Welp, I officially set a new distance PR this week. I ran 46 miles in seven days. (Yes, the photo only shows me holding up 45, but without an extra finger, 46 wouldn’t work so I compromised.)
While that may seem like small potatoes to some marathoners, that is a MAJOR milestone for me.
Last year’s training cycle had me peak at 44 miles in a week. I still remember both crying and dancing in happiness that I was able to run so far.
And true to form, after I completed last week’s 46 miles, I had lots of emotions that all peaked after my Saturday long run. Before I get to the feeling of hitting a new PR, let me breakdown what ran through my head on those last 19 miles.
SPOILER ALERT: As much as I love to run, every mile ain’t all sunshine and rainbows friends!
The Ranging Thoughts of a 19-Mile Run
🏃🏻♀️ 1- 9: Covered these with my training group – solid efforts all around. Lots of chatter so no real internal thoughts.
🏃🏻♀️ 9-12: Grateful that one person from my group stuck it out longer with me (hell yeah Erin!!), which always helps the miles go by quicker.
“Oomph this headwind. It both feels refreshing, yet tough to push against.”
“Ugh, I’m sticky and hot.”
“Be grateful for the wind. It’ll cool you down”
🏃🏻♀️12-14: “Just run.”
*Music*
*dating woes enter the mix*
“Don’t worry about that now. Just keep going”
🏃🏻♀️14-17: “This hurts😩 I want to cry. I’m so hot. I’m over this….”
“Channing, you need nutrition. Negative thoughts = you’re hungry.”
I took a gel and kept going.
🏃🏻♀️17-19: “OMG I’m almost done. I got this 💪🏻”
And then my watch hit Mile 19. Cue the tears.
How It Feels to Push Further Than Before
No matter how many times I do these long runs, run marathons, push past my previous boundaries or how HARD it gets mentally, the impact of what I just did never gets old.
Every time I finish a 18+ mile run, I am always moved to tears (happy ones) out of sheer pride and awe that I CAN run that far. It’s hard, don’t get me wrong. My feet were ov-er it and I legit had to sit down three times on my walk home.
BUT, I did it.
And accomplishing something physically taxing was not always something I could do.
So I’ll take the tears. I’ll take the tired feet. I’ll take the breaks. Because even though it’s hard, I CAN do it and that physical and mental toughness has been a hard-fought battle. One I do not take for granted.
Next up: the first of 3 peak weeks of 50 miles!
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