Race to the Stones

I did my longest run in the last ten months this morning and the best thing about it was that I didn't struggle.

The last two long runs I've done I found really tough and almost hobbled the last few miles.

I'm feeling encouraged because it's now six weeks until the Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon and I'm within two miles of the distance.

The other good thing is that yesterday I got excited when I discovered the Race to the Stones, a 100km ultra marathon held over two days in July. 

Six months isn't long enough for me to prepare for an ultra, having not done a marathon for almost eight years and not even up to running a half marathon yet.

However, if I aimed for the one in July 2016 that would be perfect. So this morning's run made me feel more positive and that the Race to the Stones could be on the cards.

I have always hankered after doing an ultra marathon. I'm not sure why when I've generally found marathons so tough, but theres's something about an ultra that calls me.

I'm not particularly interested in going the triathlon route, at least at the moment, but an ultra is different. It's pure running and that's what I do.

The other thing is that 100km equates to just over 62 miles and I will be 61 by the time July 2016 comes around.

It feels like the right challenge at the right time to me.

Here's looking at you

On my run this morning I noticed a phenomenon that happens nearly every time I pass or see another runner, and sometimes even when I pass someone walking.

It's the looking good phenomenon.

I don't know if it's involuntary, but it certainly feels like it, that I find myself pulling myself up taller, perhaps kicking my heels up behind me a bit more and increasing my pace a little, or even a bit more than a little. :)

My need to look good takes over and overrides common sense such that I change the way I'm running. And it doesn't just happen in my running.

So is the looking good phenomenon a positive contribution or is it negative?

I think that it's actually both positive and negative.

It's positive because it can help me to raise my game, challenge myself a bit more than I might and can lead me to succeed in something that I wouldn't have done.

But at other times the same looking good can stop me doing things that I want to do because of my fear of looking like a fool, of maybe being laughed at or pitied.

The first type of looking good is OK. Let it raise your game, have a bit of fun, and enjoy the fun of pushing yourself a little to look good.

However, the second type is not good. It is damaging, stifling and limits your fulfilment and possibilities. Don't let it take control of you.

By the way, did I say that you're looking great today!

Colour, balance & connection

When I was young I always wanted everything to be black and white. It just made everything simpler because then I knew what was the right thing to do. I liked everything to be very clear and therefore easy to make decisions.

Over time I began to realise that black & white doesn't really exist in the real world. Although I like black & white photography, it can portray moods and depth incredibly powerfully, it doesn't show reality.

If you were to see the actual scene that a black & white photo represents, it will definitely have colour in it. On dark stormy days, or even at night with my running head torch, I can always find colour.

I used to also struggle with the question of whether I was a people person, which I definitely was in my youth, or someone who likes his own company, which I have grown into latterly. But I still love being around people too.

With the insight that there are always many colours and shades of colour (including black & white), I've realised that I am both a people person and someone who enjoys being alone.

Running has been key to me finding this realisation that life is all about balance, because I love to run alone and I also love to run with other people.

Running with others allows me to connect with them and get to know them. Running alone allows me to connect with myself and get to know who I am. Both add incredible value to my life.

Running has also led me to realise that connection is one of my core values.

Experiments and possibility

Yesterday my daily visioning experiment came unstuck, but that's why I like experiments, they don't carry the same burden of the threat of failure. 

By their very nature experiments conjure up an image for me of lab technicians in white coats trying different approaches and constantly adjusting them to move closer to the result they want. There is no failure just new learning and progress.

Looking back on yesterday I know why it didn't quite work. It was right when I chose my 5 actions for the day. I remember feeling at the time that they would be challenging to get through, especially as one of them had the word complete in the title and it's been a more complex task requiring more thought and time than I had anticipated.

I love the word possibility, it goes well with experiment. When I state an intention to be a possibility for something, it says that it is something that's possible but not definite. It recognises the fallibility of being human. 

If you're like me when you state a firm commitment and you fail to honour it you feel bad and a bit hopeless. Being a possibility for something acknowledges that you can be it but there is also a chance that you may not always live up to that hight standard.

In hindsight I realise that as soon as I wrote my actions yesterday and imagined my success, one of the feelings I had was that it would be very difficult. At that point my feeling of possibility evaporated. 

Today I intend to choose my actions keeping my possibilities intact.

Daily Visioning

A recent habit I've taken on and am trialling at the moment is built on the ideas of daily to do lists and visualising completion of goals.

The problem I've always had with to do lists is that I can often start with a list as long as my arm, work on it all day and find at day's end that the list is longer than when I started. Very disheartening, extremely frustrating and demoralising.

Visualising completion of goals works on the principle of taking you into the future and imagining yourself having successfully completed your goal, imaging what you will see, hear and feel when you are successful.

I love the goal visualisation technique, but I'm not great when it comes to working towards something over a long period of time before I reach success.

I tend to start questioning my ability to see things through. Doubts and distractions start to creep in and can often knock me off course.

I've therefore decided to combine the daily to do list but only taking between three and five tasks, that if I complete, or even make progress on, I will have deemed it a successful day and will feel suitably satisfied and pleased with myself. 

I then imagine at the end of today, having completed or made progress on my three to five tasks, what I will see, hear and feel, having been successful.

So far so good. The closeness of the vision of my success works well, pulling me past all distractions and potential deviations, and I'm starting to clock up successful days.

Watch this space for future reports or developments.  

Stacking habits

My friend John Rice's blog post about New Years habits reminded me about the technique of stacking habits, which involves creating a new habit by attaching it to an existing one. 

An example of this could be doing a meditation session every morning after you've brushed your teeth until it becomes embedded as a habit.

This technique really does work.

Even though I'd forgotten what the term stacking habits meant, I realised reading John's post that it is something I have done for the past five years now.

The way I've managed to achieve running a mile each and every day for over five years is by attaching it to my habit of getting out of bed, and although the time I get out of bed has changed (i.e. got a lot earlier) in the past five years, that connection between the two habits has been absolutely vital in me keeping it going.

Does this mean that stacking habits is essential both when you're establishing a new habit and also ongoingly after it has become a firm habit?

I believe that (for me anyway) I would not have got the mile each day habit going if I had not made this attachment, so the answer to the establishing question is a resounding yes.

As far as keeping the habit going, I have kept my running stacked with my getting out of bed now for 1,832 consecutive days, so is it necessary?

I don't actually know because putting the two together has (funnily enough) become a habit in its own right. 

It's now so entrenched that I know it works and that's the way I like it.

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