Anyone who’s ever run knows there’s an inner dialogue that runs right along with us. A conversation, if you will, between the part of you that enjoys being active and the, well, other part of you that would rather be doing something (anything!) less strenuous.

I don’t know how yours plays out but mine usually takes the form of a series of questions and answers.

Like, Why in the world are you out here in this weather?
…beats being stuck on a treadmill.
You locked the front door, right?
…hmm. Pretty sure I must have.
Don’t you wanna slow down and walk for a bit?
…I’m not even 2 minutes in—don’t offer me a break yet!
And you turned off the stove, right?
…don’t even go there. You know I always double check.
So, hey, just out of curiosity, how long do you plan on keeping this up?
…oh, be quiet!
Are you sure you don’t wanna slow down and walk just for a bit?
…why are you always asking me that?!…I don’t even think about it until
you offer it as an option.
Oh my gosh, is this a hill or a mountain?! Now can we walk?
…ugh! As if this wasn’t hard enough without the whining!
Please?
…okay, but just till the top.
So, what you’re saying is you DID lock the door and you DID turn the stove off?
…can someone say ‘OCD?’ Stop fixating on this stuff!
How ‘bout a sprint to that next tree up ahead?
…how about let’s wait till the next, next tree?
Oh, come on, really?!…just count out 10 seconds. You can sprint for that long.
…alright already! Okay, here we go, one-one-thousand…two-one-thousand,
maybe eight’s a better number…three-one-thousand…yeah we’re going with
eight this time…

It’s a wonder sometimes, with all this going on, that I ever get anywhere. And I’m pretty sure this is also why I usually listen to music when I run by myself. Focusing on the beat or wherever far off place the words of a song happen to take me are a nice alternative to the constant inner chattering. Not that the mind isn’t a beautiful thing, but my goodness it sure can be noisy!