Two miles. That’s all. I decided to try to break my habit of looking at my Garmin watch so much. Two times. Only two times would I look at it. At the end of mile 1. And again at the end of mile 2. Those were two r.e.a.l.l.y. long miles….LOL
The yellow house, the white mail box, the big old Oak tree, then the rose bushes. I know this path. I’ve run these two miles many many times. But without the watch, my mind kept calling out, like a baby in the back seat, “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” It dawned on me only afterwards, only after the run was over — that my mind needs distraction. Like the runner’s version of a Disney DVD. And checking the watch was my old crutch. All the useless mathematical calculations I would do. Dividing every fraction known to man into 2 miles. 1/16th, 1/8th, 1/4th, 1/6th, 1/2…on and on and on. There was no singing fish, no cute princess, no prince charming…but the activity gave my mind something to do. Something other than BUG me. Hmmmm, this was a teachable moment. I need to keep my mind busy every run. Gotta figure that out. More Homework.
Cuz without the distraction….my mind focussed on thoughts like this: “This again?? Didn’t we just do this yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that, and….” Yea. It got ugly. At one point, I felt like I was in a Sci Fi movie, or the Twilight Zone. Have you ever seen the one where the girl is running down the long hallway, running away from the crazy, psycho, alien killer-thing…..and every step she takes..the hallway just gets longer, and longer, and longer…..as if it were s.t.r.e.t.c.h.i.n.g. out in front of her? Running, running, running. Then stretching, stretching, stretching. Getting nowhere, fast. She never escaped. A wicked shriek of a scream, then fade to black. SILENCE! [ mmmmm, I’m guessing NOT a happy ending!!]
Well, I was bound and determined NOT to be THAT girl. I kept going, slow and steady. Regardless of how much my mind cried, and belly ached. Cuz my drive is getting infectious. I’m liking the feeling of success. My lungs and legs felt great. When finished I checked Garmin, and I had a nice slow pace going. In conclusion, I KNOW that today was hard ONLY because of my restless mind. My body felt good. My body is feeling “the switch”. Ooooooh.
Time to introduce my mind to “the switch“. Gotta learn this. That’s the next step.
Ciao for now……Diane