Running down demons and chasing angels

I ran my RESOLUTION RUN this morning to begin 2016! My finish time was fairly fast (1 minute behind my best) considering the past 2 weeks had been focused on preparing for the holidays and enjoying family rather than training hard.

I ran it in silence, without listening to the "voice coach" of the GPS app that tracks course, distance, and time. The start was at the pace I had hoped to run (this I visually checked on the phone). After that I checked distance when I thought I was hitting miles 1, 2, and 3.

For some reason this Run did not start out as a joyous event. The tougher times of the past year seemed to occupy my thoughts more than the excited promise of the upcoming year. With junk weighing on my mind I was afraid this first run of the year would be crap rather than the foundation of hopeful success. So I decided to visualize the "demons" of the past year in the first 2 miles, and run them down like they were competitors, passing each one and leaving them behind. I told myself that after mile 2 I would visualize some "angels" ahead to chase and hopefully catch, these being positive events I could look forward to in the next year. IT WORKED. The 2nd mile was faster and the 3rd mile was fastest! The visualizations helped me look ahead to the brighter potential of 2016 in this short period of time, and run with determination. And I now have a goofy memory of catching angels in a foot race.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL...RUN HAPPY!