Monday, January 12, 2009

Final Mental Preparations for the Marathon

Moment for Saturday 1/10/09

Things to do before the marathon:

1—read an inspirational book/watch a movie

Lance Armstrong—It’s Not about the Bike

John Maxwell---Failing Forward

Jeff Galloway---Marathon

Zoe Koplowitz—Winning Spirit

George Sheehan—Running and Being

Pre About Steve Prefontaine

Beck Weathers/Werner Berger Mountain Climbers—Everest

Spirit of the Marathon movie

2—Honor yourself for your marathon training efforts. George Sheehan said: “I have met my hero and he is me.” Be your own hero.

3—Express Gratitude to your body for getting you this far. Previous speaker at pasta party—Robert Key---showed graphic of having run to El Paso and back to show that “you can do this” because you’ve done it already many times over.

4—Walk around this week with a swagger as if you’ve already run the marathon.

5—Build self-belief by making a Mental Highlight Reel. Think about times when you performed well, gave 110% effort, persisted under difficult circumstances during this training season, in your professional life or wherever. Play this highlight reel when things get hard.

6---Visualize

Drive the course; each nite when you retire spend 8 to 10 minutes as you are going to sleep imaging Sunday’s event and what you’ll be doing, etc.

7---Not too late to write down your goals.

During the Marathon:

1—Self Belief in action

Use your mental highlight reel during the run when fatigue sets in.

2—Visualize

For example, during the last 10k imagine you are rolling up a ball of string that is drawing you to the finish.

3—Use your Right Brain to distract you from critical, negative Left Brain.Your can relax/use centering technique; walk; smile

4—Focus on how far you’ve come, not on how far you have left to go.

5—Remember this from Joe Henderson:

"Turn around and look behind you at the people you can’t see: those who trained for the marathon or half but didn’t reach the starting line; those who race but not at this distance; those who run but never race; those who used to run but don’t anymore; those who never run and never will.Don’t call yourself “slow” because you are not—You are fast enough to beat everyone who isn’t there."

6---NNNNNQ

I told the story about how Winston Churchill first uttered these words.Decide now that on Sunday you will never quit. George Sheehan said: It’s very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit.

Have a great race; see you Sunday. Stay thirsty my friends.

Who Would Ever Run A Marathon?

Who Would Ever Run a Marathon? By Dr. Tim Maggs
For anyone who's ever crossed that fine line, the one that only takes 26.2 miles to get to, and now owns the title of “marathon finisher”, you’ve probably been asked this question many times. The insinuations in the question are that anyone who would ever consider running a marathon borders on insanity or downright lunacy. Well, do you want to know what I think?
I think…
· The marathon should be a requirement for all kids graduating high school today. All kids would have to complete a marathon before graduating, or would have to work forty hours a week doing community clean up (for free) until they do complete one.
· The marathon should become part of an incentive program for prisoners who want early release.
· The first treatment for anyone with high blood pressure, weight problems, psychological disorders, bowel problems, upper respiratory difficulties, self-esteem issues, or anxiety disorders should not be medication or group therapy, but to complete a marathon.
· If anyone is caught being a bully in life, regardless of age, we should have some legislative body we can report them to and this body has the authority to convict this individual and sentence them to run a marathon. Arrogance is bad, humility is good. Marathons promote humility.
· Anyone sentenced to "community service" must run a marathon. What better community service could be achieved than to get someone in the community healthier, both mentally and physically?
· More serious crimes might require two marathons in one year, a sentence that would not allow any time off from training. (Whoa, would this be an inconvenience for someone not used to working out?)
· There should be a fifty percent discount on all health insurance premiums with proof of running a marathon each year.
· Community leaders and politicians should be required to run a marathon each year, rather than annoying everyone by going door-to-door making promises they're unable to keep. A marathon will continually encourage "honest work" instead of more rhetoric the world doesn’t need. Leading by example has always proven to be successful.
· Any family owning more than one vehicle must all run a marathon in order to get registrations for every vehicle after the first one.
· All police officers and fire fighters must run one marathon per year to be able to continue wearing a badge.
· Anyone who isn't happy in life, can't figure out why life isn't giving back the way it should, and is looking for that bigger house, perfect soul-mate, or winning lottery ticket, join in and run a marathon. I’m sure you’ll find the answer somewhere along the way.
From my vantage point, there are two causes of unhappiness and poor health---the lack of drive and discipline. With technology bringing so much excitement into every room in our house, why would anyone ever need to leave the house for fun? And the media is continually telling us to take this pill or that because "you haven't got time for the pain," but the cold truth is, it's all painful. Life hurts too much these days, and on too many fronts. The marathon solves these problems in a flinch. It reintroduces us to drive and discipline, for, as we know, there are no shortcuts to crossing that finish line. You must pay the price for a long enough period of time, or you won't cross that line.
The training phase is the backbone of this program and the direct reason for improved happiness. Our social lives improve by joining a regular group to go on our weekly runs. We talk, listen, and become the person we thought we used to be---happy and interesting. All social stigmas disappear, as we all become runners seeking the same goal. We’re no longer lawyers, doctors, teachers, or housewives living according to some bogus pecking order society has created. We revolve our days around our training schedule, giving us something to look forward to at the beginning of the day and something to be proud of by the end of the day. And we all inherently know this powerful fact--we're doing something that most people will never have the guts to try. We're running a marathon. Our self-esteem goes up dramatically. In fact, isn't the scale looking a little kinder these days? Those clothes that just never seemed to fit on that Monday-morning diet plan all of a sudden fit perfectly. The big clincher in this life-altering metamorphosis a person goes through occurs on that first day that someone asks you "Have you lost weight?" There’s no turning back now!
And the day we cross that finish line, the day we complete the journey we started six or eight or ten months earlier, that's the day we can't wait to start all over again on our next chapter. For what we learn is one simple fact---"Who wouldn't want to run a marathon?”