The easy & friendly way

Yesterday, I was out in the dark running a mile as fast as I could. Today I ran in the gorgeous sunshine, supporting three relatively new runners with a gentle jog, followed by some jog/walking.

Both very different experiences but I loved both.

I hope I didn't torture my beginners group too much, as we were supposed to run for fifteen minutes and then jog/walk for the rest of the three-mile route.

I'm afraid to say I got so involved in chatting that I kept them running for nineteen and a half minutes before I realised that we were supposed to stop for a walk.

It's so great to see people stretching beyond their comfort zones towards their true potential.

All three of the runners I was with this morning said that they enjoyed running with others and that they didn't think they'd be able to keep up the running if they weren't doing it with a group who all supported each other.

Striving for your potential doesn't have to be hard, and it is also often far more effective when you've got others supporting you.

Running & Michelangelo

Splashing through the puddles this morning I had a real sense of wellbeing.

I really enjoyed leading the four mile group last night with the beginner & intermediate running group that I was helping.

There's something about running, chatting to people and the feeling that you're helping someone that I find a really rewarding mix.

I also enjoy my running on my own. I couldn't only run with others, otherwise I wouldn't get my new ideas time.

Anyway, on this morning's run my mind drifted and fell upon Michelangelo's philosophy that the job of the sculptor is to free the forms that are already inside the stone.

It sounds a bit heavy for early in the morning I know, but I felt that was a great analogy for how I feel about my life.

I have an idea of the statue that I'm trying to release, and that already exists, and I'm chipping away at the excess stone and things are gradually taking shape. And there are also some intricacies within, that I'm discovering as I remove more pieces.

Anyway, on to more down to earth things.

Now what's for breakfast?

How to transform a day

Not for the first time, my morning run completely and utterly transformed my day today.

I woke up with an unusually negative frame of mind this morning and found it really hard to drag myself out of bed.

As a result I got up late, drank my tea and did a couple of small jobs on my laptop before pulling on my running things, thinking that not even my run would be able to shake me out of my downer.

How wrong could I have been!

I set out on my 3-miler with the question in my head, "What was it that has had such a negative effect on me since this time yesterday?" I just left the question "out there" while I tuned in to my breathing, the process of running, and the scenery that I encountered.

Now, I've done a lot of work on values, particularly my own, over the last 8 or 9 years of being involved with coaching. However, somewhere along my route this morning, it hit me that one of my core values is adventure.

I have uncovered the value of adventure for many clients over the past few years, but it had never occurred to me that it is a key value of mine.

But when it hit me, and hit me it did, this morning, it all made sense. My value of adventure has recently been suppressed. I also realised that knowing this, I have an opportunity to find out what I could do to increase my experience of adventure in my life.

And my day was turned on its head. Yet again, I returned energised, excited and my day totally transformed.

Wisdom of your body

Completed my 200th day of running at least a mile each day. This morning it was 5K again.

Another glorious morning, and a relatively quiet week ahead with the family having left for sunnier climes (hopefully for them).

While I was running this morning I was thinking of what I could write in my blog today and as usually happens when I'm trying to think of something, my mind goes round in circles and doesn't come up with the goods.

However, if I let go of trying to think of a solution and get present to my body, my breathing, how my legs feel, how I feel inside, an idea nearly always comes to mind, as it did this morning.

It reminded me of when I was on my coach training and they taught us that our intuition is an extremely powerful feeling (think of your gut feel, or when you feel that your heart isn't in something).

In fact they also taught us that our intuition, usually in our guts or stomach but can be anywhere, is never wrong. The only mistake we make is misinterpreting the feeling sometimes, and that comes from lack of use. Like any muscle that you stop using, you have to practice and build it up gradually.

So anyway, my gut says that I'm going to have a good day today, and it's usually right.

Nike got it right

Nothing like a 5K in the rain before breakfast to spark an appetite. It was actually really nice. I can't think of a better way to start the day.

I'm sitting at my desk with Crowded House blaring out at me from my iTunes and getting really excited about going to see my favourite band again in a couple of weeks.

I feel great today and am also excited about several projects that have been in the background but are all starting to slowly start moving.

There's something about moving, isn't there. That's what I love about running. No matter how you feel when you're stuck, whether at work or at home, just the process of getting your body moving on a run generates energy and starts that important initial momentum.

Nike got it so right when they said "Just do it".

Barefoot ouch!

Left knee a little sore this morning but only a very minor niggle.

I may have to rethink my barefoot running ideas for a while, apart from maybe on grass. My 13-year-old daughter encouraged me to run with her down to the end of the road and back yesterday, while I was wearing flip-flops. I immediately saw it as an opportunity to kick off said foot apparel and test out my barefoot running skills.

