8.9 Miles

That's right, I just ran 8.9 miles. It took me an hour and forty-two minutes, but the really cool thing was that I dared myself when I started the run not to look at my watch, and I managed to do that, until the end when I was sort of spacey and tired and just looked at my wrist without thinking, and saw 1:35 on the watch. Usually I spend my runs looking at my watch every three or four minutes, thinking about how far I've come and how much further I have to go and doing rudimentary math to figure out my pace and try to distract myself from the way my legs feel. But not today. I know an hour and forty two minutes is appallingly slow to anyone who cares about running, but this is about distance for me, not speed, and I don't really have any benchmarks or expectations about speed and am not particularly ashamed about the slowness of my pace. Who cares if I'm a slow runner? I'm making my body do something it's never done before and that makes me feel proud and healthy and excited. The other cool thing about today's run is that for long hunks of time I was in my own head, just thinking about stuff, and not acutely conscious of the fact that I was running or the way my hamstrings or calves or feet or arms felt. As soon as I stopped running I was able to feel how tight my legs are and I have a feeling that going up and down stairs is going to hurt tonight and tomorrow but for now I am pleased, and while I was running it was, if not effortless, at least minimally unpleasant.

Comments

[Evan]

What I like about running is that, as you say, you find yourself spending time "in your own head." For me, when I get in that zone, ideas just seem to bubble up out of nowhere.

Did you think about food on your run? This is embarrassing, but whenever I go on a very long run, I start hallucinating about fried chicken. The strange thing is, I don't even like fried chicken!

When I'm finished with the long run, I crave carbs. There's nothing like the taste of something very sweet after a long run. Just don't give me chicken: it would certainly make me sick.

[pjm]

Evan - funny, when I used to do long runs, I craved protein. When I was training for my first marathon (I actually DNFed the full marathon at the same race Sherry's planning to run the half at) I spent the last two miles of a long run telling the guy I was running with about the eggs I was making as soon as I got home... he wouldn't run long with me again.

Normally I am a sucker for the sweet stuff (mmm, donuts) but after a hard run... not really.

"Appallingly slow" is, of course, relative, and one defines one's own benchmarks. Why so defensive? Isn't half of winning, showing up?

Flow is sweet. I miss it. I never feel it when I'm swimming, and I'm not sure why.

[Ms. Feverish]

8.9! Hooray for you! I also used to fantasize about food on my long runs. And also about how long it might be before I could stop, not because I was tired, but because it hurt so much. Glad to see that you're running long so well!

[mad]

When I was going through some knee/hip/back troubles a few years ago and couldn't run much at all for a long time, I discovered how very much I missed the mental flow, the head-clearingness of running. I wrote several papers in my head during my 2L year while training for a marathon, and have often had whole briefs come together during long runs. Nothing else I do gives me that freedom and clarity of thought, though I occasionally can approximate it during a swim. Congrats to you on discovering one of the wonderful reasons why people put their bodies through the hell of distance running.

And don't worry about the speed. Even if you end up running the 1/2 faster (or slower), you've accomplished the very important task of keeping your body moving, keeping your legs pumping, for that long. Just getting the body used to working consistently at the same motion for more than 90 minutes is a big part of the training process.

[jdz]

Woohoo! Congrats! You made me really really miss running! I haven't "gotten" to do a long run in two months or so (unless you count the long and inredibly miserable walk that comprised my "run" at Ironman USA a couple weeks ago) (which wasn't even that long as the legs gave up at mile 13), I haven't been able to do any running at all. Last night I went for my first short run since my IM and it felt oh so good... I can't wait till I'm back to longer runs... till then I will live vicariously through you!

Regarding food, I always crave pizza during training. And I usually eat it afterwards. :)

[CrzyDJM]

That is awesome! I know I'm about 2 years too late for this entry, but wanted to give a rock-on to ya anyway!