental battle started… “I should stop, my legs feel like lead”, “Don’t run, just walk. You can push it tomorrow” the list goes on…. Then after a couple of kilometres I would get into the rhythm of the movement of my legs and arms, the sound of my feet on the pavement and my breath. This is the part I love, watching the world around me with my favourite music in my ears. Alone with my thoughts, I managed to get clarity on many things that were bothering me. I learnt many things about myself, my belief systems and life patterns. Here are some I would like to share with you, I am sure you will have heard some of them before, but since they were reinforced to me while running I am sharing them with you now.
- Thinking about it is worse than actually doing it. It’s not as hard as you think it is.
- It’s important to pace yourself. Going out hard and fast makes you burn out too soon and increases your chance of hurting yourself.
- Doing your best and getting the job done is more important than doing it perfectly. It’s not always pretty
- When you set yourself a goal that is really challenging, and then complete it, you feel AMAZING!!!!!
- Don’t bother comparing yourself to anyone else. Their challenges are different to mine and the ONLY person I need to impress is me. Furthermore, I am allowed to pat myself on the back when I am impressed with myself.
- You get there step by step, encourage yourself to take the next step. So many times I ran just another 500metres… until the end of the next song… to the next sign post, etc.
And last but by no means least….
- Dark chocolate is a great energy source, recovery food and reward! That’s what I am telling myself anyway. Please don’t give me any info that contradicts this belief, I am not ready to hear it 😉
