Gumpspiration

So I got home from work last Monday evening, with a view to going for a nice little run - about 4 miles or so - to cure my Monday blues... an ailment i've been suffering from most Mondays for a while now. I set off, and decided to take a different route than the one I have become rather accustomed to over the last couple of months of Marathon training. But when I say "different route", I didn't even know what the route would turn out to be until I finished the run. It was completely undetermined before I left. I basically decided that I needed to try something different to test myself, both mentally and physically. Up until now, i've been doing laps of the lovely Clapham common... 2,3,4 in a go. Plus some other runs around that general area. Don't get me wrong, the common is a nice run, but after doing it every other day for a few months, like any route, it became monotonous. As a result, I think I was feeling every ten meters as I ran them. And not in a good way. It got boring. I ended up running about 11 miles that night. And I can honestly say it felt fantastic. After every mile or so passed, I thought... "sure, what's another mile?". Looking back, I know it was the frame of mind that took over, and was essentially my fuel. I was no better or worse a runner the day before, when I ran about 8km, but I a) didn't enjoy that 8k as much, and b) struggled through it more than i did with Monday's 11 miles. This all made me think a little, about how my noggin (and everyone else's for that matter) works... and works best. If you are trying to achieve something in life - little or big - enjoy the process. The journey to the finish line should be just as rewarding and fun as the feeling you get when you cross it, and the only one who can control that, is you. At the risk of sounding a bit deep.... ah, too late. B