Time as a Quality not a Quantity

In today's go-go-go world, it would often appear as if there is just not enough time to do all that we have on our plates. There are as many time management systems out there as there are e-mails in our spam filters! Each of them seeking to maximize the amount of stuff we can get done in a certain amount of time. It is a slippery slope, in my experience, to approach time as a quantitative item. I'd even go as far as to say that it's missing the boat.

As runners, we have the opportunity to experience time in a very different way. Our time spent running can carry us back to those mystical, magical, half-remembered summers when time seemed to stand still for us as kids. Long, long, long days, when time seemed to stretch to accommodate our pirate ship adventures, our missions to the moon, our discovery of the last tunnel out of the soon-to-explode-secret-mountain-cave. Sure, those are mostly boy's fantasies, but hey, I'm a boy!

We may not have been able to describe the difference at the time, but even as youngsters, we knew there was something inherently different about gown-up time. Our parents and older family members were often "busy", "in a hurry", or promising to connect with us "later." It all seemed rather bizarre to me as a youngster. Perhaps you, too, would shrug your shoulders and return to joyfully saving the planet from green monsters!

When we run, if we allow ourselves, we can step out of time and into the timeless geography of our hearts. But even as runners, we can succumb to the demon clock too often. We might be squeezing our workouts into our day in a way that they become something to get done, another task to check off. We might get caught in a competitive loop with ourselves, always timing every run, every mile, every 100 meters, seeking to improve on our last time. It can be fun to evaluate our ability, for sure. When our time starts to define who we are as runners—and even as human beings—then we are beginning to lose sight of the purpose of our gift of running.

Today, even before you run, set a clear intention (more on how to do this in the book) to experience the qualitative aspect of time rather than the quantitative. Picture your time spent running as like being afloat on a raft on a slow-moving river as a opposed to swimming upstream. Time can carry you rather than push you. A great way to support this intention is to leave your watch at home. It's OK. Really. You will make it back alive.

As you run, focus both on your inner and outer environments. Listen to your steady breath; appreciate your heart as it feeds your body—and your imagination; notice your mind. If it seeks to run ahead, remind it of your pace. You are the run leader. Exercise dominion as to the pace of your workout. Just as we are cautioned not to run too fast in the first half of a marathon (for every minute over stretched in the first half, you can be sure of expending two or more in the second half), when our mind gets ahead of us we pay a price later, either in mental fatigue, confusion, or even anger.

Rather than running through the neighborhoods on your route, allow them to embrace you. Feel the quality of the air, the smells, sounds, and colors. Listen to the voices you hear, the bird song, or the roar of the traffic. Allow all of this to begin to guide you to the sound of your inner landscape. The call of your heart, the whisper of the divine that propels you. It doesn't matter where you are on the outside. It is more about where you are on the inside.

At the end of our lives, I think it is a safe bet to say that we will evaluate our own success in life largely by the way that we have participated in the most important relationships in our lives. Dan Sullivan, founder of the Strategic Coach, puts this most effectively: "If there are ten scoreboards and you are winning on only of them — making money—you are not winning at all."

How do we magnify our qualitative experience of time? it is not about how we manage the time, it is about how we manage our choices. When we are spending time doing what we love, time does carry us. When we choose to fill our time with too much, and too many obligations, time begins to push us.

One choice that you have made to do something that you love, is to run. And consistently that pays dividends. I promise you this. The way that you feel when you run— inspired, free, alive, grateful, empowered, willing to step into mystery, more connected with the divine—that can be ALL of your life. At it's best, running is not hideaway from life. It is a doorway to life.

Inspirational speaker and business consultant Steve Chandler has said that "time is the new money." If that is the case, how about you start spending it in the way that you really want to? What would THAT look like?