Running is part of my lifestyle change, and change, they say is very much in the mind. In the journey from couch potato to mashed toes, one of my many problems has been and still is – how to stay focussed- both in training and during the runs themselves. Being the sensible type with my feet planted firmly on the ground I know that I am not going for speed. I know I can’t sprint ( my badminton coach used to say that my feet were nailed to the ground). So I acknowledge that on that start line, I do need a little time to convince my feet to move, and usually by the time I’ve sent a firm confirmatory message to my feet, the whole run pack has dashed across the 100m mark. 
I’ve read that one should visualise the race, the running style and sort of mentally prime yourself for a run. There’s a very helpful book which also suggests that you visualise your running routes, add all the colour and details and dwell on any positive experience that you have had. I found this most inspiring and have been trying very hard to concentrate and visualize as prescribed.
On one run, I tried visualising myself running like the top marathoners on TV and well nigh killed myself tripping over the uneven pavement. The resulting fractured metatarsal is the only thing I have in common with Rooney and David Beckham – though everytime I look at my bank statement I wish we could had more things in common.
Then I tried stuffing my ears with various MP3 players and almost got run down by an ambulance one day and by a peloton of cyclists pretending to be a transformers battlething on another. It is, I think, a most undignified fate for a wannabe runner to be mowed down by brightly coloured LanceArmstrongcultists. So that talking Nike –ipod thingummy is off my Christmas list.
The other idea mooted was to retain visual memories of one’s usual running route and couple that with how good you felt at a particular moment in time. One was then supposed to trot out these portraits whenever your muscles had differences of opinions.
Dutifully I started taking mental notes of my usual runs – the temple, the streetlamp , the reservoir, cyclist in red shorts with dog on handlebars. Things started to go wrong when this huge fellow with overflowing waistline blocked the running path. He was runnning barebodied and slapping his T shirt from one armpit to another accompanied by appropriate sounds and smells. Well that wasn’t so bad as it provided a little giggle. But the barebodied wrestler type running in those new fangled compression tights was not quite so amusing. The difference in jiggling rate between the bare upper torso and the well supported lower bits was quite marked.
I did think of putting monkeys into my visual data bank, but having been chased by a pack all the way down Mandai Road – I am scared stiff of them. Just the sight of them would send me to the loo. So some helpful soul suggested that i should imagine a tiger behind me. Trouble is, I find it easier to imagine it casually bounding past and picking up a crunchy tiger sized energy bar on the way.
So when I run, I count. I also use whatever imagery that I can muster. So far for the last run I counted 10 rampaging elephants, 10 pink elephants . 10 charging rhinocerus and 10 sedate hippos. Then I stopped counting and used the stored pictures of temples and reservoirs – but that lasted all of 1 minute. In my honest opinion though, the most sustainable mental imagery has been seasonal food and their recipes. My current run cadence goes something like 1,2,3,4, iced tea. 5,6,7,8 Curry puff. 9,10,11,12 kaya toast. I only hope these last 84K!
Matasaya 
