And now begins the mental aspect of the training; the days that lead me on runs longer than 13 miles. The onset of pain, the boredom, the weather, the same music you listen to over and over again...these are all issues that can come up while running for a number of hours. It can be very easy to want to stop and quit while in the middle of a 16 or 17 mile run because frustrations want to take over.
I went for my first 14 mile run on Friday. I went very slow as my legs were still in recovery from the half-marathon just a week before. I didn't mind going that slow as you should take these long runs at a pace you'd be able to keep a conversation at. You aren't supposed to go all out but instead give your body a chance to get familiar with the distance and time on the road.
The run went pretty well up until the last mile or so. My feet started killing me and every other step shot immense pain into my toes and balls of my feet. Nothing else was hurting, not my shin or my hamstring or my knee, but just my feet. Thankfully this was at the end of my run so it didn't last too long. Now who in their right mind would wanna go back out and run that distance, or any other distance again with pain in the feet, an integral part of the whole running thing??? I took the last few days off and went back at it today for my scheduled 3 mile run, on the treadmill and felt fine.
This weekend is the Steep Ravine 7-miler at Stinson Beach. Although only a 7 mile run this run will probably test me mentally more than any other race I've ran. The first 4.5 miles climb up 1800 feet and then the last three are all downhill. I've never ran more than a couple of miles uphill and I have no idea what elevation that was. Oh and have I mentioned I hate hills??? This is going to be a tough uphill battle but in the long run I think it will benefit me. And I know I'm supposed to listen to my limits and I will, but what doesn't kill me just makes me stronger and stronger legs is what I'm going to need to do well in the Big Sur Marathon.
So if you're in the area and you wanna watch me the race starts at 8:00!
Good Luck
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