Practical Running Psychology

Running is a highly personal sport filled with introspective people. The runner has plenty to think about, and plenty of time to think about it. He's constantly confronted with the struggle between willing spirit and weak flesh, and the mental juggling he goes through has a very real and direct effect on his training and racing results. Because of these facts every runner becomes something of an amateur psychologist. And that's what makes writing a booklet on the psychology of running so difficult. We don't probe the "why I run" question. It's a legitimate one, but falls more in the realm of philosophy. For now the attention is on the running mind and the running personality - those intriguing processes that make a man his own best friend and his own toughest competitor.