Maria’s Corner: Long Run Lessons

Three things I learned from my weekend long-run:

1. Surrender is a powerful thing. On my Saturday 12-mile run, it was a hot 95 degrees and about 97% humidity. Usually I’d complain to myself, “ugh why do I do this, why am I running in this miserable heat? Why can’t Texas summers be cooler… if only I was in Denver or LA or something.” That narrative had to stop. Texas summers are hot, and I live here. What did I expect? This time I went into the run with a different mindset: embracing the heat instead of resisting it. I did my best to keep hydrated and tried to not fight my body as it dealt with the heat, slowing down when I needed to. It worked. Drenched as I was, I did not end the run feeling like I’d have a heat stroke. Surrender is letting go and embracing the present moment. It’s all in the mind.
2. Running is energy, energy is kindness. On a call last week, my mentor reminded me that energy is fluid and can be transferred from person to person. She said one way to see it in action is to send “light and love” to every person you see. I ran on the lake loop which is always packed with runners, so in my head during the 12 miles, I sent each and every person I passed “light and love”. I didn’t say it out loud, but I said it in my head and smiled. Some smile back, some don’t make eye contact at all. Some run faster, some run slower. It’s all relative. But no matter how different we are all, we are on the trail we are all doing the same thing. We are all facing internal struggles others don’t know anything about. The best we can do is share kindness, energy, with one another.
3. Practice mindful running. Normally I listen to music on long runs. But this time in addition to the little exercise above, I also re-listened to Navajo runner Shaun Martin’s episode on Running Realized. Every time I listen to this episode the miles seem to fade away. The run becomes effortless. My feet seem to carry themselves. It’s the spirituality in running, and Shaun guides you through the start of a run in a beautiful way.