I'll save the whole culture of being a runner and all of the gross but fun things that come with it for another post- but just for explanations sake, runners are usually very "into" their pace while they're running. For good reason too. They need to know if they're running too fast, and will burn out before they finish the amount of miles they want to run, or too slow, and they need to push themselves to run faster. But numbers are a constant focus, consternation, and cause for elation in the running world.
So I went out running with this new friend and I thought we'd stay at about a certain pace, which was about 30 seconds per mile faster than what I was used to. I have a watch that can tell me how fast and how far I'm running in real time during a run. I made a conscious choice to mostly ignore the speed on the watch, and only concentrate on the distance. We set out on a 6 mile run. I knew we were going fast, my lungs were burning and I was really trying- but it was doable, totally doable.
When I finished we looked at my watch- and we had run these casual 6 miles on a random Wednesday morning a minute and fifteen seconds per mile faster than what I'm used to doing. Thats race like conditions for me. Besides feeling great about it, I was pooped!
But I learned something that applies to CBT and all the work I do- it's all in my head. Yes I have some physical limitations- but often times I am limiting myself physically because my head is telling me I can't do it. And we all do that:
"I'm too tired to go to that exercise class today"
"There's no way I could ever run 3 miles at one time"
"I need to slow down, I can't maintain this level of movement"
"There's way too much to do today- I'm going to be too distracted to do my usual exercise"
There's always an excuse- there's always a reason why you can't- Healthy Habits is about learning how to talk back.
This video says it all:
Its time to talk back- get up and just do it!
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