Milestones

Saturday, September 13, was my longest run ever at 10 miles. We met before dawn down by the River. It was already 85 degrees and 95% humidity BEFORE sunrise. And, my left brain was telling me, "you should have stayed in bed".

Soon after we started, our course took us up and over the 1st of 2 bridges on that day’s run. This bridge is a tough one. It is quite steep, resulting in a hard uphill run and a tendency to run the downhill too fast. This bridge and I have met before. I have burned out by running the downhill side too fast on more than one occasion. So this time I stayed back in the middle of the group so I would have others between me and a reckless run. That strategy worked.

After the bridge, our run took us through one of the nicer, older neighborhoods by the river. As we started through the neighborhood, at about 1.8 miles, I had my first, "I can't do this" moment. I realized we had over 8 miles left to go, and it just felt impossible. I talked myself out of that by remembering I had just run 8 miles the previous Saturday. And, I kept going.

Miles 2 - 6 were fine. The good thing about running in a group is that people talk. The talking is a welcome distraction from ... well ... running. That morning the talk was mostly about home improvement. There is an unspoken rule that any political discussion is forbidden. For that, I am extremely grateful. But, despite the friendly banter, at about mile 7, I started to feel tired. And I got my 2nd, "stop running" message from the annoying part of my brain. I fought through it to mile 8.

Then, at mile 8 I hit a wall and the base of the 2nd bridge all at the same time. I still don't know how I made it over that bridge. My calf muscles were screaming all the way up; my quads were yelling on the way down. From that point on, I was running on will-power alone. But, I did it. The whole 10 miles.

And, coming up this Saturday, September 27, will be a 12–mile run. A new milestone.