Touching the mental and spiritual side

Most of us runners train very hard to achieve the ultimate on the physical side of things, yet we neglect the two other elements (mental and spiritual) that make up running.

We all know the feeling of standing on the start line – heart is pounding and mind is racing about what we might or might not achieve in that particular event. You may be part of the i-pod crew who can’t seem to run one step without the music, much less one mile or 100 miles.

Not too many will be alone in their own thoughts or giving thanks for what they are about to embark on. Indeed it is a western thing that we seek to fill the silence and don’t gravitate easily to the serene feeling of a still mind. In fact many of us don’t even wish to read about these aspects when reading books on running.

I recently loaned a running text that has been incredibly helpful to me to one of my friends as he wished to improve his overall running. When he returned the text, he was full of excitement over the fact that he now had the tools to run the time he wanted in his next marathon. He was quoting tempo times and 1KM repeats etc. This is great, but only proved to me that he did exactly what most other westerners do when reading a sporting text – they go straight for the training programs and ignore the rest. When I quizzed him about the bits on mental visualisation and belief, he had no idea.

There is no sure fire way to ensure that we are successful in our endeavours, but we can and will go a long way to achieving them through attaining a calmness of mind and being able to see the end result. Each night as you close your eyes, see that time on the clock – believe it as though it has already happened. If you go there with the mind, then the legs will follow.

There are wonderful books out there which focus solely on the mental and spiritual side of running if you want to find out more about this, I recommend Amby Burfoot’s ‘The Runners Guide to the meaning of life’ as an excellent starting point to ground yourself.

See it (everyday), believe it – achieve it!

Stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller