As we close out May and Mental Health awareness month, it offered me an opportunity to reflect on recently completing my 1st half marathon road race.
- The race is the celebration of your training
- Running is a practice in mindfulness
Most people think running is about the body, speed and long distances. And although it can be about those things – running also teaches us how to be present, spend more time outdoors and build mental toughness. All vital ways we can add more mindfulness to our everyday.
- Enjoy the journey Runners know it’s not only about the getting that medal at the finish line. We appreciate the run, lean into the run, the pain, the good & the bad weather because that means we get to run! Every finish line is just another starting line – so learning to enjoy the journey is important.
- Reconnect with Nature Running outdoors means seeing the flowers bloom in the Spring, leaves changing colour in the Autumn or experiencing the freshness of a Winter morning. Getting some extra Vitamin D and break from screens allows us to reconnect with nature which is widely known to improve mood and reduce stress.
- Running is more about mental strength then a physical fitness During training, there will be days you’ll want to sleep in, need to work through an injury or push through a long a run. Being able to tune out the negative self talk and visualize what you want to accomplish requires determination and grit. Resiliency is a skill everyone is working on, but runners get more opportunities to practice it.
