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!
Sometimes (usually if it is a long run) I think back to the time I started the run and I think something along the lines of "Holy sh:t that was a long time ago! How am I still doing this?"
No, but most of my friends and family are amazed.
Yes, and I haven't even done any marathon training or long runs near 20! It's even cooler if you run out in cornfields and can see landmarks that are 5, 6, 7 miles away where you started.
Yes, I like looking back and realizing I just ran (for instance) 16 miles, for 1:45, through 4-5 towns, and I have typically finish feeling pretty decent.
I still remember before freshman year of HS, getting a summer letter from the coach saying by mid-season we'd be running up to 8 miles at a time and that blew my mind. Then I did just that in the 2nd week of practice because another guy and I just kept adding on. I was so proud of myself. Now 8 miles is just an ordinary training run, and I guess that in and of itself is an accomplishment.
As far as other people go, I rarely get into how far I've run recently. Hearing about how someone can "get tired just driving that far", gets pretty old.
What I like is passing through a distant part of town on a run. A part of town that, if one were driving to, one would think of it as a big trip that one needed to plan for. I don't drive thirty minutes across town very often, and when I do, I feel like I've gone a long way. But my long runs often carry me to areas that would involve a trip like that to reach in a car, and bring me home again without my legs ever stopping. I feel good when I think about that.
I didn't when I was running everyday. But now that it's been three months since I've actually ran, I feel like I couldn't run 21 miles in a row ever again at sub 7 pace.
not since ultra running really took off and started hearing people talk about their 100 milers. I do remember freaking out on my first point-to-point marathon. Getting on the bus and driving for what seemed like an entire hour and realizing I was going to be running back.
Yeah, it's amazing. But running fast is even more fun.
I consider fast to be the speed where if you run into someone, you might kill them. Dangerous fast.
Now that my "long" runs peak at about 10 miles, I look back in wonder at my marathoning days where 12-15 miles was nothing, and 20-22 miles wasn't unusual for me.
I'm never amazed at the distance of my runs, but I am amazed at how I can crank out 20 6 minute miles in a row. I crank out fast distance runs all the time and I AM AMAZED AT HOW AMAZING I AM.
When I *could* run, and my easy day was 45 minutes, I remember being impressed with that--"holy crap, I run 45 minutes straight on my day off!"
Today is the 40th anniversary of my first week of running, in 1972, or about 60,000 miles (many of them hard)ago. Haven't run today but tomorrow I'll probably do an easy eight with some hill repeats and striders. It' all amazing to me, still.
at the NYC marathon last year, i was pretty blown away by idea that i ran from staten island to the bronx at sub-6 minute pace, then ran back down manhattan. The farthest i had run averaging sub 6 was maybe 12 miles in practice and 2 half marathons.
I often remember that even when I feel like I'm totally slogging on a run, the average human being still couldn't keep up that pace for a mile if their life depended on it
There's a typo in your post. It should read fast not far. No one cares about distance here.
We were Born to Run.
I'm always amazed by the little mental gyration required at the beginning of a two-hour out-and-back run. If I thought about that fact that I'm going to be moving like that for two hours, I'd never start. But I remind myself that I like the processional quality of the run--the notching of each mile, the pause at 5 miles to get some cached water and check my average pace and HR, and the pause again at my turnaround point (variously 6 1/2, 7, and 7 1/2). The return leg is entirely different than the out leg. Sometimes I'm tireless, pushing hard and feeling great, then holding pace through the end. In the summer, it's often more of a true endurance run. A huge feeling satisfaction when I crest over and down the final small hill and pull up short, then walk back to the car. Nobody just watching me would have the slighest idea of how much satisfaction I'm feeling--regardless of whether I'm wiped out or just exhilarated and tired.
But I'm always amazed by how easily the mind is willing to retreat from 15 back to 10 miles, so that, when I'm not training well, 10 miles seems like a really long run. But when I'm running those 15s every Sunday, 10 is just a solid midweek run.
The mind is a party to all this.
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.
0/10
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!
Yes. Also, while not as easy to measure, the same principle of consistent dedication applies to nearly every aspect of life: school, career, dating, friends, being a good person...you name it.