One Mile Down, Just Fifteen More to Go

Training for the marathon is going pretty well. This past Saturday we ran sixteen miles. This is the longest distance that I’ve ever run at once. The day was glorious. It was sunny and cool but not cold. There was no rain or snow (it's about time). There was nothing but a light wind, at least that’s what I like to call a wind that pushes me back in the opposite direction. In any case, the weather was much better than it was during the long run the week before so I was willing to overlook the slight breeze.

We started out strong. After one mile we had to stop at a corner to wait for traffic and I realized that we only had fifteen miles to go, yay! Well, I had to tell myself that it was only fifteen miles and what better time to do that than at the beginning of the run.

Fortunately, I was feeling strong and was running without any problems until I got to around mile thirteen. That’s when my feet started to hurt and I needed to take my mind away from the pain. It was also when I realized that my great idea of not listening to music while running might not work for a distance longer than 13.1 miles. I needed something to distract me, because chanting, “My feet don’t hurt. My feet don’t hurt…” one word per step did not turn out to be such a good idea. I always thought that listening to music while running took away from the experience of running. It made it harder to appreciate your surroundings, to talk to people as you run, to be aware of your form, and to pay attention to your pace. However, when my feet are hurting and I’m trying really hard not to quit, something to take my mind off the fact that I’m running starts to sound like a better idea (so much for the experience).

In all, I’d say it was a great run. I had my Forerunner GPS watch with me and the final distance ended up being 16.64 miles which meant that I burned 1825 calories in a single run. That just blows my mind. This weekend we’re only running ten miles. Call me crazy but after running sixteen miles running ten miles sounds like an easy run. I just hope it does turn out to be an easy run.