The Wall and the Drugs

Miles Run Today: 7.0   Miles for the week: 16
Days until Burlington: 219

Today's run was the furthest I've run in 2011. When I made my resolution to not run a race over 7 miles, all my training came down with it (which was the point). Even when my training program for the BAA 10K called for 7 or 8 milers...I mustered maybe a 6 miler.

These 7 miles have been looming on my training calendar for a while (I was originally slated to do 9 - I'm no where close to that right now). I've come to realize that everything over 6 miles is a mental block for me. Because it seems so much more...serious....somehow.

A six-miler is something I can bang out in about an hour. While 7 miles is only about 10ish minutes more, it's almost like the gateway drug to long, slow, distance runs. Because after 7 comes 8. And after 8 miles, 10 miles is just a inevitable formality at that point. Ten miles means you are a DISTANCE RUNNER, at least in my mind (especially since it's just under 2 hours of running for me). So, I've been sputtering at 6. Once I get over 6, my run at Burlington (no pun intended) is real. Then I am really in a build stage for a training stage.

There are still seeds of doubt scattered throughout me when I think about marathoning again. Will I burn out and have another lackluster time? Will this time finally be the time my IT band gives out, and sidelines me for a couple months? Will I puss out when it starts to snow? The conquering of the 7 miler for me is the first strep towards manning up and taking on my fears and this 26.2 head on.

To help, I tried my first spin class this morning. Forty-five minutes later, I'm hooked. I felt like I was triathlon training again (in a good way - without the swimming). It's going to be a great addition to my training - because it puts me in "the zone". Every now and then when I'm exercising, while I look like I've just gotten out of the shower because I'm soaked with sweat, and my muscles are burning just enough so I know I'm real, I go into my zen-like state and feel like I could like...flip over a car or something. It only comes out in runs for me now when I'm racing (or realize I'm killing my pace). But this morning, probably 2 or 3 times, I reached that euphoria.

I felt ready to climb the wall of the 7 miler.

Luckily, it's also 60 degrees in Boston today. In late November. This is unheard of. I just hope it doesn't mean I'm doing my peak run in May in the snow.

Running is my drug.