Voice in My Head

So, I had an enlightening experience this morning. I woke up before the alarm went off and was almost ready to run. I say almost, because being new to running, I haven't gotten to the point where I enjoy running. Don't get me wrong, every day I'm starting to enjoy it more and more, but I don't jump out of bed and say, “Yes! I'm going to run!” There is still a little dread left in my mind when getting up, but it is getting easier though.

So I get dressed and start my warm up. Immediately, I feel different. The dread is there, but not as much as normal. I do a mental body check and everything is feeling good. I don't have any of the first five minute doubts or any unexplained feelings. I found myself thinking, today is going to be a good day. Then it started...

Before I tell you what happened, let me just inform you that I have just finished reading John “The Penguin” Bingham's book “No Need for Speed: A Beginner's Guide to the Joy of Running.” I must tell you this is an excellent book. If you are thinking about getting into running or if you are a beginner, this is a must read.

In it he talks about firing your inner critic. He tells a story of a particular race where the voice inside of his head changed and he could start to hear faint sounds of encouragement. I'm not going to tell you his story, but I will tell you it starts on page 175 of the copy that I own. He also asks, “What kind of voices do you hear inside your own mind?”After thinking about it a bit, I knew most of the time, they were not really positive voices. So, I decided I would try to make those voices positive, not negative as in the past.

So I just finished the book a couple days earlier, and here is what happened. The voice inside my head changed and I wasn't even trying to change it!. I no longer heard: “Why are you doing this?” “Stop, you are not a runner,” “ Your body is not meant for this,” etc.

I started hearing: “Wow, you're looking good,” “Keep it up, you're doing great,” “You are now a runner,” etc. They were words of encouragement. The were motivating me to finish the work-out, to get to the end of the one mile mark. They made it the easiest run this year! Looking back, I don't think that I ever had those positive words in my head before. Sure I've ran longer than a mile before, but I never had the mental encouragement that was there today. It was amazing! So much so, that I now know, I am a runner.

I'm asking everyone to listen to the voices in your head when you are running. What are they saying? Are they encouraging, or are they negative? If they are negative, try to replace them with motivating words. Trust me, if you do, your next run may be one of your best runs yet.