Runners Unplugged

By Cheryl Hart

I love to watch children run. Their natural form is perfectly smooth and effortless and their smiles reflect joy.

While conducting running form analysis sessions, I have strived to help adult runners rediscover the child-like pleasure of running. It is one of the most natural body movements, when the heart, the mind and the body flow as one. But these days running seems anything but natural. We have lost the sense of play and turned it into another daily high-pressure task. It is time for runners to cut the cords to get "unplugged."

In order to immerse ourselves fully in the experience, we must venture out the door without running watches, heart rate monitors, pedometers, iPods, MP3 players, and cell phones. Carefree means unencumbered. I recently read about a man who used to wish for longer legs so he'd have a longer stride, but now he wishes for longer arms to hold all the gadgets.

Life is already complicated enough. There are so many demands such as financial obligations, family responsibilities and work duties that we need to release ourselves during our runs from restraints and worries. We deserve a space where we can purge the mind of its inherent turmoil and noise. We've all heard about the importance of clearing the clutter from our homes for good feng shui, meant to improve energy flow. Likewise, by getting rid of the junk in our heads, we free up fresh energy and new potential. We need to quiet our minds so that we can listen to our bodies.

"Silence does not necessarily mean the literal cessation of sound," said Religion professor Milton Scarborough. "Silence is the background against which things of meaning stand forth. Silence is the ground, which runs uninterruptedly beneath our feet."

We spend most of our days saturated with noise. The television at home, radio in the car, chatter all around us --- even running partners. Run in silence, listening to your footsteps on the road and to your deep, slow breaths as you cover the miles. Savor the pure flow of your body in motion and its ability to calm and to heal. Become aware of the mind, body and spirit connection. There is a meditative state where creativity is enhanced and intuition keen. You will feel rejuvenated as the mind is emptied of external thoughts and focus is turned within.

When an athlete is truly "in the zone" he is in perfect harmony with his body and the run is worth doing for its own sake. There is no room for distractions, internal conflict or mathematical comparisons. Release yourself from always trying too hard to hit a certain pace, a particular zone or some other prescribed number. Running was not meant to be that complicated. While modern technology has made it much easier for coaches to design training schedules for a wide variety of runners, I believe that too many runners have become so reliant on gadgets that they have lost touch with their own bodies. And that is what the sport is all about.

In the opening of the movie "Chariots of Fire" the team was running barefoot on the beach. That purity continued on the cinder track when they ran with all their hearts and souls, toes digging into the dirt, straining toward finish until they thought their lungs would burst. There were no gadgets except a stopwatch in the sweaty palm of a coach's hand.

Have all these doodads made for faster runners?

Let's look back at the history of the fastest male high school milers. No one has broken the four-minute mile since Marty Liquori in 1967 when he ran 3:59.8. The previous year Tim Danielson ran 3:59.4.

Jim Ryan still holds the best time by a high school runner by running 3:55.3 in 1965. The times have gotten progressively slower every year since.

If Roger Banister could break the four minute mile in 1954 as did these high school boys in the 1960's---with no knowledge of maximum heart rate, training zones or lactate threshold, could one conclude that perhaps we place too much emphasis on technology and not enough on our natural gifts?

Cheryl Hart, owner of 2nd Wind Motivation, helps individuals and corporations establish and achieve goals. She is also a motivational speaker, certified fitness specialist and spinning instructor. Cheryl is an All-American triathlete and duathlete for Team USA, winning silver medals in both the 2004 World Triathlon and World Duathlon and most recently the bronze in the 2005 World Competition in Australia. To contact Cheryl call 693-7443, e-mail offrunnin@yahoo.com or visit www.2ndWindMotivation.com.