First, the good news: I completed my longest run to date this past Saturday. I ran 18 miles in 3 hours and 15 minutes, for a per-mile time of approximately 10:45.
Now, the bad news: I had to walk a little over a mile.
Others keep telling me that walking isn't that big of a deal and that I should be happy that I have 18 miles "in the bank". Yet, I can't escape a feeling of un-accomplishment. My last few runs had went so well that I was excited to test my body and push myself further than before. I'm not sure how some runners handle this feeling, but before the run I told myself that if I could run last week in X minutes then I should be able to do this run in Y. I mean it was only 2 extra miles. Sometimes, however, it's just not your day I guess.
Looking back on it now, a whole 2 days, 1 pub crawl, and 12 inches of snow later, I can see the successes of the run - no lasting injuries or pain outside the normal soreness, almost a neutral split in time between the first and second half of the run (pretty good considering the walking part), and I just ran 18 miles.
All in all, it's not as bad as I'm making it out to be. I've had worse runs before and I'm sure I'll have worse in the future. I was thinking of this as a setback but I realize that this is definitely not the way to look at it. I still have a month and a half to go before the marathon, and I'm still learning. I don't know what my perfect pace should be or if I need to eat better the day before or day after. I don't know my body will feel the day of, and I don't know if the crowd will give me the burst of energy and enthusiasm everyone says they get.
This is hard for someone like me to admit, but there's a lot of things I don't know. But that's kind of the fun in all of this. The not knowing is a challenge. I'm not sure what my body is fully capable of and trying to understand is exciting. It keeps me motivated. Between this, the patients, and the thrill of race day, I think my motivation level will remain high throughout the rest of training and beyond.
Monday, March 2, 2009
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First - please add my blog to your followers. www.borntorunandraise.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteNext and more importantly, there are going to be runs that are not what you want them to be. Lots of things will affect your runs but the three that will have more of a bearing than any are sleep (very underated), diet (the two days prior to a long run) and weather.
Zach - you are doing fantastic for a first timer and I imagine this will not be your last marathon experience. My first marathon was a 5:35 and I have now shaved well over an hour off that time - 9 marathons later.