I just reread Zen and the Art of Archery because recently on a run I had experienced something new, this after some 40 odd years in the sport. Quite by accident I noticed that running was very different when
To Build A Fire
Has anyone ever read Jack London’s short story called “ To Build a Fire? It’s about a trapper who takes a shortcut back to camp and ends up falling through some thin ice… and gets his feet wet… at
Michelangelo on the Road
In Montreal where I live we get a lot of snow and one of my Alexander students this morning was describing what it took to get his car out after the 30+ cm of snow which had completely buried
QUESTIONS BEING ASKED
QUESTIONS BEING ASKED The other day I was out running with Dave and Mark, a couple of long term training buddies and Mark started imitating what you often hear these days in sports commenting. “As Dave takes the lead
When Running Gets Hard (but you don’t want to quit)
What to do when running gets hard? I’m not talking about the 20 mile mark in a marathon or the last 100m of an 800. I’m referring to your garden variety easy run which no longer feels easy. You
The Runner’s ‘MEEZ”
I don’t know if you watch cooking shows on TV occasionally or even obsessively I have to admit I do now and then although I can’t stand Gordon Ramzey….. but I digress… So the Meez or the mise en
Can runners still benefit from a coach?
Running like any other sport can be performed at various levels of skill, awareness, and presence. For many runners, getting out the door is a major achievement and from there we go on automatic pilot, accompanied and supported in
Getting to the Starting Line: the Power of Intention
As I debated whether or not to compete in this year’s Master’s Indoor Track and Field Championships the word “intention” kept coming up. The definition of the word includes: a determination to act in a certain way, resolve, and ‘what
RUNNING TECHNIQUE : HELP OR HINDRANCE
Try googling ‘running technique’ and see how many hits you get, a hundred if not more. Pose, Chi, Evolution, plus dozens of outliers…the list seems endless. And if you’re like me, the idea of discovering the secret, of finding
The Thorny Question of the Foot Plant in Running
Runners, especially those new to the sport, are often torn between the various schools (aka ‘religions’) of thought regarding where and how the foot should land when we run: on the heel, flat, on the ball, the toe…I recently