It's All In Your Head!

Believe it or not your head is your best or worst running partner.  And they come in pair too!  The first is large and loud.  She is fat, sweaty and smelly too.  She has this unpleasant habit to come with.  As we start our run together, she will start badgering me with cutting comments: "Why exactly are we running today?" "Did you really need to eat that extra breakfast nasi lemak?" " I can't believe you didn't finished your chores around the house, you lazy !@#**!"  She's a real pain in the ass, my running partner, but it's sort of hard to avoid her since she's in my head.

Luckily this running partner is in terrible shape.  Because 20 minutes into the run, I leave her behind - wheezing, bent over and the look in her face shows she couldn't take it anymore.  That's when my other running partner takes over.

This gal is fantastic - beautiful with make-ups on, smell nice, svelte, with 4.6 percent body fat.  She's like my faster and more rugged self, maybe me from 10 years ago.  As she glides effortlessly along, she murmurs complimentary and insightful nothings into my ear : "Wow, you are flying today!"  "I do believe that your dream dress for upcoming dinner will suit you nicely"  "Look! That handsome guy would like to tag along!"
I like this gal.  She gives me the space to think, to wonder, to play with ideas.  She helps me forget the nasi lemak and remember the sunrise.  She lets me see the world with fresh eyes, to notice that it's a beautiful day.  I wish could run with her all the time.  But I'm not sure that's possible.

Few runs start out perfectly.  Most runners' minds are flooded with errands, responsibilities, the little stresses blur, and the rest of our lives come into focus.  Worry gives way to resolve; chaos gives way to a semblance of peace.  It could be endorphins or blood coursing through our bodies, but it could just switching the running partner in our head.  It's a mental switch.  But it's physically attained, as we must labor to flick the switch.  A transformation earned through sweat.

These running partners can't exist without each other.  They're related.  Like twins who don't get along.  As we run from the irritable one to the insightly one, it's important to know that the voice in our heads will eventually change, if we just keep putting one foot after the other.

So, give it a try.  Choose which running partner that you want to.  Always listen to your running partners, at least one of them.