Free Range Run

Visual images can be a powerful tool. An imagined
visual image can illicit various physiological responses ranging from increased heart rate to muscle fiber twitching. Visualization can also be used as a way to override the pain response during uncomfortable experiences. They can also be used to create a desired emotional state, as in the case of recalling pleasant memories from the past.

The infinite expanse of one's imagination allows for a creative playground of self-directed or meandering streams of thought - a double edged sword of sorts. Learn to harness the thought/visual process, and you've got an infinitely powerful tool. Likewise, if the mind is allowed to dwell on the negative and meaningless, and this incredible resource grows dark and clouded.

If creative visualization is the ultimate tool of the mind, then creative visualization of cats - the jesters of this world - is the ultimate of the ultimate!

This morning, while out for a trail run, I used this ultimate, ultimate mind power to visualize myself running with a herd of free range organic kittens, and their massive kitten mom. Yea, it was weird, but humor can be a powerful pain killer, and running is painful, so it's a good match-up.

On the hills, I would imagine myself grabbing the tail of the 10 foot tall mother cat, and being pulled along. On the steep downhill sections, I'd imagine myself draping my arms over the necks of two four foot tall kittens running on either side of me. On the flat stuff, the massive kittens would act as my pacers - though for a while, Jan Brady was pacing me on her red banana seat bike.

In the end, these wacky visuals acted to make the run more pleasant by getting my mind off the soreness in my calves and thighs, and making me laugh at the idea of being paced and prodded along by a herd of wild kittens.

The mind is infinitely more powerful than we recognize! Its just a matter of tuning out the "noise" to put our imaginations to work.

Happy running. Meow!