Anyone amazed by how far they can run?

Currently I'm amazed by how far I can't run (did 22 two weeks ago and ever since, every run has been a struggle). But sometimes I am impressed when I think about the times I've felt good and run to another city and back, or knocked out two hours of trail running at a decent clip, or had one of those runs where I see a hill in the distance and go run to the top of it, then at the top look around for somewhere higher than me and go run to the top of that hill. When I have 4 or 5 runs like that a week, I feel pretty damn good about myself.

Yeah I have this thought every one in a while. "Holy shit, I've RUNNING for the last 70 MINUTES! Just RUNNING, the whole goddamn time!"

To answer the subject question, yes. Finished up 18 this morn at a decent clip, now sipping on delicious cold beer to replenish. Sense of satisfaction: through the roof.

On runs like this morning, I often think of myself as Krang from the TMNT. It's like my brain, my whole being, is just residing in this mound of flesh... and just looking out through two windows, enjoying the ride.

I have run 100 miles and that didn't amaze me. But I always look back on marathons with amazement -- I ran that far that fast? How did that happen? It's a cool feeling.

555werun wrote:

when my parents used to take me to prospect park as a kid, my dad would do a loop around the park. at the time, it seemed like such a long way to go, ~3.3 miles! for me now 3 loops are a piece of cake. do any of you consider how far you're running and how it is possible for the human body to take it? suddenly, the world doesn't look so big anymore!

I remember freshman year our coach would take us to this 10 mile road and it was hilly as hell at 3,000 ft alt. I would run it in just over an hour... started out with a 70 or so.. Then made it to like a 64 by the end of the year.

Senior year I was running that in 55 min or so. Or we would go run it for 2 hours and make it 18 or 19 miles. We would joke about how much stronger we had gotten and how weak we used to be.

Now being out of the game for 2 years and living a "Normal" life... I am amazed when I can do an 8 miler at 7:30 lol. That used to be the easy recovery run towards the end of my stay in college.

And for all of you guys... Reading "Again to Carthage" doesn't make sense until you are done running. Once you live a normal life and look back at doing 20x200 in 27 or running 6xmile repeats at 4:40 was amazing. But while in college you think.. "Crap that should of been 4:35 miles...

Don't take for granted waking up and your job being running and class. Real world hits and you realize what you actually did. Sure you never won a title or got a sponsorship. But you did something that took years to build and don't understand it until it is all over.

I am 58 now. At my best, thirty years ago, I was a modest 2:44 marathon runner who regularly trained 80-85 miles per week. At the time, I rarely thought about it. Most of the guys I knew were better runners than I was, and I only thought about getting better.

I think about it a lot more now that I can't do it, and I think that's as it should be. It's not so much a matter of pride; it's something different. I am so happy I did it; humbled, really; so glad for having had the experience and being able to recall what it was like to be able to do that. In my late twenties, I lived in Portland, Ore., for four years, and I regularly took a 20 mile run from the downtown area far up into the hills west of the city. In the first three miles, ascenting a long hill, I'd often go from drizzle, through a bank of clouds, into brilliant sunshine. I remember that now: that feeling of fitness, being able to climb that hill that was three miles long to start the run, and feeling like I had gont through three different weather situations. My life is far richer for having had that experience,and I say that with humility. I don't feel like I did anything great. It's more a feeling of having been in on a secret only a few of us know, a secret we can't possibly share with anyone who hasn't done it. .

what i find more amazing is how lazy i can be about other things, even running related. a few weeks ago, i came downstairs with socks and my brand new running shoes so i could talk to my wife while i put them on. the socks i grabbed were hers by mistake, so they didn't really fit my foot. Instead of going back upstairs, i said "ah what the hell i'll just wear these" for my 8 miler. well, shocker, since they didn't reach the part where the top of the shoe rubbed the top of my heel i wore out a pretty nice section of skin there.

please somebody else tell me i'm not alone in doing stuff this stupid

That was a great read, Mr. O'Donnell, thanks for posting.

