I had a little trouble with energy earlier this past week, so getting past this weekend the way I did was wonderful. Having a lack of energy is enough to discourage you from thinking that it will ever get better. To date, the longest run I’ve had was nowhere near long enough. I had to run at least 20 miles to stay on track. The theory goes….if you can run 20 miles, you can complete a marathon. Sounds a little strange, but I’ll buy it. In my mind, leading up to this weekend, I resolved myself to accepting having to walk a good portion of the marathon next month. The mileage on foot just wasn’t there. As I started to run on Sunday, however, I realized it doesn’t matter if I walk. The goal is to complete the mileage before midnight. If someone thought any less of me because I walked, that’s their problem, not mine. If I walk, it’s because I’m tired, not because I’m not good enough or didn’t try hard enough. With that running through my head, I decided to just see how far I could go. My choice was to head toward the Art Museum in Philadelphia. I wanted to go a distance that would total 20 miles on a round trip without having the ability of taking a short cut on the way back. If I was 10 miles out, I still had to come 10 miles to get home. No matter what, I was going to cover the distance of 20 miles even if I had to crawl back.
I didn’t bring my GPS watch, so the temptation to keep looking at how fast or slow I was going was non-existent. I was lucky, it was such a beautiful day to be outside. At just past 12:30, I started running. I made it to the Art Museum, then turned around. There wasn’t even a thought in my head to stop as other joggers filled the path the whole way down and back up Kelly Drive. Once I got back into Manayunk, the distance home seemed so short and I still had loads of energy. Back down the dirt path and up to the trail I went, almost feeling like I was picking up speed toward the end. When I got to the paved path, it’s only 3.5 miles to home. I wasn’t thinking about the 16.5 that were in my recent past, only those in front of me. I knew the feeling of accomplishment would be great if only I could keep it up for another 30 minutes. I kept looking forward to new locations along the path that I used as goals and passed them with ease making me feel good. The next thing I know, I’m making my turn toward home. Just one more big hill, and I’d have made my 20 mile run complete…..
I ran up to the door, walked into the kitchen and got a big glass of water. As I downed it, I realized I just ran the whole 20 miles. As goofy as it sounds, I got a big smile on my face. I did it. I made the 20 mile goal to stay on track. I also realized I still had energy. The wind really did change direction!
This event is going to be tough! I can’t imagine how tough at the moment and maybe that’s good. One of the best parts about it is I’m past the nervous stage. I’m confident that I can swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run 26.2 miles…. doing it in one day however….. (post title)