Mind Of A Runner

Thinking Mind Of A Runner
By: Gary Cooper



Article Summary: A runners thoughts before, during and after a road race. As a deer is graceful and straight as an arrow. A runners thoughts as he runs.

This is a bird's eye view of a runner's thoughts moments before and right up to the starting line of a road race. It could be anywhere. We are also going to talk about his thoughts during the actual race then onto the finish line. And, his thoughts processes afterwards. Most reporters write about the race, who is running and who won with all the high lights. They will always beef it up because as you already well know there is, just so much you can report about with a human road race! Now if someone kicks the bucket that will make front page! Sad isn't it?

We are different here, we are going to focus on the thinking mind of the runner and his perception from the inside looking out. I suppose you could be a fly on the shoulder to get to the heart of the mind and actually capture the full flavor of event. The other runner's are all in their own little world of thoughts. Some are stretching some are talking to the other runners. You see some over by the trees. I call them tree stretchers. Some by their cars. I call them the car stretchers.

Some are right here by me on their back on the road. Me, I'm trying to not think about anything to much. I will focus on the immediate task at hand. This has always seemed to work best for me. I try to picture the whole course. Running is graceful and smooth. As a deer would run straight as an arrow. Some have their radios stuck in their ears. That never did work for me. It always made me loose my concentration.

It seems funny to me now that I've ran in over hundred races that I come up with this idea that I believe I will put my thoughts on paper of what I'm thinking while running a race. Meanwhile there are dozens of runners all doing their own little thing preparing for the race before the gun goes off. Why is their no sound? Of coarse there is sound but I've learned enough by now to simply focus to hearing no sounds. That's the whole purpose of this exercise to capture the thinking mind of the runner. What is going on in the twenty minutes of the route of the course? What's happening between the ears?

Now is the time I will see if the six weeks leading up to this race is going to pay off or not! We will to recapture all the weeks of training periods for this particular race. Though you are all ready as a trained runner of a few years, you still zero in, to focus to this one particular race. To peak! You still have trained for this one particular race. So they will know you were there!

You know you are fully qualified of making the course not only the speed but distance as well. Another thinks you knew, good and well that you can go the distance because this is a mere touch of distance of your weekly long runs. We top a good nine miles if needed. The problem we run into in races we have these voices telling you that you can't hold the pace up! At this speed anyway! Well you can! So you must keep fighting the sub-conscious with the conscious. You have the voices telling you stop that your legs are burning too much! All you have to do is to stop and the pain will go away. Sigmund Freud would say this is the sub-conscious and the conscious mind. I say it's the thinking mind of the runner!