The Long Run

This past weekend, a friend, whom I have not seen in ten years, and his wife visited from out of town. During their visit, we started talking about running. Many years ago, he ran a couple marathons but commented that he got extremely bored with the distance. He asked me how I coped with the long runs. This is not a new question. Jody has asked me on several occasions what I think about when I am running long distances.

I really do not have a good answer for the question. To sum it all up in a few words, I would have to say "a little bit of everything" comes and goes as the miles accumulate.

For example, yesterday, I ran 17 miles.

I cannot recall half of what went through my head during the 3 hours it took me to run the route. I know I thought about school and upcoming tasks that I should do while on Spring Break. I know I thought how to respond to a reviewer's comments of an article that a colleague submitted for publication. I know I thought a couple students who recently emailed me. I know I thought a little bit about the wedding and task that still need to be done. I know I think about Jody. I know I thought about needing to do laundry at some point when I got home, despite knowing that I would be very tired and weary. I know I thought about the Green Bay Marathon and what it would take to run all 26.2 miles without stopping.

But other thoughts focused more on the current situation. I was thinking about traffic, always cognizant of needing to move to the curb or run on the sidewalk. Fortunately, the morning after the time change, there was very little. I know I thought about my route and where to turn next. I know I thought about the odds of catching certain green lights or needing to halt my progress at a red light. I know I thought about the distance and how far I still had to go. I tried to not think this very thought. I know I tried to tell myself to minimize looking at my watch to check the distance and my pace. I know I tried to relax myself on several occasions as my legs grew tired. I know I tried to tell myself to run by feel. I know I repeatedly said that my pace was irrelevant and that my overall time did not matter. I know I cursed a few times when my knees started to hurt less than halfway through the run.

Last year, when I was training for the Chicago Marathon, I had two 20-mile long runs that were not fun experiences. I was flat out miserable at times. In hindsight, I tried to run these long runs too fast and crashed before I know what hit me. Today, I focused on not worrying about my time or pace ... at least that is what I thought I kept telling myself. In fact, as my knees started to scream at me, I did something that I would never have thought to do last year, I told myself to stop and stretch, which I did on 9 different occasions during the run. It paid off. After each brief stretching session (about a minute or so), my knees returned to normal and I felt loose again -- I was able to start running without angst flowing through the body. I know I felt relieved after these short stops. I was able to enjoy the run ... the rain did not bother me ... my thoughts did not stop me; they propelled me as I made my final push to the 17 mile marker.