It's all in your head

We've all heard it.  "It's more mental than physical." 

And I believed it.  Before this whole process started, I believed it.  But I didn't really GET it. 

I get it now. 

Fairly early on...when I had been running maybe 2 or 3 months...I hit a wall.  Up until that point, I was out of shape enough that the whole run was "the wall."  I had finally built up enough to be able to run a couple of miles without struggling.  So, as I was about 2 miles into a 3 mile run, I hit a wall.  I kept telling myself that I had done it up until this point, so why should it be any different now?  The word that popped into my head at that moment was inertia. 

Inertia.

Basically, it's the principle that an object in motion will stay in motion until other forces act upon it.

This was breakthrough moment for me.  It was not an "AHA!" moment, per se.  It was more of a "Stupid inertia.  Inertia is bull crap.  I am currently in motion, but I can't just stay in motion indefinitely.  Why doesn't inertia work on humans?"  And I kept struggling through every step of that 3 mile run.  

After I finished my run, I kept thinking about inertia.  And I thought about the forces that act upon an object in motion...most especially friction.  A ball rolling through the grass will not keep going forever because the grass causes friction, slowing the momentum of the ball.  Stupid friction.

Here's where the "AHA!" moment came in. 

I am my own friction.  I am the reason that I can't keep running.  I can do this, as long as I don't allow negative thoughts to be my friction.  As long as I realize that, I can break through the struggles and come out the other side, gaining momentum.  I understand that on occasion, forces outside of my control will be my friction.  But in that moment, I made the choice to not allow my own thoughts to be my friction. 

And I have frequently thought back upon that moment.  When I really needed to push through about 17 miles into my 18  mile run, I thought about intertia, and friction, and instead of walking (which EVERY part of me wanted to do), I sped up and finished that run strong!

Take that, friction!