Day 67: Pre-Race Calm

Tomorrow, Saturday, at 8AM is the start of the Way Too Cool 50K. After being on the waiting list, I got in. I am stoked that so many of my friends are running it. Be Change will have 10 registered runners, people in the aid stations and folks at the finish line.

On the day before the race, if I don't guard my heart and mind, I can get stressed and filled with anxiety. Yet, if methodically, I process my thoughts and keep the right perspective, I remain calm and I am able to fully absorb the race and its value.

Here are the four key anchors that I rehearse in my mind.

1. Ignore the Phantom Pains
On the days and hours leading up to the start, your body will have twitches and aches that are non threatening and often imagined to be worst than they are. Known as phantom pains, they are real feelings amplified by anxiety. Give them ZERO VALUE.

2. Race Against Yourself, Dominate
Lining up at race, I sometimes head to the back of the pack in the starting shoot. Dead last. In that, I relieve the pressure of being hunted and become the hunter. One by one, I can chase the person ahead of me. Doing this, its allows me to race against myself and my close the distance on my terms. I am not a runner. Sometimes I am a jogger, mostly I am a plodder. If I set my goals and pursue them, then I win regardless of the outcome.

3. Set and Chase Micro Goals
I choose to look at the race as a series of smaller goals. First goal it getting up on race day morning. Then getting checked in. Then to start and then through the first mile. By the time my nerves settle at mile 4 or 5, I have already had 6 or 7 wins. These small wins linked together give me a the confidence to keep moving forward. Late in the game, when I am feeling tore up and exhaustion is strangling each breathe, a win or an accomplished micro goal can be the next step.

4. Finish
Although I seek to do the race in the smallest amount of time, that is secondary to the overall experience of the race. If for some reason, medical, cramping, or just plain old "This Day Sucks" cover the distance by readjusting your time goals to be a few seconds faster than finish.

DFL is better than DNF. DNF is better than DNS.
(For newer racers: Dead Freakin Last is better than Did Not Finish. Did Not Finish is better than Did Not Start.)

Now, run, jog, or walk. Just move.

Whether 5 Steps, 5K, 50K, or 50M and beyond...

Jas

Photo: At Mile 46 of 52 on the Double California International Marathon

Day 28 : "Mind Tool: Praxis"

This AM was tougher than ushual. When my alarm awakened me at 4AM, I did a RARE thing. I snoozed it. At 4:10, we battled again. Thats when Praxis showed up.

Praxis, a simple to understand and hard to apply mind tool, moves us towards a proactive best version of you.

PRAXIS DEFINDED: "You are more inclined to have a FEEELING birthed out of an ACTION than to WAIT on a FEELING in order to produce an ACTION."

Two Options This AM:

1. Lay in bed and wait till I feel like getting up to run.

or

2. Get our of bed (action) and do what I need to do regardless of not feeling like it.

*At the end of my run, I would be showered in the feelings of endorphine, dopemine, etc- the very feelings that make you want to get out and live a forward driven existence.


DO and you will HAVE vs HAVE until you will DO.

Do it and you will HAVE the best version moment.
Waiting till you HAVE it in order to DO it and you will be waiting for a long time.

Get going now.
Dig deep and move.

Life is bolstered when you are vibrant and alive. Though you may feel dark and dead at any level, PRAXIS says keep moving as if healthy, happy, and whole is right around the next bend in the trail.




If just may be.

JAS