Shut Down the Noise, Bring On the Funk!

Okay, just yesterday I was talking about how the body tends to follow the mind, was I not?! Check out this abbreviated quote I just found on the "I Love To Run" Facebook page (full quote at bottom if you want to read):

 

"... The hard part isn't getting your body in shape. The hard part is getting your mind in shape." -- Amby Burfoot (1968 Boston Marathon winner, still impressively running like crazy today)

It's like we were of one miiiiiiiind ...

And, speaking of talking about stuff, I had a long chat with a friend today. She's -- among other accomplishments -- an author (For real. A real published one. Yeah, I know people. I'm cool like that.), and she was in the middle of a block. That block was causing her grief because, obviously, it was in the way of progress. What really stunk about it was that most of the blockage was actually coming from within. It's that internal quagmire where we not only have demons that were inflicted upon us, but we then take them and continue to inflict them upon ourselves.

Sound at all familiar?

Well into the conversation, I told her she needed to focus on blocking out the noise, even if just for a little bit, and give that time, instead, to what she knows she is capable of doing. Start writing. Make some headway on what she wants to (and knows she can) accomplish. She could go back to visit with the noises later, but she'd be doing so with some ammunition in hand.

Shutting out the noise is easier said than done, I know. I totally get it. It's not like I wasn't on our front step two weeks before my first 10K crying to Aaron about how hard it was to run that far and how I was upset that it was so much easier for others and wondering if it was something I should be trying at all. Most definitely, I was letting my own, noisy demons get the best of me.

But, at some point, I had to quiet the noise and just ... run.

Off I go during that first 10K -- the very
one I was crying about just two weeks
prior. It was still a very difficult run. The
last mile killed. But, look how proud I
was to be there in the first place!

So, check this out. During our eventual brain storming session, my author friend came up with a great statement to potentially include in her book's disclaimer. The theme: "If you don't want what I have to say to work, then it won't." Brilliant.

Reapplied:

• If I'd decided that 10K was impossible, then it was going to be.
• If I'd decided I didn't belong in the field of runners, then I didn't.
• If I'd decided Aaron's encouragement was a bunch of hooey, then it was.
• If I'd decided it just wasn't worth trying, then it wasn't.

It's easy to find all of the reasons why something isn't going to work in our lives, is it? It's much more difficult to shut out the negativity and/or excuses and go forth with what we know we are capable of doing. That negativity is noisy. And, bossy.

So, I said to her and will say to you: Put your energy into blocking out the noise, and bring on the funk!

It's like that 'dance like no one's watching' saying. Only, there
were plenty of people watching. With cameras. But, I was
having a blast!

This conversation was a great inspiration for the morning run! Tomorrow's is actually on the schedule for Sunday, but there is rain in the forecast, and I will have none of running six miles on the treadmill if I can help it! So, it's up and out to run tomorrow! I'll see you after!

Here's the full Amby Burfoot quote as posted on the I Love To Run Facebook page:

"It's wrong to believe that you need a certain physical body type to run. All body types can run. The people who succeed are not the ones who have the longest legs or the leanest torsos. The champions are the one who understand how to harnes...s the power of the brain. Determination. Discipline. Organization. Time management. Friendship-making. These skills are what it takes to succeed in running. You have to want it, you have to plan for it, you have to fit it into a busy day, you have to be mentally tough, you have to use others to help you. The hard part isn't getting your body in shape. The hard part is getting your mind in shape."

 

- Amby Burfoot