Running with Intention
NYRR's Kristina Lopez leading guided meditation at the NYRR Mindful 5K Zen Zone.
Kristina Lopez is a marketing strategist at New York Road Runners and a certified mindfulness and meditation teacher.
If you’ve joined one of our Zen Zone meditations, we’ve probably meditated on a race day intention together. When it comes to running and life, I like to shift my focus toward intentions rather than goals. Goals can carry a sense of uncertainty, while intentions are something we can actively learn to cultivate. Meditation is the practice that bridges the two, grounding me in the present moment while allowing me to move with purpose in the direction of what I hope to achieve.
As a thing-oriented society, we are often taught that goals are important to have, and in running this can often become amplified. After all, even if we’re not in competition with others, we are in competition with ourselves. One of the exciting parts of living through a running boom is learning more about the myriad reasons people come to this sport. From professional to casual athletes, mental health is one of the big reasons why. Even in such a performance-driven space, what often sustains us are the lessons learned about processing, coping, and continuing forward.
The Quiet Practice of Endurance
Like many, I made movement a bigger part of my life during the COVID-19 pandemic, first on nature walks and then run/walks by the river. Since then, I’ve completed 7 marathons, climbed to Uhuru Peak of Kilimanjaro, and just last week completed my first ultramarathon distance: a solo run around the perimeter of Manhattan. These feats did not happen in isolation, but were built through the quieter, everyday acts of endurance that shaped me along the way.
The morning of my perimeter run I didn’t set out with goals, because I didn’t even fully believe I would get the run done. After I had announced the run weeks earlier, I conveniently evaded my friends’ questions of how they could support after I realized my training season wasn’t going how I had hoped. Part of me felt guilty asking for support while carrying the nagging feeling that I might not complete the 50K distance I was hoping to. Yet, knowing I could reach out to others if I needed, reassured me. Another part of me knew I simply needed the time alone in movement for however many hours it would take.
Kristina near the George Washington Bridge on her run around the perimeter of Manhattan.
I’m the kind of runner that goes into a race with 3 potential goal markers: the wish, the nice one, and the one I know I will hit no matter what. Unlike my first attempt at running around the entire Manhattan perimeter on January 1, 2026, the conditions were in my favor this time. I also carried lessons from that first bitter cold try where I ended up getting lost in Inwood Hill Park. This time, I came prepared with a digital map, more fuel, and a clearer sense of what I was set out to accomplish. The day I set off on my second perimeter run attempt, beginning from my home in Morningside Heights, navigating north through Inwood Hill Park and back down along the East River, the inner sense of confidence that I would finish hit me once I reached the Staten Island Ferry and began my journey back north.
By the time I reached West 91st Street near Riverside Park, my legs were exhausted, but my spirit kept me going. The excitement of having just one mile left, and thinking about how many times I have run one mile in my life, gave me an extra burst of energy to finish running with tears in my eyes.
Learning to Trust Myself
One of my strengths as an endurance athlete has been learning to trust myself, and I owe this to my meditation practice. The discipline of returning to my breath and holding gratitude for what my body is capable of in each moment is something that’s strengthened through both meditation and running. Whenever I find self-doubt creeping in during a training season, I remind myself I’ve put in the work, and the work will eventually lead to something. Maybe it’s not always the wish-goal that’s hit, but training helps us collect evidence that we can in fact do hard things.
Meditation also helps us redefine success. As a meditation teacher, I’m often asked, “Oh you must meditate a lot, don’t you?” or “What’s the longest time you’ve meditated for?” However, time on the cushion does not equal some type of special omnipotence. I had been practicing meditation for years before going through an especially traumatic time in my life. It was then that the beauty and support of the practice truly blossomed for me. Meditation became a lesson in remaining present through discomfort and remaining steady through uncertainty.
Mindfulness Through Motion
Mindfulness, the practice of intentionally approaching the present moment without judgment, helps us prepare for the highs, the lows, and everything in between. Some days we may feel strong and grounded, other days exhausted and overwhelmed. Meditation is a tool that allows us to meet ourselves with patience and compassion through the full realm of emotions in our human experience.
For me, meditation is not only about finding inner calm. It’s about building grit and resilience, too. It’s that reminder I need when I’m on mile 15 out of 31 and wanting to quit, that I’ve put in the work to get myself across the finish line and all I must do is keep going. A mindful approach also offers me the compassion to know that if I want to stop, that’s okay too. Simply establishing a goal and setting the intention to reach for it was meaningful in itself.
Goal setting gives me something to work toward, while intention setting helps shape how I want to journey through the process of getting there. Spending time nurturing my intentions ultimately helped me reach one of my goals. I was aware of each breath, the rhythm of moving through the city, my body’s needs along the way…and now I am proud to officially say, I’m an ultrarunner!