Yes, I am, however there are many people that run much farther when it comes down to it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaih%C5%8Dgy%C5%8D

http://www.lehigh.edu/~dmd1/holly.html

http://www.vagabondish.com/running-cultures/

The running monks of Japan put in crazy miles with virtually no food or sleep.

Also, during the holocaust, prisoners that were skin and bones would have to run to other camps, some more than 60 miles away, at night. If they fell off pace they were killed.

It't the kids who amaze me!

I was at a high school cross country meet yesterday. The JV races, boys and girls, had all these little kids, just over four feet tall, running 5 K. And some of the small girls were up front.

It is remarkable to see their determination as they run along at this distance most of them probably didn't even imagine not long ago.

I'm impressed more by getting into a race (usually mile/steeple/5k for me) and the pace for a good portion of the race is effortless when that same pace is practice was tough for 400m..

This summer I hiked 1300 miles of the Appalachian Trail and when I would look over some of the mountain ranges I was going thru I would think "holy crap thats a lot" but then taking it one mile at a time you realize how resilient the human body is and that most people can do much more than they think they can . I met multiple people in their 60's and 70's on the trail. It just baffles me how many people hear about hiking that far or the fact that I do a 2 hour long run and say "I get tired driving that long ha ha ha". Just try doing something and you just might surprise yourself people!

Nah, just frustrated that I can't do better - and that's ALWAYS been the case. I've competed from 100 meters up to 135 miles (and from high school to now 56 years old) and every one of my personal bests was followed by how can I improve on that. I think the most satisfied I've ever been was with a 10 mile 4000' climb/ 4000' drop hill repeat workout which I did in 1:59:57. Now - post heart attack, post bypass - I'm most frustrated with my long runs. But not amazed. I still think that if I get my sh*t together, I ought to be able to run 50 miles.

Covering a recent half marathon course on a bike surprised me how far it seemed to run that far.

rusty roadrunner wrote:

what i find more amazing is how lazy i can be about other things, even running related. a few weeks ago, i came downstairs with socks and my brand new running shoes so i could talk to my wife while i put them on. the socks i grabbed were hers by mistake, so they didn't really fit my foot. Instead of going back upstairs, i said "ah what the hell i'll just wear these" for my 8 miler. well, shocker, since they didn't reach the part where the top of the shoe rubbed the top of my heel i wore out a pretty nice section of skin there.

please somebody else tell me i'm not alone in doing stuff this stupid

I often find the harder I am training the lazier I become. I don't even want to go to the bathroom because it requires getting off the couch. I also walk extraordinarily slow, I feel like if you have the energy to walk fast you should be exercising more.

I am more amazed by progression to be honest. I love browsing Athlinks and looking at my "rivals" to see how far some of them have come. One guy that comes to mind is a 23-minute 5K guy to cut his time down to 16-minutes. I think about all hours that he must have spent running himself into the ground to get that fast...and he is really just an average guy.

The human body continues to amaze...

Just Saturday I was in a town where I started running. It's a family vacation spot, so I used to run this 6-mile hilly route regularly until I moved farther away. I still run it when I'm in the area. It just occurred to me Saturday that I first ran this route 30 years ago! I don't time it much anymore, but I remembered the summer that I ran my "route PR", and many of the good runs and bad runs I've had on that route. I have a 12-mile route in that area too, and when I drive it it seems awfully far!

kudzurunner wrote:

Am I the only one who finds it almost impossible to run 15 miles in a series of repeat loops in a park? I ran 15 once around a 1.4 mile park loop, and it was the worst mental grind I can remember. Horrible! I think it cuts back to our primal origins as endurance predators. Our souls know that it's just make-work, nothing that will culminate in a kill. The long out-and-back runs, though.......there's always hope.

Interesting. I often run loops and loops (I've done 20 milers off a .8 mile loops) in the winter when it is dark and icy. I don't love it, but it is better than the treadmill. THAT is something that I just cannot do. But interesting point about hunters. Have to say, my dog will not do a loop. She just won't. It has to be and out and back, or at least a run to somewhere, where I'll do a few loops while she sits in the grass until we go run home.