The other day I was running on one of my usual routes and as usual, struggling. I approached a man and woman walking the other way and as I passed them, the man stepped aside, clapped his hands, and said, "C'mon now, pick up the pace!" I laughed and determinedly did not pick up the pace. In my mind, I am always running as fast as I possibly can. I have no explanation for why when I am training with Coach, I consistently run between 1-2 minutes per mile faster than when I run by myself. It may remain unexplained. It took me 6 months, but today I finally broke the 30 minute mark for my personal best 5K time. The significance of this small accomplishment to my marathon aspirations remains to be seen.
I am a fearful runner. My biggest fears are of pain (in any form) and of givng up. These fears may be the best explanation for my chronically slow pace. If I'm going to be successful and make any progress, I can't continue to let fear control my performance. I am now ready to "call out" my fears: I am afraid of hurting, cramping, and quitting each and every time I run.
My one and only blog comment thus far was from my daughter, Slari, "Quit thinking and just run." I liked this and thought a lot about it...haha. Well, I have a one idea. I'm going to develop an I-tune running play list. I need suggestions from everyone. I want a list with a wide variety of fast up-tempo songs to keep me moving...and not thinking. Any genre is welcome!
Oh, by the way, I have my mantra:
C'mon now, pick up the pace!
MM: You are inspirational....as they say in the movie: "Run Forrest run!"
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