Tag Archives: mind
A new running adventure
A new adventure for me starts today: talking about the richness of life and running, as I wrote about in the book Mystical Miles The 2nd Dimension of Running.
My adventure began as I think it should, with a run and will go for as long as I can manage, even if I have to take a break from running from time to time – like the ultras I like to run from time to time.
Running engaged my mind from the beginning and my mind fully engaged with running. I knew I had to run … for my life. My belly was too wobbly; the survival drive in me sensed danger.
From the first steps my mind engaged to keep me going out no matter how hard it was. Running and Mind – ideas, thoughts, plans, fears, hopes and more, fused, became one – each indispensable to the other.
I ran on as I run on, mind in my footfalls and panting, which so nicely keeps opening me to More of me, of sunrises, of Everything.
There is more to running than just running.
Together running and mind showed me there is more to running than just running. Running is more than just sweat, effort, grind, blisters, tiredness under- or de-hydration. More than the training, results, records, personal bests. The work never stops, the training and measures never stop, they sweatily offer more.
And that, my run-in mind says is how life is: there is more to life than the work and chores. You have to do them. But you can do them quickly and efficiently and make time for More.
I’m sure you’ll understand that the second dimension of running of the book title is the More!
Mind in Running
Mind in Running
Mind, as much as body and the paths on which my feet crunched kilometres, has always been part of my running. That’s how I got the riches of running.
Right at the begi
nning, my mind got me running when I made up to start running.
I got most of the “how” of running from books and the people I ran with. My mind played with the what, the what-else and the why of running. From that the rich part of running, grew and blossomed
In a sense my mind had to do this. It had to find or make up a reason for all the interval and fartlek sessions, time-trials, long slow runs, training, racing, the goals and standards.
In addition to the shorter, harder work, I got longer runs. Once I got through a few weeks for being out for a couple of hours, coming back with well-run grin, I found a passion. That was enough.
Yet there was more. Running far enough quietened, calmed, emptied and so nicely scrubbed out my mind. That was more than enough.
Still more came – run far enough opened my mind just right and the outside began pouring in – sunrises, stars, the tingle of the life in grasses, sunbirds, geraniums, frogs, trees, the nicely infinite deep of the sky.
Running enough got me enough and the magically opened the way to get still more.
So running gave me a bit more of Life; became a way of getting even more of life. That was the second dimension of my running .
More on mind in running, on mental strength next time.