Want to run lighter? Stop Running! Just for 60-seconds…

I just tripped over a root. The trail is at that annoyingly can-see can’t-see phase, where darkness meets dawn and dawn meets day. Under my head torch, the definition of the trail’s lumps and bumps cannot be identified. Damn it! I run around the trail’s bends, my thoughts curving one way and then another. Work to relationships. Niggling hamstring to the chill blains on my feet. Work again. Hammy again. What to have for breakfast? Dinner? Work yet again. Round and round and round I go. Running brings me so much calmness!?

Running brings us so much calmness!As I reach the further end of the trail the glow on the horizon is seeping into every nook and cranny. Trees are aglow. My pink top too. I stop to take a quick look. I shuffle about, stretching my hamstring, raising my arms above my head, bending one way and then another. Always moving. I am always moving! But the longer I pause, seconds passing, the more I find stillness. Without motion, I begin to hear more. A creek. A bird’s lonely cry. The breeze in the trees behind me. A car moving somewhere far below me. 
 
Then I begin to see more. The arcs of color across the sky, seeping into one another. A moth rising. The fluctuations of blue hills into the distance.
 
I begin to smell more. Depth of earthiness. A freshness unable to be found through an open window. 
 
I begin to feel more then. Popsicle toes on the frozen trail. A stillness so profound that I never wish to move again. 
 
I feel empty thoughts.
 
The cold eventually moves me along, back towards breakfast and the steaming kettle. As I glance at my watch I notice only 58-seconds had passed. But I feel different now. Lighter, freer, faster even. No longer weighed down by thinking, I move across every obstacle as if they were beautiful shells on a beach – lightly, so as not to break anything.
 
Pause – just for 60-secondsWe think there is laziness in stopping.
We believe there is too much to get done today to take a break.
Pausing will cool us down and it will be harder to get going.
‘Real runners don’t stop.’
‘Yeah but… nah, rest stops are not for me.’ 
 
Hold up sissy! Stop running away from such weak thoughts! Confront these fearful thoughts and let’s choose the outcome we really desire… awakened athleticism or running on the rat race?
 
So, which do you choose?

1. 90-minutes of brain draining, whirling thoughts with legs detached from the mind?


2. 30-minutes of thinking then a 58-second, jaw-dropping pause to soak in the richness of the morning followed by an hour of quiet, light-footed running?

 
Pause for just 60-seconds. It won’t kill you.This morning, and for the first time in a long while, I found awe, wonder and real wellbeing on the trails. After pausing for just 58-seconds I spent 60-minutes running in reverie of the day unfolding, returning so mojo’ed that I sat straight down to share my excitement with you.