A quiet run
Headed out the door this morning sans iPod of distractions. And you know what? It wasn't actually too bad. I had a lot of other things to think about though... "man, I can't feel my fingers! How cold is it??!", "1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2,... etc etc", "oh cripes, my lungs are about to implode"... you get the picture.
We're a long way from the serene runner that I imagine myself becoming that's for sure! And that's ok. Small steps!
Alternate route today. A few little hills involved. Usually I bluntly run through them desperately focussing on the lyrics to whatever song is playing at the time so that I don't have to think about how long and steadily uphill-y the stretch of route is ahead of me. Today, I was mentally there with every footstep. I focussed on my (NOISY) exhalations; listened to my raggedy inhalations; tried to rein the two into a steady rhythm. I checked in mentally with all my running mates:
Hello lungs - you ok? Yup - doing ok thanks. Man, it's cold amirite?
Hey legs - how you feeling? Not bad mate. Right knee is 2/10 on the twinge-y scale but nothin' we can't run through.
Yo feet - you finicky bastards - how're you doin'? Hey. I thought you were going to rest today? Left foot is a bit blistery. Just ignore it. We're fine for now. Keep going lazybones.
And so it went. It's amazing how noisy your mind actually is when you're alone with it. An interesting run for me. As much as I tried to be all Zen-like and you know, do the whole focus on my breath thing, before too long, my mind was off thinking about e.g. lime milkshakes, blob-fish, and Sophie Mirabella (ergh). Then you just catch yourself thinking these sorts of random thoughts and try and bring it back to "centre" and refocus on your breath again. I find visualising a "centre-point" personally quite helpful (I'm a huge fan of symmetry and order - guilty as charged). This was my "aha" moment. Having dabbled in meditation on and off throughout the years, these little moments of catching my mind when it went off frolicking felt very comfortingly familiar. The only difference being that now, instead of sitting still, my body was in full motion while I was mentally trying to lasso my wayward thoughts and turn the volume in my head down. Although not much happened physically during the run besides the "pit, pat, pit, pat" of my footsteps and the occasional pause as I waited for traffic lights, internally it was quite the eventful run. It was nice to observe and run along-side just my noisy thoughts. Surprisingly more challenging than running with music. It was confronting and (in a positive way) forced me to be more present and aware of where I was, where I was landing my feet. To an unashamed multi-tasker (and well, truth be told, general lazy person) the combination of running and meditation together greatly appeals - two birds, one stone and all that. The perfect mash-up.
And you know what? I even added an extra 10% in distance at the end. I actually felt like I wasn't done when I arrived at my final corner before the home stretch... so the legs kept going. Go figure. Will wonders never cease? Let's hope this continues!