where do your thoughts wander on (longer) runs?

[BFwillie_g]

I used to think up poems and song lyrics, and even chapters of books that I wanted to write, and when I got home, I'd get out a notebook and scribble it all down on paper. But these days I find that I usually have some stupid, simplistic refrain from some song I generally would not listen to if it came on the radio running all around my brain. For hours. And hours....

Also, I have about half a dozen first chapters to books that have never been written, just in case there are some literary agents reading this LOL.

 

[Barefoot Dama]

I create things while running or on how to improve a craft that I am currently working on. Stuff like that and I am out here! Good evening everyone

 

[Footsie]

Mostly I don't think at all. When I catch myself, I'm usually singing this to myself:

 

[Larry]

I'm another "Repetitive snatches of annoying songs" guy.

Occasionally I find myself thinking deep thoughts, but as soon as I realise that I am doing that, it stops and I'm back to being dopey again.

 

[barefoot kean]

Usually think through any problems I am having, then I zone out for awhile, after that it gets pretty random.

 

[Barefooting Bob]

I usually just zone out and fall into the run. It basically is my happy place especially if I am running solo on a trail.

 

[Darkand]

I tend to just zone out, a bit like meditation. I'll have music on, I just enjoy it and run.
Tho sometimes, if my energy is really high, the music is totally my own running theme tune! I'll go blasting through the run, enjoying the wind in my face and people's shocked looks as I barefoot past them, as I'm quietly mouthing some banging metal songs. Happy times!

 

[Bare Lee]

If I'm running a slow pace, I assemble model airplanes. If I'm running a faster pace, I paint them.

 

[Barefoot Gentile]

It's a good question, I always ask myself what am I thinking and I can't pin point anything. There are times when the run is done and I forget most of the run, like it never happened.

 

[skedaddle]

Sometimes my big thoughts seem insignificant and the small thoughts become giant killers.

 

[NickW]

I tend to think about my life and whatever is going on at the moment, and then when I get to stretches in the run where I'm struggling I verbally start getting after myself such as, "Get up that damn hill Nick! Don't you quit you just keep those legs churning!, Get up there, go! Just a little bit further, come on don't be a wuss and get up that hill!"

 

[ChasingShadows]

On a good longer run it tends to be "oh, what's that over there?", that's kind of what makes it a good run for me & if I'm not sure then I'll have made up many possibilities before I'm close enough to discover the truth. Hugely variable otherwise, from solving complex work problems that have battered my desk-bound brain, to my next meal, to Ricky Martin's Living La Vida Loca on permanent loop (180 bpm - I started this on purpose, now it just happens!)

 

[Tristan]

Anything and everything. I ponder things a lot I guess, I enjoy long quite times I can think about stuff. A couple hours on the tractor, my hour drive to work... I hardly even listen to music while in the car on my long drives because I'm usually content just thinking. And, well, during the warmer months I always have my window down so can't really hear music anyhow. Strangely I find myself listening to music more on my runs than any time else.

 

[Hobbit]

I think about politics. That sure makes me want to run
Seriously: I think a lot about my next knitting project, creating the pattern etc.

 

[rickwhitelaw]

It's crazy, but I should enjoy the current hike (much more time to think on hikes) but I'm always thinking about the next one. Or I daydream about doing an Ultra and then bam, something starts hurting and slaps reality in my face.

 

[BFwillie_g]

I think about politics. That sure makes me want to run AWAY

fify ;-)

 

[blacksheep40]

i love to just zone out on runs. im an over thinker and have a hard time switching my mind off. when i catch myself totally out there i usually find myself trying to get back to rhythm for a few good seconds.

 

[RunningPirate]

Depends on the day. Some days, I zone out. Some days, it's some sort of recirculating nonsense "ooobie doobie doo, wub wub wub wub, ooobie doobie doo". Some days, I'm mentally designing a jet-powered go-kart (the jets will be made out of turbo-chargers). Some days I have thoughts that would make the CIA come haul me off in a black van to an abandoned warehouse in an undisclosed location, where they'll tie me up and beat me in the kidneys with an axe-handle until I piss blood for a year...well, either that, or they'll throw me down a flight of stairs into a woodchipper.

The CIA can be testy at times.

This is why I should not be trusted with Scotch Tape.

 

[JosephTree]

Seriously: I think a lot about my next knitting project, creating the pattern etc.

Nasty hobbits!

 

[JosephTree]

Actually, my focus on good runs tends to tighten up to be right on the run: breathing, surroundings, muscle state, sole state, upcoming terrain / hazzards, wild life, and back through the list, ad infinitum. I'm not so good on coherent thoughts and can't comprehend these folks who give step by step recollections of their runs.