You don't want to run behind me.

I’ve been thinking about my run this morning. When I started out it was just as hard as any other run. My legs felt like they were made of lead and I was running so slowly, I’m surprised I was moving at all. It didn’t help that I was running into the wind. I had planned to do the 8 minute spurts and if I hadn’t run that 10 minutes last week I don’t know if I would have believed my body could do it. But I knew that no matter how hard 5 minutes felt it was nothing because I’d already run twice that.

At some point I realized that while it wasn’t effortless running, it had become easier. I wonder whether I would have hit that point 5-10 minutes into a run all the way back in November (when I started)? My next run is 20 minutes straight, so I guess I’ll find out.

I read an article in Runner’s World magazine about a man who competes in Triple Ironman races. A Triple Ironman consists of a 7.2 mile swim, a 336 mile bike ride, and running 78.6 miles. One thing he said really stood out to me. When he’s running/biking/swimming he doesn’t allow himself to have ANY negative thoughts. If a thought that is less than positive pops into his mind he immediately follows it up with a positive thought. Thinking positive thoughts keeps those feel good chemicals swirling around in his brain & he’s able to enjoy the race.

So I’ve tried to implement that in my workouts. When I run, and I feel like stopping, I picture the fat melting away from my body and dropping to the ground as I run past. If I were to turn around I’d see a trail of gooey fat. Gross, but it helps.