Runningmonkeys

There is only one way to make achieving your goals 100% certain. 

It is really very simple.   It doesn’t involve clever psychology or superhuman determination.  It doesn’t depend on timing, or strength.  It doesn’t even matter if you really want to achieve the goal, all that badly.  [Read more →]

When something becomes an obstacle to my running, it really makes me think “what is most important to me?”  If the obstacle is small then I kick it over because my running is more important.  Other times the obstacle is big or important.  Sometimes, then, I yield to the obstacle. [Read more →]

Are you the sort of person who keeps laughing well after the joke is over?   Are you the person who keeps eating even after it is physically impossible to fit any more in?  Or are you the person for whom a ”high distinction” isn’t high enough. 

Then perhaps you should be racing the Lake Saroma Ultramarathon this weekend. [Read more →]

The party has started, the music is deafening.  Food is every where, filling the table, all the way to the horizon.  The first plate meets the guests as they cruise in from the Pacific, tired, sweaty, elated.   All shiny and golden.  Some in Lycra others in leather, some with helmets or shin-pads, the wet ones with goggles.

Drinks for the thirsty and then everyone has a glass.  No-one is alone, the air is buzzing with progress and light.  People borrow and lend.  They share and move on.  Not a foot stands still, each one moves forward as the party swarms and morphs. 

Then a voice rings out, a man standing on the stairs.  “Here we are, but where are they?”  He asks swimmers, and sailors, cyclists and divers.  He checks with the teams and the squads ” Has anyone heard…can anyone be sure?” 

“Check the guest list, ask your friends.  Look deep inside.  We’re here to innovate, but did someone forget to invite the runners?”   

Today my wife gave birth to our new son!  He is about 3.3kg and a healthy little screamer.  The birth went relatively smoothly, but it was still a serious ordeal for my wife.  How does she do it? 

Before  my wife was a mother, she was a marathon runner.  This isn’t to say that she is no longer a marathoner (she has already hinted at an ultra-marathon in Hokkaido), all it indicates is which happened first. [Read more →]

For some of us, running consumes a terrific amount of time, energy and mind-space.  How does this effect the rest of our lives? 

Does your running have a positive effect on the other parts of your life that are important to you?  If not, you can change the situation, but how?

Lets put our thoughts into action this week, as we take steps towards improving the links between our running and the rest of our lives.

Today I ran for 5 kilometers, non stop!  Are you impressed?  Well I don’t care, I am excited. 

5 kilometres is nothing, right, but the bit that excites me is that for every step of that 5 kilometres, I landed on my forefoot.  That is right!  I landed on the ball of my foot and as soon as I could, I lifted it straight off the ground again.  And I did it continually for 5 kilometres. 

  [Read more →]

I have just read an very interesting post on Henrik Edberg’s site,  ThePositivityblog .  It is simply called 25 simple ways to motivate yourself, and so it really caught my attention.  As a runner I am constantly looking for new ways to keep myself motivated and moving forward, and I think that there are a few really important points made there.  [Read more →]

Rather than continue the debate on whether India’s youngest marathon runner, 5 year old Budhia Sing should be allowed to run, I thought I would write about something more constructive.  I get sick of reading the same old stories re-hashed by 1000 sites worldwide and I am always on the lookout for a new angle.  I have my own opinions about parents and pressure, sport and money and the responsibility of the first world to the third world.  However, as runners, we can all learn an important lesson from this 5 year old and his running.  [Read more →]

This is the third week I have been using the Pose Method of Running.  The first was just drills, the second was running some short but carefully “posed” runs.   This third week is more of the same.

What have I noticed so far?

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