P.R.B

I've got a new outlook on hills. Running hills that is, not hills in general; I never really had any opinion on hills in general before. My new outlook has come about as part of my new PMA: Positive Mental Attitude; or, as I've re-coined it PRB: Positive Running Belief!

I now positively believe that I can run up hills! Why? Because tonight I not only ran up hills, but I ran up them successfully. I ran up them feeling like I could just keep running. Yes, my legs burned with the lactic acid building in them with every climb. Yes, my lungs burned as I sucked desperate breaths of cold air into them. Yes, I was exhausted when I reached the top of the last every one. But my last hill, was hill number 8...EIGHT...I did EIGHT hills!
"How many hill repeats did you do Maggie?"
"Well thank you very much for asking, I think you'll find I did EIGHT!"

Why am I proud of this? Well for two reasons.
The first is simple: I have only ever managed 7 hill repeats on this particular killer hill. Therefore I think I can confidently class tonight as a new HILL PB!!! If such a thing doesn't exist, it does now!

The second reason is that my success of 8 hills, followed by a feeling of pride, is proof that my new PRB is working. I must emphasise at this point, that this is not a passing whim, not something I dreamed up tonight and will forget about tomorrow; No, I have done several things recently to help me develop my PRB: I have been reading positive, encouraging and truly inspiring blogs over the past 26 days, and in addition to this I have been keeping up with my usual reading of Runners World and Women's Running magazines which always fill me with great ideas and tips to try out; I have also been really listening to others, trying to take in their positive experiences, tips and advice and using that to inspire and motivate myself; I've changed my password to something positive and aspiring at work so that every time I type it in, I am giving myself a positive mental message (Obviously I can't reveal said positive mental message that I am aspiring to achieve as the Password Police will have me locked up in seconds... and I need to be vigilant of those spying squirrels! but needless to say it is very mentally and positively messagey); and before I set off tonight I set myself a plan - a simple plan - but a plan all the same. My plan was to push myself as much as possible and to allow no negative thoughts whatsoever to creep into my run. None.

And do you know what... it worked! I feel great. Even though my body aches, it aches in a good way; every time I stand up, crawl walk upstairs, or bend down to stroke my dog, my body reminds me that I have worked hard tonight... and achieved success.

For me, this is really is quite massive! Like many people, I'm sure, I'm exceptionally good at pointing out my own flaws; as a result I'm my own worst critic and rarely 'give myself a break' (or a KitKat!). Consequently if, following a run, I don't think I performed to my best, I beat myself up about it - not physically of course; we're still in the realms of the metaphorical mental beating! - but I give myself a pretty hard time. This in turn, leads me to start out thinking negatively on my next run, believing that I can't achieve what I really want to before I even try, which in turn leads to a big self-deprecating circle of negative running belief... which I think probably looks something like this:



NRB: Negative Running Belief

 Whereas my new outlook looks like this:



PRB: Positive Running Belief

 I like my new outlook; it's making me run better, it's helping me achieve my goals, and I'm sure that I ache less! Okay, maybe not, but I'm definitely starting to become more 'at one with the pain'!... I'll let you know how that one goes after my 16 miles on Sunday! Until then, it's: P.R.B!

Distance: 3.9 miles - Club run: 8 x fast hill repeats with downhill recovery.
Weather: very cold (again!)
Feeling: Positive, strong and great!