Creating Space… For Life's Lessons - Runners Edition

Spring is probably my absolute favorite time of the year, when it comes to re-igniting my fitness routine. Sure, bathing suit season is coming, but there’s more to it! The leaves are budding again, the morning air is crisp, and the sun tricks you into thinking it’s warmer outside than it actually is! Which means it’s Running Season! I know there are some people who run all year round, but not me. I officially hang up my track shoes once the cold winter air starts to harass my lungs and makes it hard to breathe. Running is tough enough as it is without that extra heartache (literally). But in the springtime, Yes!! It’s time to lace those babies up, and set foot on the trails or roads, or whatever… This year, during my first run, I had a few epiphany moments. Apparently I do some of my best deep thinking when I am running. Hey, whatever works, right? Anyhow, here are a few life lessons that came to mind for me, and I hope you find them valuable too.

1. The First Mile Is The Hardest. I’ve done everything from one-mile per day challenges to half marathons. I jog, I sprint, I walk, and I do interval training. And by far, the first mile for me is always the hardest. And I don’t just mean the first mile of my FIRST run. I mean Every. Single. Run. Why? Well, it’s in the first mile that you have to make up your mind to “GO”. You have to decide what you want, and start the process. And when you get started it can feel, well, weird. Especially if you are coming back from a long break (of any sort). Your legs can feel unfamiliar for the first few strides. Your lungs are waking up and sputtering back to life, you are just building momentum. I believe life is a lot like that. But when you think about it, it doesn’t really matter if we are talking about embarking on a run, starting a new project, or learning a new skill - it’s in that first stretch, that it can feel the most difficult to get going, to build up that momentum. But inevitably - everything starts to gel together. The muscles cooperate with the brain, the breath flows more easily, and you hit your stride. You just have to keep going.

2. Breath Matters. Sounds so obvious right? The breath matters? Duh. So how is it so easy for us to get ourselves all tangled up, and lose sight of this incredibly vital resource that we are the sole gatekeepers of? If you’ve been running for a while, then you know how important it is to sync the breath to your stride, and to use your long inhales to fuel you, and your open mouth exhales to settle the body down when things start to feel a bit haywire right? I believe life is no different. Sure, I’m a runner, but I’m also a Yogi, and there is absolutely nothing more important in Yoga, than the breath. It is our life force, it controls our entire experience. Not just in yoga, not just in running, but in life. So when things feel like they are spinning out of control, close your eyes, take a nice, full, deep belly inhalation, and let that shit go… Release anything that isn’t serving you. That’s really all this comes down to, inhale the good shit, exhale the bullshit.

3. Rest If You Must, But Don’t Quit. It took me years to figure out how to use pacing properly when running. I would set my mind to a distance, and run as fast as I could muster only to sputter out and have to stop, hands clasped overhead (just like I learned in track) until I could catch my breath, and start all over. This was my initial approach to interval training. I’m not saying it’s wrong, per se, but I do now believe there are more effective approaches. Knowing when to turn up the heat, and when to pull back has been my key to mastering longer distances, to building stamina. And even when I do run intervals, they’ve become very intentional, managed by a goal time or distance, and then slowing down to a moderate pace, vs sputtering out altogether. The same holds true in life - if we can learn to manage our pace, and pay attention to the cues our body (or circumstances) are giving us, we will learn that we can adjust our throttle without having to sputter out altogether.

4. Bonus! Set Your Sights on Your Goal, But Take It One Step At A Time Because 4 is my favorite number, I had to throw one more in there. Not all who wander are lost - True. But if you know where you want to go, then it’s important to hold that vision in your mind’s eye, to lock in on what it means to cross that finish line. What does it feel like? What does it look like? Who’s there at the end cheering you on, and what are the sensations that you feel as you visualize that success? Got it? Good. Hold on to it. Now, just focus on taking one step at a time. When I run, and I want to give up, I focus on just the very next step. I can see where I’m going, I know what my outcome is going to be, because I’m not going to stop until I cross the finish line. But in this moment, all of my energy is focused on just putting one foot in front of the other.

I’m here - cheering you on as we tackle this thing called life together. We got this!

Namaste,

Tian

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Creating Space… For Life's Lessons - Runners Edition

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