For the Days When You're Just Not Feelin' It

    This isn't specific science or anything I would appreciate someone quoting me on, but it's pretty safe to say that any runner can agree that for every three to six good days of running, there is bound of be a bad day of running somewhere in there. What I mean by this is that there are days where your typical five mile run feels much more sluggish and slow, and after looking down at your watch, you could not hit your goal times.
     It saddens me to say that the worst part about your "bad day" of running is not the painful ache in your calves and the feeling that your legs are made out of lead, but the little voice that is begging you to give up.
     This is something I witness nearly every day at practice in both myself and some of my teammates when we OD (over distance!) and I wish that I didn't. The fact is, when your coach isn't watching you, it doesn't matter what the little voice in your head is saying, because your coach's voice scares the voice beggin you to give up away. However, when your coach sends you on an aerobic workout and doesn't watch you, the little voice inside that head of yours is the coach, and it's wrong.
     This can be displayed during a simple five mile run, where the distance runners run to "just about" the two and a half mile mark (that's where you turn around) and cut the distance by what they think is just a little distance, but if you measure it it's actually about 300 or 400 meters.
     When running as a team it is easy conform to what other runners are doing on your team. One person's inner coach influences the entire rest of the group you are running with in your let it. "Turning back early" is said so casually, and I don't blame anyone for it, we've all done it.
      The difference this makes may not seem to appear in your athletic performance, but it may alter other daily work. There is a quote I always tell myself, esecially when I see people cheating themselves: CHARACTER IS WHAT YOU DO WHEN NOBODY IS WATCHING.
      While it may be easy to listen to your inner coach, especially on your bad days, I promise you if you allow yourself to suffer through to the actual destination, you will not only feel better about yourself (I gaurantee) but you will earn the respect of others. (421)