The Mental Game

Happy Saturday everyone! Jared and I started out our morning with a six mile run. It was a gorgeous morning and the air smelled like honeydew. Seriously. The park and neighborhood we run by is filled with it! It reminds me of the honeydew I used to bike by on my way to school as a kid.

Anywho. Today, my biggest challenge wasn't my ability to run six miles. I knew I could do that...I've run a 10K before. No, today my biggest challenge was my brain.

I've been reading up on marathon training with a book called "The Marathon Method" by Tim Holland. He spends a whole section of his training chapter on mental training. Why? Because half of the marathon process is mental. Do you want to win and what will you do to make that happen? He says that he has his own sayings that he just puts on repeat that help him get through a run. Things like, "You're fine" and "Push it." The question isn't will you experience pain in running. The question is instead, what do you do when it happens?

A well known scientist in brain research is Dr. Caroline Leaf. She has spent several years researching the brain and how it reacts to positive and mental thinking. The best part, her research backs up what it already says in the Bible and she openly admits it! Most people know that in Romans it says,

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:1, 2 ESV)

There is a process of renewing the mind and Dr. Leaf explains that this process starts with a choice. Will you think positive thoughts, or negative ones? Each brings their own physiological side effects. Negative thoughts bring about fear and stress on the body. I'm sure we are all familiar with stress and how significant a role bad stress plays in diseases. Positive thoughts however, literally get rid of neurons that have developed under stressful conditions and replace the neuron with a stronger fully developed neuron. It's a bona-fied real regeneration of the mind. Nothing metaphorical about it.

So I've been looking at this six mile run on my calendar for a while and I'm not going to lie, I was apprehensive about it. Add in that I was going to have to wake up early and run with only a little coffee and food for a really long run, and I was daunted. But having just read about the mental game, I woke up and decided I was gonna think positive. I could do this even if my routine was a little different. I just needed to do what I've learned and enjoy the process. When something hurt, I just told myself I was still ok and I wasn't going to die. I smelled the flowers. I listened to a really funny podcast from Breakaway. I thought about how lucky I was to do this with the hubby. It was such an enjoyable run and I am certain that it was because I did what I was taught, was prepared and thought positively about the whole thing.

So check that run off. What's next? :D