Consistency is Key

Hi everyone! I am coming back from a little "hiatus" from posting because I had a crazy week last week! I had to head out to a funeral last weekend, then fit everything in for work between Monday and Wednesday because Jared and I took our summer vacation early and headed to Boston!

It's ironic that I'm talking about consistency after I haven't been very consistent the last few days on posting. Enjoy the irony.

But today, I went running and I was feeling great. I've lost a few pounds recently (it's like my body finally had an "aha" moment...it helps to count calories too) and I can feel the difference when I run. I feel lighter, faster and dare I say, sleeker when I run. Don't ask me why I describe it that way...it's just the word that comes into my head when I try to describe the feeling!

However, I broke a cardinal rule of running; I started my run way too fast. I wasn't able to hold my pace and each mile just got slower and slower. By the end, I was dying. My stomach was really mad at me and was making me feel it while my legs protested every step of the last two miles (and it was only a four mile run). While I am proud of my mental skills to keep pushing myself, I'm mad at my mental skills for not using my noggin at the BEGINNING of the run. Many times, this is what makes or breaks a runner during a long distance race. They get amped up at the beginning, run with people who are going too fast and then dog it the last part of the race.

What we should do is find the point where we know we can sustain the whole race at that speed. What I've learned from reading Tom Holland's book "The Marathon Method" is the trick with the long distance race isn't who goes the fastest, it's who slows down the least. All I can say is, amen brother. So having a consistent pace where you can run that same pace the entire race is a crucial skill I need to learn in order to have a great race experience.

Consistency is something we need to learn in life too. I have been reading "Mere Christianity." It's my second time through the book and it still never ceases to amaze me the kind of wisdom that comes from C. S. Lewis' mind. He talks about morality as it pertains to an individual person. It's true, that when we see someone do a courageous act, we call them courageous. When we see someone being kind, we label them as a kind person. However, we could be wrong. We don't know the motives behind someone's actions. They could be kind but be doing it for the wrong reasons which would not make them a kind person. The key to having character, to being a just, wise, kind, loving person like God designed us to be, is consistency. When someone chooses to be kind to not just one person, but all the people around them, then they are a kind person. When someone is courageous no matter the situation, we then say they are a courageous person. Time and testing show the true colors of someone. We can't (and shouldn't every) judge someone just based off of one moment of their life. C. S. Lewis gives the example that even a broken clock shows the correct time at least twice a day.

So take a page from James 1:2-4
"My brothers and sisters, consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything."

Let the testing begin. And in the meantime...run. :)

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