Sunday, November 05, 2006
Twenty Miles On
I ran twenty miles this morning. This is significant for several reasons. First, I’d never run that far before. The last time I went that far under my own power I was working on a hiking merit badge. I got blisters and really tired. Today, I did no damage that I’ve noticed yet, six hours after I got back, so I guess I’ve trained better for this sport than I did for hiking when I was thirteen.
Second, I discovered that I was completely out of energy after eighteen miles, just like they say happens. Luckily there was an aid station right there, as there is one every two miles in our training club, and I slammed down about a pint of Gatorade™ thirst quencher, which put a whole bunch of sugar right where I needed it, and the last two miles were easy for the first time ever. I’ve been running that last mile, in particular, since June and it’s always been a tough one. Today I just ran two miles. I could have been starting out fresh. I’ve read about that phenomenon but never experienced it before. I liked it. And, that brings up significant thing three, namely, that I’m now pretty sure I can run a marathon. It’s just another lousy 10k after twenty miles. A 10k is easy. It was the best run I’d had in decades, and that’s the truth. Then there was a free massage afterwards, so I had to upgrade it to the best run I’ve ever done.
That second wind after hitting a wall is a really odd phenomenon, but common. I’m not sure how it works, except that maybe the two minutes it took to drink all that Gatorade let me legs catch up with the demand for sugars, or maybe it was the sugar catching up with demand. Whatever, it’s also true, according to those I’ve been running with lately, that once you’re past that eighteen mile bugaboo, it’s just a simple matter of running on to the end. I can believe that from the way I was feeling today. Also, the work I’ve done on form, mostly how to use my arms, has gained me a quarter minute per mile in overall pace. I’m still slow, but the scorpions came in quite a while after I did, and missed their massage. Hah!
Labels: Marathon
