Ode to the Long Run
Don’t worry! I’m not going to write poetry- that would be horrible. But I do want to give some love to my favorite aspect of running, the long run. In my last post I talked about the Running Rogue podcast, “Church of the Long Run.” While it was filled with practical information, I was a little disappointed that he didn’t talk about the mental, emotional, and, well… spiritual side of long runs (since the word “church” was in the title, after all.) I was definitely glad to hear about all the physical benefits of long runs, but for me it’s also the emotional highlight of my week. I promised not to write poetry, but I am going to quote the beginning of a poem called “Aristotle” by Billy Collins. “This is the beginning. Almost anything can happen.” … That’s how I feel at the beginning of every single long run. It’s not like a shorter run, where you can categorize it simply- it was a good run, a bad run, you felt light, your legs were heavy… for a long run you might feel all of those things in the course of the run. You might get lost, or fall down, or see some wildlife… I love to look down the road or trail before I start and think “almost anything can happen.” My long runs have gotten much more adventurous since I discovered a nearby trail. Up until a year ago I would have said there were no running trails near me. No, there are NO TRAILS… other than this gigantic 100 kilometer trail literally within RUNNING DISTANCE OF MY HOUSE. In my defense, I only lived here for sixteen years before discovering it. Ha ha… seriously, in my defense, it wasn’t until last year that an access point to this trail suddenly appeared. One day I was running along and I saw a new path, which I decided to explore, and in a very roundabout fashion it took me to the trail. In December of 2020, someone set an FKT (fastest known time) for this 100k loop, of 9 hours and 45 minutes. I’m not up to that quite yet, but I have been waiting until my long run is long enough to run from one access point to the next. The only problem is, getting home afterwards… or getting someone to drop me off at the farther access point… muahahaha. When my husband asked me what I want for Mother’s Day, I told him just one thing- for him to get up at 6 am and drive me fourteen miles away to the trail access. Yes, some people have breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day, or get a massage. All I want is to be dumped off at dawn on a trail, to make my way back home, alone. I CAN’T WAIT!!! I have my hydration vest, my gels, and my Squirrel’s Nut Butter. I’ll be all set for this fun adventure. It will be epic! I hope… you never know. Almost anything can happen. Do you love long runs? Would you rather do a race or a long run? – i thought about doing a race on Sunday, but didn’t want to miss my long run.