Runner's Block

I wonder if it's possible to have runner's block.  I mean, I've heard of writer's block, and by the looks of it--I have that too. 

Every time, lately, I go for a run and my mind blocks me from getting it accomplished.  I think thoughts along the line of this, "What if my leg starts hurting again?" or "What if I can't breath."  Oh the challenges of post-injury running and asthma! 

This morning, I had no good excuse.  It was a brisk 47 degrees, and my breaths were synchronized from the start, and yet I kept stopping.  My mind was screaming, WHY THE HELL ARE YOU STOPPING, yet I kept doing it.  I'm training of a 5K, but at this rate I'll be walking it.  I guess that's okay.  Some days I think I'm jut not cut out to be a runner.

Yesterday I received some advice in an unlikely place, Chappy's Deli.  I'd taken the boys there for lunch while Rob visited the dentist for the first time in ten, er four years.  While the boys ate hamburgers and I dug into a very healthy buffalo chicken wrap, ranch dressing and all, our waiter sort of neglected us, until he didn't. 

He came over and yawned then apologized by saying, "I'm sorry I ran 10 miles this morning before work."

"I'm a wannabe runner," I said. 

"Yeah?  Well I was in the military, and then I packed on the pounds. I've lost 60 since I started running again in October.  I know you wouldn't believe that.  I'd packed on the muscle and bulked up and it all turned to fat after I stopped exercising. I'm running the Joy to Life Run in April."

"I'm trying to do that run too.  I did it last year, and then I was injured and I've had a hard time recovering."

"When I run I pretend I'm somewhere else.  Like fantasy--I'll pretend I'm watching my favorite show, or traveling, or I'll just delve into my music and before I know it--the run is over, before it feels like it began.  Also--the best way to get better at running short distances is to run long distances."

So--I'm going to take his advice.  I'm going to go to fantasy land in my head, aka take my head out of it.  He went on to tell me I'm defeating myself.  He said running is so much about body over mind, that I have to get my mind out of it.  That's hard for someone who has a thinking problem like me, but I just need to do it. 

I'm challenging myself to run every day this week, even if I only run a mile at a time--something is better than nothing.  And I'm not starting the long distances yet.  First I have to get to the 3.1 miles without stopping myself--then I can talk ten.