a lot of thoughts from a non-thinker

wooo im a blogger. I feel so hip and modern. oh... the ninety's are over... damn.
Nice post Nicolas, and Jeffrey, thank you for creating this and adding me and such.
I guess my first post will just be a mini-mantra of my approach to running. Jeff and Nick seem to be thinkers when it comes to running. Jeff is never short on thoughts as to strategy, mechanics, and plans. and, is not shy about expressing those thoughts, as evidenced by the twelve minute video of him talking on this blog. This style seems to be very popular, or maybe its just the vocal nature of it.
My approach, or at least what i aim for in my approach, is not thinking. I've always found that thinking about running can only complicate it and make it worse. I'm sure everyone has had the experience of dreading a run either in the few minutes before it or all day leading up to it, but immediately after you start you feel so much better. You get the "this isn't so bad" felling for at least a few seconds. Then of course there's the misery that is miles 2 and 3 of any run where you just feel miserable before you get into a rhythm. My best times have come during races that I didn't overthink. I went to the line of the 10k at DivIIIs with no expectations of myself and with a plan of running as fast as i felt like i could sustain for 25 laps. It was the same case in my fastest 5k. I had no intention of breaking 16 that day, I just ran as well as I could. On the other side, some of the worst races I've run have been those that i overthought. I attempted the first tempo this summer one morning after planning for it and worrying about it for a good amount of time the night before and during the time it took for me to do a long warmup. I made it one mile before i had to stop. I was mentally shot before i even started. That night, I mapped out a new 5 mile route, did a three minute warmup, and hammered out a 28:40 relatively easily. I stopped worrying about being exactly on pace and just ran. I guess I'm just a runner, not a thinker.
Anyway, thumbs up for the fartlek long run. Anything that can distract me from the thought that i'm doing a long run is definitely a good idea. I'll probably try it next long run.
I'm not injured. I'm sick. I'll run again next week.
Chris