The One About Mind Games

I once heard that running is 90 percent mental and 10 percent mental. I concur.

Hills this week were completed in the pouring rain. Somewhere along the 2 kilometer run to the hill I asked my clinic instructor what I already knew to be true. “Five hills tonight, Cheryl?” I asked, merely to start conversation.  

But surprisingly Cheryl answered “No”.

I thought that was strange. Every week we go up one hill; last week we ran four hills. Cheryl even sent out an e-mail before the run claiming we were running five hills.

But now, she had changed her mind. We weren’t running five hills anymore. We were running three and then two more.

It might seem funny, but on my second hill, I became overwhelmed by the strenuous workout ahead of me. And then, I thought to myself. Wait, just one more hill and that’s three. And then, I only have two more.  Mind games really work. I never realized it but I have always subconsciously played these activities with myself. Like today, I wasn’t running 14 kilometers- I was running the same distance as last week (12 kilometers), plus two more. Do you know how short two kilometers is? I can run that in ten minutes. Adding ten minutes to a run is easy-peasy. Ergo, running 14 kilometers is easy-peasy.  

Of course, running is easier if you are physically prepared but it is a sport that takes mental strength over anything.

Although I cannot attest to it, I bet when people run marathons they think of it as two half marathons. And I’m sure even my triathlon friend I met today has mind games of her own…. She recently completed a Half Ironman (1.9 km swim, 90 km bike ride, 21.1 km run) and I don’t know how she could do that without mentally tricking herself. Really, who does that for fun? But who am I to judge people’s past-times. It’s actually pretty inspirational- she couldn’t have been much older than myself.

I won’t be completing a triathlon anytime soon, but I will rely on misleading mind games to get me through my second half marathon--- I mean a run that is 21.1 kilometers less than a full marathon-  which is obviously going to be so easy!

My next big training run will be in the nation’s capital! I hope for snow…. Training for the hypothermic half in rain just doesn’t seem natural.

Regardless, I hope I can maintain my training through all the festivities. I wouldn’t want to deprive you of my blog posts.

Well, at least now I know, if I think I can, I can.

Until next run,

Running Romance xx