Glorious opportunity - they have no shoes

I was feeling tired, as in not properly awake yet, when I started my run this morning, and thought that I'd probably cut my run back from the 2 miles I've done for the past few days.

However, I pushed away any negative thoughts and just concentrated on my physical feelings, my breathing and my surroundings.

Within minutes I was coming up with ideas for a possible taster workshop that I've been invited to propose for a local business forum, and I also wrote, in my head, my 60-second pitch for tomorrow morning's breakfast networking meeting.

As a result I was inspired to push on and run two and a half miles, then couldn't wait to get back and make a note of my new ideas.

One of the things I remembered was the story of the 2 marketing scouts sent to a region of Africa to study the prospects for expanding business. One sends back a telegram saying,

SITUATION HOPELESS STOP NO ONE WEARS SHOES

The other writes back triumphantly,

GLORIOUS BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY STOP THEY HAVE NO SHOES

Amazing what a difference one's outlook can make.

Wrong-footed shoes

I stretched my run to just over 2 miles this morning, the first time I've done that since I had plantar fasciitis and ditched my running insoles. It felt really good.

Admittedly I was a bit later this morning as I had to attend my monthly business networking group, which is always fun but does mean leaving home a lot earlier than usual.

As I was running on my own this morning and going a bit further I tried to concentrate on feeling the ground beneath my feet, which I can do a lot easier with worn down running shoes and no insoles. It made me think of the parallel with helping people to fully experience each moment of their lives through coaching rather than numbing themselves from the present moment.

Every bit of life, the highs and lows add value if we allow ourselves to raise our awareness. They all teach us lessons about how we live our lives and what is really important to us.

On the topic of worn down shoes, a guy called David Smyntek, who is a runner and physical therapist specialising in acute rehabilitation, decided to conduct an experiment to see if he really should replace his expensive running shoes every 300 to 500 miles, as the running shoe industry was telling him. So when his shoes wore down on one side he swapped shoes and continued to run 5 miles a day wearing his worn down shoes on the wrong feet. He experienced no problems whatever.

Makes you think, doesn't it.

By the way I've now run over 100 miles since the beginning of the year.