Think Positive.

I've had some questions about how I keep going when I'm running recently. Most of the time, my answer is that somewhere in the summertime last year, I just made my peace with running. It's my therapy. When I'm on the road, I think about what is troubling me or just about life and the future in general. If I haven't had an opportunity to think through a situation, I do when I'm running. I do this most on Sundays when I'm at my group runs. Even though other people are around, I still am running on my own and so I'm left to my thoughts.

But it wasn't until today that I realized that the question is about what did I do until I made my peace with running. How did I get through my runs and not stop?

When I run, the only person I can rely on is myself and so that means that running is entirely a mental game. This can make or break a person. Before I made my peace with running, it was all but breaking me.

For me, my mind races a thousand miles a minute when I'm thinking through a situation, including running. I would think about how much longer I had from the moment I started running. When I started I was doing the Couch to 5K program, so I would think about how much longer I had until I got to walk again. I would get down on the fact that I'd only gone a couple of miles. The list of thoughts I had was endless.

Then one day, one of my running buddies said, "Think about what you're doing instead of what you're not."

Simple, but it pierced right through me.

I changed my thinking.

• "Yeah, it's only a half a mile, but that's half a mile I don't have to run!" 
• "I earned 9 activity points! They'll knock off some flex points I used yesterday!"
• " This 3 and a half miles counts towards my long term goal!" 

And before I knew it, I was saying things like...

• "I am running 8 miles for the first time ever today!" 
• "I ran a half-marathon today!" 

And today when I ran, I thought to myself. "Today you're running 4 miles including hills in 18 degree weather! That's stinking awesome!" 

Those runs were some of my best days. It's all because I turned my thinking into positive and I didn't let anyone take it from me.

It's how I made my peace with running.

Happy Sunday and Happy Running!