I had some grand illusions of running an awesome time in my first Two Oceans Half marathon in two weeks time. Just six weeks ago, I had a training plan from an expert and I was ready to run my heart out. And so I did for a short while and even blogged about shattering my person best time over six kilometres. Perhaps I should not have done so, as it has all been a slippery downward spiral since then. A cold has been one of the main meddlesome culprits. I tried a number of remedies, bar going to the doctor. Drugs, positive mental reinforcement, exercise, more drugs, more positive thoughts, more exercise, oh and eventually some rest! It seems that you cannot exercise all colds away! It finally seems to be going although it has been lingering a little. And so with a mere two weeks till race day, I set out yesterday for my second run back on my new shortened two week training plan.

The sun has gotten lazy lately and gets out of it’s bed pretty late these mornings. I got dressed inside my house in the semi dark at about six o’ clock, patting my almost brand new shoes as I put them on. These are the babies that have to get me through this race. I creep about the house trying not to make a noise because for once the whole family is still sleeping, a miracle in itself! I let myself out of the garage door and make a mental note to wake up, as I almost get hit on the head as it closes. I half heartedly perform some vague stretching motions and then I am off, trotting down the block as a kind of warm up, just like a pro, just a lot slower! I turn and run back the way I have come, pushing the lap timer on my watch as I pass my house again. My legs feel wooden and they make hard work of the first hill. Thank goodness there is a woman running up the same hill just ahead of me. This is a challenge even my legs cannot turn down. I turn victoriously and greet her as I fly past, realising that my superior speed is due to the 40 year age gap. My ego deflates and my legs need to work far harder to keep up the illusion that this is my lazy day pace. My lungs start to provide my mind with some unwelcome feedback; the ship is going down – get back to base! My mind wisely deletes that message in the best interests of, ah, well, who knows. My 500 metre marker looms ahead, do I actually feel this bad and I have run only this far? I need to get a grip. My chest feels like it is trapped in a steel band. I am not getting enough air and my legs have slowed again. There is no way that this episode is going to have a great ending and so I start to prepare a mental list; why I hate running. With pain searing through my leg muscles, lungs about to seize and sweat dripping from every pore I start considering giving up running for ever.
I was not one hundred percent sure but I think it was a thought that entered my brain. It must have taken some time as my mind was pretty busy with that list. Have I not preached to my sons on numerous occasions about attitude and life, and here I am letting life beat me. Somehow another thought snuck in and deleted my mental list. And another thought added that there is a theory that smiling is considered to be a great way to delude your body into thinking you are happy and full of energy. I am sure that it has something or other to do with enzymes secreted into the blood. Stupidly I plaster this silly grin on my face, glad that there are no more aging runners in sight. And then I run and run. I sort of smiled myself along. It was not the kind of easy running that I had been doing just two weeks ago, but my body was moving forward. So good was my smile that I forgot to turn for home and my seven kilometre run turned into nine kilometres. I returned home with plenty of new resolve, and boot loads of sweat!

I had a similar experience in the sea this morning. I packed both my surf kit and my running shoes. I had decided to exercise this morning one way or another! The wave report predicted large swell in the bay and so I was looking forward to surfing. I rounded the last corner and the beach came into view. I was devastated to see tiny little waves flopping onto the sand. I thought that if I looked for long enough, they would grow bigger, but my eyes just got sore. I slowly turned around and made for my car, it seemed I would be running. On the way, my mental flip flop switch kicked in and I decided tiny or tinier still, I was surfing it. And I surfed it good and proper just like a hack! I found that once again my attitude had deserted me.

Sure I had the wrong board and the waves were small, this was just part of the challenge. I thought about smiling, but this was not a great option unless I was keen to consume a fair quantity of the salty stuff. I opted for another approach, talking to myself! Yes, insane things, it would seem, come naturally to me! I started by complementing the things that I got right; nice jump up dude, good wave selection, awesome bottom turn bro. All of a sudden I stopped getting strange looks from the surfers around me as I started to have fun in the waves and no longer needed the sublime commentary on my performance. All that negative energy was gone and once again my bad attitude was beaten.

As I write this, I am consolidating these learning’s for myself. I did not even connect these two events until I picked up my fingers and dropped them on this here fine keyboard. In the past, I have wondered about the fine advice that I dish out to my sons. Is it really possible just to turn your attitude on and off, because I say it’s the best way. In two days I have learnt that it is possible and I have some strategies that can help them and I to do it. These strategies are going to come in pretty handy in my race and I have the added bonus that I have experienced them working for me.

I am just going to have to work out how to complement my running. Just imagine; nice stride left leg, fantastic motion arms – keep them swinging, brilliant smile dude! It should keep plenty of other runners seriously amused!