It's All in Your Head, Bree

"You can have all the talent in the world and all the skill in the world, but the only thing that separates you from success or failure is your own mind." -- Mike Greenberg (one of the Mikes from Mike and Mike in the Morning)

I have a number of friends who are great athletes.  I don't mean that they are elite athletes in terms of playing a professional sport or out winning races every weekend, but that they are great athletes because they inspire others to greatness.  I depend a lot on these friends for their sage advice during my training period.  One of these great friends is my friend Scooby.  (Don't ask about the name...just go with it.)  She is a triathlete.  She has been training for and competing in triathlons for years.  And, like me, she sort of starting running from scratch.  So, she is one of the people that I go to for what I call mental advice.  And, over the course of our discussion last night, she told me that I could run further than my mind said that I could.  I think her exact comment was something to the effect of, "the mind quits long before the body actually needs to" (or something like that).  And I realized that she was right.  I've been trying to come up with some sort of math-y technical plan to get me to increase my running distance while decreasing the recovery walking time.  Really, I just needed, to borrow the phrase from Nike, to just do it.  Jog as far as my mind thinks I can and then go further. 

So, after being sidelined with a terrible migraine for five days, I will do just that.  Tomorrow, my mind will get a mental slap as I do my four miles.  Go farther.  Jog farther.  Reward?  Harry Potter, here I come!  :)