Geese, toes, and Mindful Practice

Training has been TOUGH this year.  The weather has not been all that helpful, my schedule is more full than last year, and I've been dealing with some injuries.  Remember how I fell first run out?  I'm in PT for neck/shoulder/back pain most likely from that.  It's helping!  Just a pain.

In my last few runs, I've revisited some old running routes.  Horn Pond turned out to be mostly ice and snow free.  It's been busy since the sun has been out the past couple of weekends.  The geese and ducks are back.  And the geese still scare me. (One totally came at me today... never make eye contact)

scary

quack

Normally, my toes cause me the most pain during my long runs.  I mentioned this to the Mindful Practice instructor at the YMCA.  Usually, when they start to hurt, I try to pretend they don't.  I try to tune in to my music or focus my attention on another body part that does not hurt.  Her advice was to acknowledge the pain without judgement.  I'll be honest, I was skeptical and I also wasn't 100% sure I knew what she meant.  I decided to give it a try today on my long run.

First of all, the weather was great! Yesterday was a little bit warmer, but I taught Zumba in the morning and didn't think a long run after was a great idea.  When my toes started to ache, I thought about the advice.  It was hard!  Of course my first thought was "OUCH!"  But then I thought "Ok, they hurt.  Let's just see what happens"  Eventually, it stopped bothering me.  The less I thought about the pain as "Ouch", the less it bothered me. 

Unfortunately, my hamstrings joined the "ouch" party towards the end, but I didn't have the miles and time left to see if it would go away. 

I'm going to start going to Mindful Practice since I have a month off from theater.  If I can get my toes to stop hurting, I can't wait to see what else it does for my training!