One Day at a Time
It's been nearly a year that I've been able to run consistently, without major injuries. Times have been steadily decreasing, and the runs have been getting longer. Somewhere in this upward momentum, I decided to give the Honolulu Marathon another go (I did my first and only in 2008 and had to walk the last few miles due to calf cramps). I'm still laying base training miles down, and I think I've gotten comfortable, maybe even a little lazy, just running junk miles. Relatively low pain and lots of time to zone out. But soon it'll be time to up the mileage, the pain, and the tempo.
Just yesterday, Christian and I headed out to run Ford Island with the Runner's HI gang. We ended up running alone, but that allowed me to run nearly 8 miles at a pretty good pace. My iPod sensor said 8:57 min/mile, but it felt faster so I dunno. With a couple miles to go, I remarked, "I don't know how I'm going to do 26 miles!" As usual, Christian reassured me that we'd put in a lot more training in time. In truth, I had these very same thoughts before I ran my first marathon. It's just been so long that I can barely remember the time when a 10-mile run felt short.
As in other areas of life, I tend to get a bit ahead of myself in running, so I just have to remember what my Mom always told me when I'd start to overwhelm myself: "Just take it one day at a time."
Just yesterday, Christian and I headed out to run Ford Island with the Runner's HI gang. We ended up running alone, but that allowed me to run nearly 8 miles at a pretty good pace. My iPod sensor said 8:57 min/mile, but it felt faster so I dunno. With a couple miles to go, I remarked, "I don't know how I'm going to do 26 miles!" As usual, Christian reassured me that we'd put in a lot more training in time. In truth, I had these very same thoughts before I ran my first marathon. It's just been so long that I can barely remember the time when a 10-mile run felt short.
As in other areas of life, I tend to get a bit ahead of myself in running, so I just have to remember what my Mom always told me when I'd start to overwhelm myself: "Just take it one day at a time."
