The Chicago Marathon is just ten weeks away! Training at altitude plus heat and hills on the Santa Fe rail trail has been beautiful, challenging, and sometimes meditative.
But getting to the meditative part of running—the calm feeling I genuinely love—is sometimes more challenging than the actual running. My brain and mind are so busy chatting and distracting me that sometimes running feels like a competition between my brain and body. My physical body wants to run. My busy brain just wants to distract me with endless chatter.
Here are some of the busy thoughts running through my mind, the FM soundtrack humming while I run up and down the trail.
“Do I want music today or no music?”
“Taylor Swift? No I’m sick of Taylor. Ed Sheerhan? No Ed Sheerhan.”
“My socks are too hot.”
“My shoelaces are too tight.”
“Sunsleeves on or off?”
“Let’s stop running and make a video for Instagram.”
I want to shout — “STOP TALKING! Shut up and run!”
Every day I’m on the run, the monologue starts up again. And every day, I have to get the brain and mind to turn down the volume. When that volume turns down, I can run freely, look at the spectacular view, and inhale and exhale, listening to my breath.
The bottom line: When you finally stop the chatter and look around at the views, you are truly present and in the moment.
Jen Rudin is the proud author of Confessions of a Casting Director: Help Actors Land Any Role with Secrets from Inside the Audition Room, a popular podcast. Her writing has appeared in Newsweek, USA Today, Kveller, and Huffington Post. Jen works in the entertainment industry, is a certified RRCA running coach, and coaches Team for Kids and New York Road Runners. Follow Jen @rudinj and visit www.jenrudin.com for more info.
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