Brent Alexander

serving up perspective //

smashing the doubt

Tag: Mindfulness

The Body Is Ready When The Mind Is Steady

Spinx Run Fest 10K – Greenville, SC

Finish Time: 52:42 (8:29/mi) — New PR ✅

They say training is everything, but I’m learning that the real foundation of endurance starts with a calm mind.

To be completely honest, I didn’t have the most consistent training block leading up to this race. I don’t think I had one week where I hit my mileage goal. And I definitely slacked in the interval training/speed-work sessions.

But during the final week leading up to race day, I shifted my focus inward. I meditated every evening, practicing mindfulness and breathwork. That mental reset changed everything about how I showed up on race morning.

The practice of mindfulness is not new to me. I’ve meditated consistently for the past year using the guided meditation programming offered by Apple Fitness+. But then I saw an Ad on my IG feed for the Waking Up app, which intrigued me. Like Apple Fitness, it has guided meditation sessions, but Waking Up goes deeper, teaching you how to actually understand your mind, not just quiet it. It’s less about relaxation and more about transformation–the kind that can only come from equanimity.

When the mind is calm, endurance becomes effortless.

Crossing the start line, I found rhythm early. My breathing felt smooth. Around mile four, a side stitch tried to throw me off, but instead of fighting it, I went back to focusing on my breath. By mile 5, it had passed. Most surprisingly, my splits were as consistent as they ever have been. In my past longer runs, I would limit my warm-up to a quick half mile and light stretching immediately before the race, and I had to “ease in” to the first few miles. But this time, I ran a full 1-mile warm-up about 30 minutes before the start, which I think helped tremendously and made all the difference in my consistency.

For once, I wasn’t chasing the PR. I knew it was coming.

At the last water station, I even took a few seconds to hydrate without that nagging voice in the back of my head shouting, “You’re losing time.” That’s when it hit me: calm confidence is faster than frantic effort.

The final stretch into the stadium felt surreal. The red dirt of the warning track under my shoes—it’s one of the best finish line experiences you can get. And seeing my biggest fan cheering as I entered the stadium? That sealed it.

52:42. A 10K PR. Not because I pushed harder, but because I stayed grounded through every mile.

This race reminded me that consistency follows clarity. When the mind is steady, the body knows what to do.

See you next year, Spinx. 🤙

The Real Race Starts Within 🧘

Start a 30-day free trial of Waking Up and discover the mental clarity that makes every run, and every day, feel lighter — begin your free month here.

November 6, 2025
Back From The Wild ⛺️

I recently took a 2-night / 3-day solo backpacking trip to a local State Park here in South Carolina. I usually try to escape to the woods once every year in the fall.

The woods were quiet—the kind that doesn’t come from stillness but from absence. No notifications. No schedules. No algorithm deciding what you should care about next. Just me, a tent, and a world that wasn’t man-made.

There’s something about being outside long enough that the pace of nature starts to sync with your own heartbeat. You stop rushing. You stop needing. You stop checking the time. Somewhere between the crackle of the fire and the chill of the morning air, the noise fades, and what’s left actually feels like you.

But being alone in the wild isn’t all peace and tranquility. It stirs something deeper—a kind of hypervigilance that lives in your bones. Every rustle in the brush, every shift in the wind, pulls your attention. The trees don’t rush you, but they also don’t coddle you. They just exist. And somehow, I remember how to do the same.

You stay alert because the wild demands it. It’s instinct, not anxiety. Out there, awareness isn’t overthinking—it’s survival. Maybe that’s what makes it strangely healing. The same sensitivity that exhausts you in society finally has a purpose.

In a world that constantly overstimulates, the wilderness recalibrates. I’ve taken the last 2 weeks to focus on the practice of mindfulness. It feels less like a meditation exercise and more like re-wiring your nervous system to operate in rhythm with nature.

In other news… my back doesn’t like sleeping on the cold, hard ground as much as it used to. Apparently, enlightenment comes with a side of lower lumbar pain.

But I’ll take the ache. Because every time I return to the wild, I come back a little more human. Maybe that’s the point. The wild doesn’t make you comfortable. It awakens you.

November 1, 2025

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