This past weekend I spoke to a running group here in California. They are a group of runners of all abilities trying to finish up the second half of training for the LA Marathon this coming March in 2012. So i figured with their intended race time goals already in mind they really need to understand their success lies in their own hands and how they appraoch their training as well as their mind set. I have always felt running especially marathons is so mental. Of course the physical aspect is important, but when it counts and it is time to push yourself, the mind will carry you to places you didnt think were possible.

So the basis of my story to this club was my work with children. I worked with a famous Olympic marathon runner and he started a kids program to teach kids the power of running and the health benefits. We travelled around the nation and helped children and schools understand how fun running really is. It was remamkable to see these kids push themselves and run and run and run. Often we would have races and theses kids were amazing, often running more than their parents or school teachers thought they could. Kids are amazing because when you ask a kid what they want to be when they grow up they always say they want to be 10 things and they truly feel they can be all these things. In the running program they really felt they could do the runs without much prior practice. They just go. The reason they feel this way is because they are so young and noboby has told them they cant do these things. Their mind set is so unlimited.

In essence we were once kids and felt this way about not only the world but ourselves. We have to believe anything is possible and that we can do and be anything and we have to just go. Achieving a personal record for a marathon requires a mind set to believe and just go, to feel you can do anything you put your mind to. We have to remember to be like kids sometimes and know there are endless possibilities.

Ultimately running teaches us to be stronger and everything we learn from running we not only take with us in training but in life outside of running. That is running and that is life. Go out and believe you can be anything and do anything.