After posting about running the other day it made me think of my 10k ‘pushed to the limit’ experience again. Since doing it I have been struck by a couple of things that I think can apply to many areas of life.
1. Teamwork. I would not have ran my best time if was not for running with someone, albeit a complete stranger. We united in our mission and at times helped each other through. At one point she got pounced on by a rather large over-friendly dog. She lost her rhythm and I was able to help her get back in to it. Running with her kept me motivated to run at the higher pace (although at times it felt like running with my old strict PE teacher – not daring to stop!!). Even when I had to stop and re-tie my lace (going to super-glue them next time!) and she went ahead (I told her not to stop) I was motivated to not to lag any further behind. Although we had never met, had hardly said two words to each other and were separated by my shoe-lace but at the end she was standing at the finish line holding a drink for me! We had created a team.
2. Get out of your own head. Towards the end when I realised I had been running much too fast for me I was telling myself I couldn’t carry on and was going to have to stop. I was imagining having to stop – I was time travelling to the future. You cannot be nervous/worry when you are in the present moment – you only are nervous/worry about the future (probably based on past experiences). Only your mind can time travel, not your body. I got out of my head by focussing on my breathing. Focussing on your body gets you out of your head. This got me through the last few km until I could see the finish line! So often we tell ourselves things which limit our performance or make us nervous or lower our self esteem. Getting out our own heads stops us limiting our own abilities.
