Running for a visual-spacial person

I had always liked the idea of meditating on something peaceful to get me through hard situations. I would have thought it would be easier for me to do since I am an extremely visual person, but I could never slow my brain down enough to think on one scene or topic long enough to relax. I’d often end up feeling even more stressed out as my head either jumped franticly from image to image, or I’d end up thinking some really random depressing thought and that is not at all helpful.

But since I began running I’ve been able to train my head to visualize through a scene and calm down with it. We keep running our 6 mile training runs on the same wooded path so the scene has become familiar to me. Especially the homestretch– that last mile that is so easy to run once the endorphins kick in around 4 and a half miles or so that we gradually gain speed until we hit the finish.

I’ve seen this wooded path of Sand Run Parkway over and over again during training, and now I find myself visualizing it while I’m exhausted and washing dishes. Or while I’m trying to calm down during a certain Two-year-old’s temper tantrums. When we have ventured off the home turf and ran longer courses of 8, 9 and 10 miles I zone out on this image when I get exhausted. It reminds me that I am almost at the finish line.

I can’t wait to be running that last mile in Downtown Cleveland, through screaming crowds of people as Jacob’s Field approaches, and my mind will wander back to the trees on Sand Run Parkway, just as my knees are about to give out underneath me. I hope that I’m not so inwardly focused that I miss seeing my family cheering me on at the sidelines. I’m running this as much for them as I am for me.

The discipline I’ve gained from this endeavor has helped me in many ways (though I still can’t easily wake up before 7am). I’m calmer. I’m more likely to finish what I’ve started. And I’m confident that I can do something fantastic, especially when I take a moment to relax, focus, and keep my eye and my mind looking toward my goal.