Yesterday a friend asked me, “How long can you hold your breath?”
I answered back, “How long do you want me to hold my breath?”
“One minute.” So I hold my breath for a minute. I wanted to breathe again about 20 seconds into the challenge; however, at the end of the minute I felt like I could have held my breath for another minute. Why is this? I don’t have extraordinary lung capacity. I have not practiced holding my breath before. The reason is because I told myself I could do it. It was a resolve to do what I set out to do, no matter how painful it could have become. Pain is was not a factor. It was all mental toughness. A mental toughness that runners posses.

People may point to my military background as to where I derived my mental toughness from. I did strengthen it there, but I had a high level of mental toughness before. So how did I achieve it? It was from distance running at an early age.

We’ve all heard it, running is 90% mental. It’s true. Well, maybe not exactly 90% of your ability to run faster or farther is controlled by your mind, but you get the point. When you want to stop, you don’t. When you want to slow down, you speed up. When you want to cut your run short, you keep going. All of that is 100% mental.  This is what bonds serious runners together. They resolve to keep running and keep pushing no matter how painful it is. If this is a measure of a serious runner, then I would venture to say that I have been seriously running since the 7th grade. That is the last time I can remember stopping during a run because of exhaustion. Not that there is anything wrong with stopping on a run. Sometimes you have to stop to enjoy a view or smell the roses. Just don’t do it because your mind tells you to do it. Thinking is overrated.  When did you start listening to your brain anyways?

So do you have to have any special talent or ability to attain mental toughness? No, just run. Every time you head out the door for a run think about how you are building your mental toughness. On the same token, if you get any urges to stop or slow down, think about how much you are decreasing your mental toughness.

So the next time you hear someone complain about the economy or politics or anything else, tell them to go run a 20 miler and toughen up! Then, challenge them to a “how long can you hold your breath” contest; you’ll win every time!