Mementos, mantras, and mind games.

Last Saturday, training and fundraising buddy extraordinaire Katie C. turned 26. This was very exciting for me because it gave me an excuse to present a surprise marathon good luck charm several weeks early (see above). As I mentioned previously, "walk it off" has been our favorite mantra throughout this crazy ordeal. I had a feeling we could both use those words right where we could see them throughout the race. Enter the matching engraved ID bracelets!

Running books, magazines, and coaches often suggest that you pick a significant word of phrase to get you through tough moments in training and races. Counselors will often suggest that you do this to get through tough moments in life. Katie and I are both runners and counselors, so we are all over this. When I presented her with the "walk it off" bracelet, we had a conversation about some of our favorite mantras and mind games. We even speculated that we could choose one word or thought to focus on for each mile of the upcoming race. So, here are a few of my favorites. If you have some of your own, please share!

-"Walk it off." (no surprise there)

-Repeating powerful words. For me, these include "strong," "relentless," and my new favorite, "robust." (According to my stats professor, a "robust" psychological test performs well under non-optimal conditions. I think that applies to a lot of my training these past few months!)

-"You got this."

-Reviewing past accomplishments. Counselors love this one. This is where you encourage youself by calling to mind anything and everything you have ever achieved, particularly at times when you had to overcome great odds. On a 4+ hour run, you have a lot of time for this. On a good day,  I can get all the way back to elementary school spelling bees.

-Chapel songs. I never gave it much thought while I was in seminary, but there are a lot of church songs about running, races, and journeys. I definitely catch myself humming them on long runs. "Guide my feet, Lord, while I run this race," "Don't turn around, we've come this far by faith," "I don't believe God brought me this far to leave me," etc.

-Visualizing the end. Sometimes this means hugging and crying at the finish line. Other times, its getting a massage. Many, many times, its hitting the bagel shop on the way home. Mmmm... bagels.