Patience

"life's short enough as it is without rushing it." ~ Terry Wogan

Running is an active sport and the temptation when you start or when you start off is to start running too quickly ... this is a common mistake unless you are sprinting or running short distances.

When you start your run your body has to go into overdrive to get things moving ... its like starting a car ... you start in first gear and the engine works harder with more revolutions per unit of distance -  if you accelerate too hard you will stall and If you start off your run too fast you might "stall" after a relatively short distance - slowing down or even stopping completely.

I start off at a comfortable pace, as I get older this is more of a slow jog - after about 10 minutes I find my "engine" has settled and I'm breathing less hard ... its like shifting to second gear - the running becomes a lot easier and I can either go a bit faster or just keep running gently. The time it tales me to find second gear depends on how much I have been running and how fit I am. If I'm unfit it takes me about 12 - 15 minutes to find second gear, if I'm fit it takes me about 8 minutes. After about 20 minutes things start to really flow ... I guess its like finding third gear or some form of cruise control - I  don't usually run any faster but instead run more easily and its on cruise control that running becomes a really enjoyable holistic experience - firing on all cylinders with mind and body in easy synchronisation.

As you run each time you get to know about your cruise control and how long it lasts ... after your cruise control has gone you have to shift back down the gears and the end of the run becomes like the beginning - it's harder work and more tiring.

Its a great feeling to end a run while still in cruise control but I usually try to stretch myself a little (or sometimes a lot) - as you stretch yourself your next run gets easier and your cruise control gets longer as your body adapts.

If you "make haste slowly" and play the long game .. you might "lose the battle but win the war". There are a lot of fairy tale moral stories about playing the long game - for example the Three Little Pigs and in terms of running the Tortoise and the Hare is the obvious example.

"Patience is also a form of action." ~ August Rodin

Have patience - running and life is a series rather than a blockbuster - its an open ended novel you write as you go along - it has twists and turns and bumps along the way - don't be put off by problems, difficulties or failure - they are learning experiences along the way ... "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" :)

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new” ~ Albert Einstein