What goes through your mind when you are running

It's funny sometimes what passes through your mind when you are out running, especially when it is hurting. From song lyrics to plans on how you can save the world. 

In his book ‘What I talk about when I talk about running’ Haruki Murakami touches on the subject, as have many others.

Some writers have concentrated on focus and mindsets they feel are required for successful  running. Such as Danny Dreyer in ‘Chi running’.

The other day when I was running up a particularly long and steep hill it wasn’t keeping the correct mindset as such but the lyrics of Brian Eno’s ‘Taking tiger mountain by strategy’ that popped into my mind and I repeated them to myself as I climbed:

    “We climbed and we climbed, oh how we   climbed”

It has been a number of years since I have listened to that track and his album of the same name. But, there I was singing away to myself as I toiled up that hill.

The album’s title comes from a Chinese Opera of the same name which originated during the Cultural Revolution,. Which itself is based in parts on a  novel ‘Tracks in the Snowy Forest’ by Qi Bo. Which in turn is based on the real life story of an incident in 1946 during the Communist campaign to suppress bandits in northeast China.

So from County Durham to China by way of one 7 mile hilly run. 

Talking of snowy tracks, Autumn is now well and truly established so it may not be that long before I’m making snowy tracks up that hill again!

Ah some of the things I think about when I’m running.