My style was tentative at the best, and pretty much tiptoeing when it came to crossing the handful of driveways. I can certainly see why it's almost impossible to run with a heel strike when you're barefoot

I think my idealistic vision of the joy, freedom and fun of barefoot is much further off than I had imagined.

100 days, 173 miles, 33 hours

100 days, 173 miles and 33 hours is my tally following this morning's glorious sunny run.

Our first breakfast of the year sitting out in the sunshine in the back garden and also the first time my shorts have seen the light of day this year.

I enjoyed my day living in happy valley yesterday and being a beacon. Today's intention is to be kind wherever possible and to start really trying out positive affirmations.

Ordered 4 books on Amazon yesterday with some birthday vouchers, so I'm quite excited about receiving them in the next week or three, and yes, one of them is about running.

I've got a crazy hair-brained idea at the moment - I wonder if I could run the Beachy Head marathon barefoot? I might have to let that one simmer for a few days.

Running is possibility

After my run this morning I was remembering back in 1987 (a couple of careers ago) when I made the jump from a permanent IT role into a freelance one.

I knew then that if I hadn't been doing my lunchtime runs in Regents Park that I most definitely wouldn't have had the courage, the belief, the energy and the vision of possibility to take the leap and the risk.

So if I hadn't run, my life would look very different to how it does now. Running definitely helps me look at the world through the lenses of possibility.

Day 67 - and all's well

Nothing much to report today.

Another sunny morning. Another very cold morning. Spring can't be that far over the horizon now, surely?

My right heel is very slightly sore today. Nothing to worry about but something just to observe.

I'm wondering how long I'll have to wait to try some barefoot running, although I will definitely have to adjust the route to go completely barefoot. All my current favourite routes involve some quite rocky, uneven and stony parts.

Wrong-footed shoes

I stretched my run to just over 2 miles this morning, the first time I've done that since I had plantar fasciitis and ditched my running insoles. It felt really good.

Admittedly I was a bit later this morning as I had to attend my monthly business networking group, which is always fun but does mean leaving home a lot earlier than usual.

As I was running on my own this morning and going a bit further I tried to concentrate on feeling the ground beneath my feet, which I can do a lot easier with worn down running shoes and no insoles. It made me think of the parallel with helping people to fully experience each moment of their lives through coaching rather than numbing themselves from the present moment.

Every bit of life, the highs and lows add value if we allow ourselves to raise our awareness. They all teach us lessons about how we live our lives and what is really important to us.

On the topic of worn down shoes, a guy called David Smyntek, who is a runner and physical therapist specialising in acute rehabilitation, decided to conduct an experiment to see if he really should replace his expensive running shoes every 300 to 500 miles, as the running shoe industry was telling him. So when his shoes wore down on one side he swapped shoes and continued to run 5 miles a day wearing his worn down shoes on the wrong feet. He experienced no problems whatever.

Makes you think, doesn't it.

By the way I've now run over 100 miles since the beginning of the year.

Day 63 - but day 2 under the floor

I've lost track of how many days I've done. If today's the 4th and I've done 31 and 28 days in the previous 2 months, then that must mean today was day 63.

The days are still not getting warmer.

My little toe seems to be OK and healing up nicely.

The plumber fixed our leak last night, so we have running water, as well as heat, again now. It did make me realise how much we take for granted with our running hot and cold water literally on tap, light, heat and cooked food at the flick of a switch or turn of a dial. It's all so easy and I'm so completely helpless without it.

I wonder what would happen if I was immediately transported to an environment where none of that existed, where I had to walk, or run, miles to the nearest well to get water to drink, wash or clean and where I had to build a fire from scratch to cook my food and keep warm?

Would I adapt and survive or would I just feel helpless, sorry for myself and give up?

It's been my second morning under the floorboards, this time emptying the buckets of water and also trying to remove some of the rubble that is covering the wet earth that is below. A lot more rubble removal to be done, which is quite hard due to the restricted access and the limited room to manoeuvre under the floor. Then we need to get some equipment down there to dry it all out.

Day 49 - seven weeks done!

My goal to run at least 1 mile each day for the month of January 2010 has now expanded well into February with 7 weeks completed.

It feels quite inspiring to think that I have run a mile every day of the new decade so far.

How long can I sustain this?

What will I learn from it?

I have already (almost) run through a cold, a groin strain and the dreaded plantar fasciitis (I think). Right heel is still a little sore but significantly improved. Interestingly, I threw my orthotics (customised inner soles for those non runners among you) away and am using an old pair of trainers with no inner soles at all.

Have been totally inspired by "Born To Run" by Christopher McDougall, an absolutely amazing book.

Not going much beyond a mile at all at the moment because of the injuries, but hoping to stretch it out a little further soon.