Mind and body working in perfect harmony

I'm convinced that our biggest obstacle to achieving our goals is the person looking at you in the mirror every single day. More importantly, it's how we think about ourselves and our goals that really make the difference between succeeding and failing.

On a smaller scale, yet still very important to me, each run I have starts out pretty much the same. I have a talk with myself about what I'm going to run. I then map out a picture in my mind about what the run will look like. I never just lace up my shoes and head out the door without some sort of plan ahead of time. I can't remember ever going out for a run with the mindset of being negative or I probably never would have made it out the door.

I think I'm beginning to get better at using my mind instead of just my legs to power me through a run. I know that this is the only way I'll be able to get through my 50 Mile race in the spring. I also used to use negative "self-talk" if I was unable to do a run for a few days which is what is happening this weekend. Instead I'm accepting the fact that I can't run and have been doing some cross training to keep my legs strong for my runs this week.

I've been reading a very good book on Chi Running (thanks Jennifer) and I'm beginning to realize that I've been applying many of principles in that book to my running of late without even trying to. Trail running lends itself perfectly to this type of running as it allows me to focus more on relaxing instead of using power all the times. I've also run in some inclement weather lately and that has allowed me to just "go with the flow" and let the conditions dictate my pace etc. The same will hold true when I'm doing my trail race. There will be hills that I'll probably have to walk up instead of run up. Knowing that I'll probably be out there for a minimum of 10 hours will force me to just relax and enjoy the experience.

When I teach my learn to run clinic in March, I'll be using many of the principles of Chi Running.
For more information about Chi Running, visit this website:
http://www.chirunning.com/blog/