Time consumption. Its a real thing. I'm not talking about time wasting, that's a real thing too, and I can be an absolute professional time waster. But lately, time consumption has been my issue.
I have something of a set routine. Wait, scratch that. I can easily settle into a routine. It doesn't bother me so much at all. In fact, I don't even know that I notice is so much until it's disrupted. But there is something that seems to be consuming a huge portion of my time: Running.
When I decided to take on the challenge of running 100 miles at one shot, I was filled with a mixture of excitement, nervousness, determination, and whatever else might come of such an undertaking. But the reality is I had no idea what to expect. I still don't really know what to expect from the race itself. My longest distance on the pavement, as of this date, is 26 miles. Adding 74 to that is nearly incomprehensible. It would be like to trying to describe in words, and painting a clear picture, how far it is from the earth to the moon, which happens to be 238,900 miles. Can anyone really comprehend what that means? No. They can't. A person can walk out at night and see the moon in the night sky, but to really understand how far away it is, that's a different thing altogether.
Does this visual help? Probably not. How about the fact that the average distance between the earth and moon is great enough to fit all the planets of our solar system in between.
Still, even with visual it feels rather incomprehensible. Sadly, I realize this visual is under the idea that Pluto is not actually a planet. I was raised on the idea it IS (not was). So while technically I'm presenting good intel here, I dispute it. Anyway, moving on.....
And thus it is with running 100 miles. I don't know what to expect. I can already imagine a fair amount of the various emotions which will course through me throughout the race. Excitement. Tiredness. Hunger. Pain. Determination. These are not uncommon emotions. What I can't quite comprehend is the mental break which will come. I don't know how it will affect me. I don't know how I will react. Will I just shrug it off? Will I crumble into the fetal position? Will I cry like a little baby? I'm guessing the truth lies somewhere in the middle of all this. As I said, at this point I can only imagine. On the plus side of this part, I have a great coach, and support, and she drives me to be better and better. She makes the unknowns of this process seem insignificant next to the thrill of completion and the
There is a lot of this whole journey that can only be imagined until I experience each piece of it, which is where I am at right now. I have two different parts of this that have come to full reality, and dive into each for a bit and hopefully keep this particular post at the "Not too long" status and still get the point across.
1.This is taking up a lot of my free time.
1.This is taking up a lot of my free time.
There is a significant difference between just running because you want to, and running because you want to AND you have a training schedule. I have committed myself to an immense undertaking. And when I decided to do this, I had no actual idea what kind of time commitment was going to be involved here. Free time for me typically comes about the 2300 hours range, and about that time I'm really thinking about bedtime, and not much else, aside from wondering where my day went. There isn't a lot more to say about this. It is absolutely going to be time consuming. I accept this. I was even quasi-prepared for this. I simply didn't fully understand it.
2. From last night's run of 18 miles, long runs from here on will be 20 or longer.
I feel like this one will have more actual impact than the idea of time consumption. And again, coming into this realization is somewhat humbling (I'm not entirely sure this is the word I'm looking for here, but I think it gets the idea across). A while ago I quit comparing myself to other people. Thank you Social Media for your many wonder, and not so much for setting up competition (even if that isn't the goal). We can delve into the my love/hate relationship with Social Media at a later date. At any rate, I love to go out and run. And I love the short runs and I love the long runs. Each has their own perks, and each has their own qualities when it comes to feelings of accomplishment. But with the completion of last night's run, the short runs are getting longer, and the long runs are getting monumental. 18 miles. That was the distance last night. It wasn't a bad run, but doesn't anywhere near qualify as an epic run. But it was plenty good. But it felt long. Overly so. For one thing, the armory loop is extremely repetitive. And for another, its a lonely loop. Actual race day will be different. There will be people. And lots of them at all times. I'm aware of this, and looking forward to it. I typically do not mind making a run by myself, almost all of my running is solo. But lap after lap, after lap after lap, the solo factor weighs on you. I'm torturing myself quite a bit on this loop on purpose. Its a perfect mental preparation for race day. But 18 miles, regardless of where, is still 18 miles. As people are becoming more and more aware of what I am doing, they are always asking how far I ran this weekend. And often, no matter what the distance, the reactions are similar. "Wow." "I can't even imagine running that far" "You ran for 3 and half hours???" I can comprehend these things because I am doing them. But the realization of just how much mileage I'll be putting on is now officially something I understand. 20 miles. From here to Fortuna. Its and easy drive. Not so much a run. 26 miles. Its marathon distance. Some people don't believe they could ever run that far, and others who do spend a year or more getting ready to do so. 30 miles. As far as definitions go, this is already Ultra Marathon distance. These are training runs. And nothing more. When I finished the Redding Marathon I took about a month and a half off. After all, I had earned it (I felt). Now, I'm looking at longer runs, and no time off aside from a recovery day. And its back to the pavement. And now, even the short runs are longer. An hour or more. No more easy ones. No more pussyfooting around. This is all business. And my legs are already tired.
So, as we can see, I'm truly beginning to understand. I'm starting to get it. Let's not take this for any sort of second thoughts or wavering determination. I'm all in.
Or, as a person might say, I'm completely on board (and this on numerous levels).
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