GUMPISMS

Forrest Gump's Mother always told him that life was like a box of chocolates, on the grounds that you never knew what you were gonna get; well during the three years he spent insanely running coast to coast what he should have figured out was that Momma could have helped him out a bit more if she had told him, life was also like a bar of chocolate.

Roll by that big old bar of chocolate in the supermarket and more than likely you won't even pick it up - most people feel too much of a porker to do it (unless it it's Cadbury's Bournville, or maybe Green & Black).  Eat it all in one go and more than likely you will feel nauseous, guilty and generally unhappy; but one cube at a time and it becomes an elegant treat, can wake up a sleepy afternoon, and leave you feeling zingy and energized!

To me running is more like a bar of chocolate.  Today's 15 miler could have seemed overwhelming and hard; but broken into digestible easy chunks of chocolate, each one was enjoyable in its own way.  The first time I ran a marathon I remember feeling a bit fagged out at the 3 mile mark and made the mistake of muttering to myself 'Oh well, just 23 more to go..." and rapidly realized that I would have to stop that kind of talking pronto, or I would be peeling off and going for coffee on South Street, instead of running and finishing the race.  Q-Less and I headed off for our 15 miler happy today because we had it split into 3 runs.  The first 6 miles of easy chit chat on the trail, bathed in sunshine, enjoying the crisp scenery down at Valley Green, discussing all the randomness of our lives...kids..neighbors...crap tv.  A brief pause to i-pod up and we started a whole new run, 7 miles at race pace, chasing Kelly Drive and following the river into the city, trying to develop a music fueled rhythm.  Our third and final run was a two mile cool down, enlivened with company from a couple of friends who appeared as 'guest runners' on the trail joining us for lunch afterwards.

Suddenly each of these smaller run were easy - I have even in my mind broken each mile into 400m when I have felt I couldn't move another minute, and, then broken it down even further, often find myself focusing on each step, trying to make each own smooth and perfect in its own way.  An ex-marine trainer at Platoon used to tell us the mind gives out way before the body....it is soo true.

Much of life is like that - think too far ahead and you freak yourself out, too much to do, not enough time, each decision gets harder than the next.  If we break it into small bite size pieces that warm glow of individual accomplishment is like when the chocolate hits your cheeks and just makes you smile.

Maybe next week we need to bring that bar of chocolate with us - gu at zero temperatures is really nasty, and frankly tastes like chewing your way through a sachet of frozen snot!  One cube per mile might well be the answer.......