What's Your Mantra?

"The sport’s best sometimes make their accomplishments look easy, and we know they are anything but. What is not always apparent is that when the stakes are highest, tiny errors — something as simple as a momentary lapse of concentration or confidence — can make all the difference."
Gordon Bakoulis, senior writer Running Times magazine.

What do you think about when running race? What goes through your head? "Go after that guy!", "Dang it, here comes the hill" or "Oh not now!". When I start off a race, I usually have "Here we go again" going through my mind. Then comes "Am I going too fast?", then "Maintain, maintain". The middle miles will then be spent on random thoughts, covering a variety of subjects or simply spent observing other runners. The difficult portions are very ugly - all the expletives would run through my mind! But I tried changing that during the '06 KLIM, and to some degree of success. I switched to positive thoughts and kept repeating my mantra to keep at it. I kept thinking and repeating "This was what I've trained for", "Suck it up!" and "Baby steps, baby steps". While this is just a random posting, I hope I've left you with an idea on

Meanwhile check this Running Times article out. Titled "Rising To The Occasion", it gives you some points to think about entering into a race. Especially when the mind is rarely the focus of a marathon training program. If you like, let me know what will be your mantra or battle-cry in the Comments section!