Long distance running is as much a mental challenge as a physical one. A few years back I would have written this off as an empty cliche that disregards the immense physiological demands that running for hours on end exerts on the human body. Increasingly though I am starting to see the truth in these sort of statements. There are frequent examples of incredible displays of human willpower in the face of seemingly impossible physical challenges-a recent example was British Comedian Eddie Izzards run across the UK. How could an out of shape 47 year old possibly complete an 1000 mile trek across the roads and trails of Great Britain and accomplish something that medical experts and advisors thought was near impossible at the outset? It was apparent that his incredibly mental toughness and sheer stubbornness had alot to do with it. At many stages in his epic run he was given perfectly good reasons to discontinue but he powered through immense physical discomfort to complete the route many weeks later.
The one thing that is apparent from all this training is that your mind is an amazing tool for both accomplishing feats and also holding you back, if you let it. A positive and determined mindset can take you a long way, quite literally in my case!
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