Benefits of a positive lie

Editor's note: Erin Moeller, 37, of Mount Vernon is a lifelong runner who qualified for the last two Olympic Marathon Trials. A native of Ryan, she's a graduate of North-Linn and Wartburg and works for Benchmark Inc. in Cedar Rapids. She and her husband, Andy, have three children - Ryne, Evelyn and Kellyn.

By Erin Moeller, community contributor

My coach in college always used to tell us that a positive lie is better than the negative truth.

Although I preach to my kids that lying is something they should never, ever do, admittedly, I tend to tell myself little white lies at times.

These 'lies” aren't harmful and won't hurt anyone. Rather, they're lines I feed myself to convince my body to do what my mind knows must be done.

As I shared with you several weeks ago, I'm committed to training for and running a spring marathon. If all goes well, that marathon - the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon, scheduled for May 17 - is less than a month away. As exciting as race weekend might be, the training required to prepare for running 26.2 miles as fast as my body will possibly carry me is a bit daunting.

Not wanting to miss any of the kids' activities and maintaining a job that I enjoy so much, my training consists of either miles squeezed in over my noon hour or miles run in the wee hours of the morning. A couple of weeks ago I managed to squeeze in 100 miles during a seven day stretch.

You have no idea how many positive little lies I had to tell myself to accomplish this feat.

With my morning runs starting between 3:30 and 5 a.m., depending on how many miles need to be completed before helping Andy get the kids up and ready for school and day care, I typically feed myself a whole string of thoughts as I drag myself out of bed. If I'm lucky, all of these thoughts might just turn out to be true as I approach the finish line on May 17.

Rather than accepting the positive truths - the fact Mount Vernon is really quite hilly, the weather has been pretty darned breezy these days, running at 3:30 a.m. really isn't all that enjoyable, it's really, really dark in the wee hours of the morning, sane people are surely sleeping at this hour, etc. - I try to focus on more positive thoughts. As we all know, allowing ourselves to dwell on negative thoughts (albeit true) won't provide much motivation or inspiration.

Instead, I feed myself little thoughts/little lies such as: this wind and these hills are going to make me stronger, nobody else is training at this time, my hard work will be worth it on race day, today's going to be a terrific day, I'm going to feel great when this is over, today's a great day to run, or simply just thinking about what I'm going to eat for breakfast when I get done.

A lot of thoughts run through my mind as I'm stumbling to put my running gear on in the early morning and staying committed to completing my run or workout.

As many runners are in their final preparations for tomorrow's infamous Boston Marathon, many may find themselves in a common situation that seems to suck marathoners in as race day approaches. Since many training programs include a taper cycle that starts approximately three weeks out from the 'big day,” many fear that fitness may be lost during this time and start to wonder if they're preparations are adequate to meet the goals set for themselves.

Admittedly, I've found myself in this situation on countless occasions. Instead of hyperventilating in the days and hours leading up to race start time, I force myself to relax and focus on those little thoughts (or little lies) that helped carry me to this point.

If you're lucky enough to be toeing the line in Hopkinton (starting point of the Boston Marathon) tomorrow, remind yourself of how strong you are, how you've trained for months to get to this point, tell yourself that your mind and body are prepared to carry you through to the finish line.

Whether you are or you aren't, you are probably right. Keep feeding yourself those positive thoughts - even if they are a little white lie - and you might be amazed at what you can accomplish.

Best of luck to everyone running Boston tomorrow, and be sure to have fun while you're out there!

Happy running.

l You can contact Moeller at emoeller26.2@gmail.com