Running....the mental game

Running is such a mental thing.  Your mind either lets your body continue or it makes it stop.  Now that is an extreme generalization, but it is pretty true.  The mind is powerful.

For running, the body must show up.  Even still, the mind can shut you down or trick you into thinking something is too hard or it is too hot or whatever.  For the past couple of weeks my body and my mind have been in total sync and it is a wonderful thing. 

In the past ten days I have run my two fastest 8 mile runs ever.  The first was 1:11 and change.  Then I ran a 1:09.54.  I hollered with pure JOY when I saw that time.    My mile splits were

8:55
8:35
8:59----This is when I knew I would run all the miles under 9 minutes.
8:44
8:46
8:47
8:40
8:25----I like to finish all my last miles as strong as possible.

I ran these 8 miles the day after running 16 miles.  My legs were not fresh, but it was an awesome run.  It was a confident boosting run.  After mile three, I told myself this will be a great run and that was that.  I had decided.  Thankfully my mind and body cooperated for the rest of my run.

My 16 mile run was pretty good too.  I have not run that far in months....like 6 months maybe.  It has been a long time.  It passed pretty quickly despite running 11 miles in the dark and not having any music.  I have never ever run for 2.5 hours without music.  It was a mental battle to stick with it and I did.  This is all good training for race day.  My splits for this run were

9:42
9:16
9:26
9:22
9:24
9:21
9:16
9:24
9:25
9:28----At mile 10 I told myself to just make it home and do it faster.  It was a good pep talk.
9:15
8:53
9:05
9:03
8:56
8:47---See...my fastest mile is the last!

Then there was today's run.  I was scheduled to run 8 and I did.  I wanted to quit and crawl back into bed 15 seconds into my run.  I knew it would be awful.  I knew every mile would hurt and be tough.  I knew running in the dark would be really crappy today.  But, I stuck it out and finished in 1:15:51...a full six minutes slower than on Saturday.   There were no miles under 9 minutes today, but my last mile was still my fastest at 9:07. 

My body did not have anything to give today, but I used my mind to finish my run.  Each run has a purpose and today's was to test my mental strength.  I passed.  At the same time, I am hoping tomorrow is much easier!