Your mind is the most powerful determinant of what makes a great or not so great run. Self-image and confidence colour our attitude. So many of us, particularly at the start of our running adventure, don’t want anyone to see us. As the weeks pass we start to appreciate our long dormant capacity to enjoy running. We can leave the negative associations behind, but what to put in their place?
Some runs are tough. We struggle to get out of the door and then the conditions outside – weather, traffic, terrain – work on our mood and we get home feeling very negative. Other days we spring out of the door like a champagne cork being released. If it rains we laugh and welcome it, we wave at the cars that let us pass, we skip from puddle to puddle. And how do we feel when we hit that sweet spot?
I’m talking about the image we form of ourselves in our minds eye. To the outside world I’m a short granny who is not your classic runner’s build. In my head I’m somewhere in my 30s or 40s, taller, slimmer and far more graceful. There are no mirrors on the paths where I run so no unpleasant reality checks😂
And on a really good day – well forgive me for repeating myself because I have said this before – but on those days when everything comes together I am the evil liquid metal Terminator from the second film in the series, where he’s chasing the car with Arnie and friends and trying to sink his silver hooks into it. That mechanical unrelenting movement, yep that’s me, striding across the Essex countryside, oblivious to the rest of the world. They have no idea who they’re dealing with lol
Oh, and on a bad day? Where I used to live there was a local man we all called The Runner. He was in his 60s or 70s and rain or shine would run every day, wearing only the briefest of running shorts. His gait was slow and uneven. You’d see him pounding slowly along the High Street or beside the main roads, winter and summer, his leathery skin gleaming with sweat. On my bad days, when a knee or a hip is aching but I want to carry on I emulate him and his determination, rest his soul.
So who do you channel when you don't feel your own persona fits with your mood? Perhaps you identify with an animal? Is it a cheetah, smooth and fast. Is it a greyhound, dashing towards an ever retreating goal? Is it something less built for speed, like a snail?
(I have difficulty identifying with any animal other than a well fed cat curled up on the sofa so this doesn’t really apply to my running 🐱👤)
Or are you different people and creatures every time you pull on your running shoes? Usain Bolt or Paula Radcliffe? The Roadrunner or Wile E.Coyote? The Invisible (Wo)Man? The tortoise or the hare?
Or something/someone a lot more inspiring??
(Incidentally I found out more about The Runner after I moved away. He was a professional man, materially well off, but a bereavement drove him to run. I don’t think he wanted to be in his big house on his own.)
😁
Week 5 Run 2 - The kindness of strangers
Why we love to run!
When you know you need to run...and when you do....👌🏽😍!! 🏃🏾♀️🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽
