mind over matter

Now, since I know all of you live and breathe by my blog {wink, wink}, you remember that I wrote a post in January in which I listed a few of my New Year's resolutions.  I am happy to report that after successfully surviving and enjoying five and a half months of 2009 (WHERE DOES TIME GO?!) I am keeping to my goals quite nicely...for the FIRST time in my life.  [SIDE NOTE:  Please be aware that I a) rarely even set New Year's resolutions, and b) never keep the ones I actually set, so we're talking about a small miracle here. ...Resolutions of the past would be "This year, I'm going to journal every day," and then at the end of the year, the only entry in the journal would be January 1st...you get the point].  Anyway...

Ok, now let's be real for a minute...

...I am an over-weight human being.  I know...you had NO idea ;o).  

In an effort to reduce my overweight-ness and increase my overall health, I have taken up running.  Now, I thought running would be just a method of exercise that would help me achieve better physical health, but in the mean time I have discovered that running (and intense exercise in general) is much more than that!

Maybe all of the amazing marathon runners / great athletes of the world already knew this and I'm just a late bloomer, but I have been totally amazing by how much of the running game is mental and not physical.

For me, while running, I have to have a constant conversation going with myself...

..."i can't make it up this hill. i should walk..."

..."RUN. c'mon. suck it up. you can do it..."

[And then after deciding that voice #2 is correct, I am partially up the hill when the next conversation begins...].

..."ok, i already made it more than i thought i could have...maybe i 

should walk the rest of the way up..."

..."c'mon, look, you're halfway there already, and getting closer 

every step.  just take one step at a time..."

Note that this is an extremely paraphrased version of my mental conversations with myself, but you get the point ;o).

[And then, MUCH to my surprise and excitement, I have made it to the top of the hill...Then the conversation goes...]

..."YOU DID IT...even though you didn't think you could..."

And I generally have an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and excitement and surprise.  And then I feel stronger.  And I realize that running, like most things in life, is a mind-over-matter type deal.  Sure, part of the battle is physical, but I am finding that most of the time, when I "can't" do something, the only reason I didn't keep going was because I gave up mentally...not because my muscles, lungs, and heart couldn't keep going.

So yes, I'm getting physically stronger from running, but I think the mental strength that I am discovering is the surprising part and perhaps the most rewarding.  I can talk  myself into a lot more things these days (compared to when I first started), and it's always fun to try to out-do myself.

Another thing I think about while I'm running is that running is the ultimate metaphor for life...

*Sometimes it is best to focus on the step-by-step / right here, right now, but others it is the best to gaze off into the distance towards the goal...depends on the day.

 

*There are uphills, downhills, and plateaus, and for one reason or another, each are good for their own reasons...also depends on the day and the route you take.

*Sometimes it's a sprint, and sometimes it's a marathon.

*Sometimes I want to listen to music and be distracted.  Other times, I want to hear my feet hit the ground, hear my breathing, and hear the sounds around me. 

*Above all else, the important thing that I am learning is to keep the conversation going so that I continue to push myself to achieve things that I never thought possible.

It really is [mind over matter].