The Three Minds of Running

I've alluded to this subject on a couple occasions, but a run the other day left me feeling inspired to expound on the topic of what I call the three minds of running. So here they are, the three minds of running (and their arch-nemesis, non-running mind).

The first mind of running I call zen mind. In this, all the meditative qualities of running are brought to the fore. You are wholly in and of the run without conscious effort. The run is effortless regardless of pace and you may find yourself crossing many miles with little memory of it. Autopilot or cruise control are terms that could be applied, though they carry connotations that are too mechanical. Zen mind is not mechanical, it is reflexive. It is without thought, without being thoughtless. Zen mind is a difficult thing to seek, personally I find it easier to let it come to me. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. Those occasions when it does are among the best runs I have had.

The second mind of running is racing mind. In this state, you're focused on how you're running. You're thinking about things like pace, times, mileage, turnover, heart rate, the hotspot on your toe, your hydration level, when to eat next and all those little things that make for a successful race. Racing mind is important both in training as well as during a race and maintaining the necessary discipline of racing mind can mean the difference between a new personal record or slamming into the wall early and hard. In some ways it is the opposite of zen mind as it is very actively focused and very mechanical. Racing mind might be the easiest state of mind to reach for this reason. You simply turn it on. At the same time though, it is like zen mind in that it is wholly of the run, unlike the third mind...

Grocery mind. This is the often wandering mental state where we ponder what to pick up for dinner, how to deal with a problem at work, what to get your girlfriend for her birthday and the millions of other problems we solve when we lace up. This can be good or bad. Sometimes running in grocery mind can lead to running in a distracted fashion, thoughtlessly. We end up going farther than we have time for, get lost, trip over a curb or even step into traffic without looking. Other times it leads to running without thought and bridging to zen mind. As someone who is a big believer in the stress relieving power of running, I have met few problems that didn't feel more manageable after a good run.  I have also found grocery mind to be a more effective bridge to zen mind than racing mind is. While your thoughts may be everywhere but on the run, the stress reduction of working things out mentally combined with the reduction in conscious emphasis on the run seems to make for an easier route to the zen mind state.

There is a fourth mind as well, or perhaps it should be called a non-fourth mind. The non-running mind. It's a state of mind that is antithetical and inhibitive to running. You're stressed or distracted and just keeping moving for so much as a mile is a struggle. Sometimes the relaxing, meditative qualities of running overcome the non-running mind quickly. Other times you find yourself struggling for ragged mile after ragged mile. Non-running mind is the flip side of grocery mind's path to zen mind. If we get stressed out or overly distracted by the mundane issues it can become easy to slip out of grocery mind and into non-running mind.