Why I run long
I’ve been doing some longer runs lately. I don’t need to do them. Well, need to in the sense that I am training for a race and have to get miles in. I am doing them because I love to run. And the longer the run, the more I love it (usually, not always).
I run slow for my long runs. Pace is not important to me right now. I was thinking the other day about how I have a tendency to pack my schedule so full that I am constantly racing the clock to get from one thing to the next (a bad habit I am trying to stop). I don’t want all of my runs to be a race against the clock too! The only time I want to be concerned about is having a good time. Okay, and making it home when I tell Steven I will so he is not worried about me.
I am more excited by the fact that my body will let me run so far and so long, and feel so good, than about pace. And it also feels really freeing not to have a goal race on the calendar. I can run a stupid amount of miles one week, and not worry about how it will tire me. I can also run a really low amount of miles and not worry about sticking to my schedule. Maybe the less I am obliged to run, the more I do? Ha ha. Doubtful. I love a good training schedule too. But there is something nice about running until I feel like stopping (I wanted to keep going today!).
This isn’t coming out right (typical) but I am just trying to say that I am in a really good place with running right now. I’ve been running a lot of different places, with different people, and getting me away from the monotony of my neighborhood has been good for me. And today I got to do one of my favorite things on my long run – explore!
I love running in Gutternberg, IA, because you can run from my parent’s cabin to the downtown area, all around the city, and back, and it’s not a very long run. It’s really fun to see the city that way.
I always wanted to explore the city I live in that way, but thought I couldn’t, because there are more cars on the road, and I didn’t think it was safe. But today I was able to do that, with careful planning on when to run on trails, and when to run on low-speed limit streets. By the end, I had run on two trails, through two forest preserves, on many streets and through at least two towns! I really enjoyed the long slow run, and just wanted to share it.
Themocracy
Love the photos! I love running to discover new areas that way, too. One of my favorite runs was when I went to visit my sister in Minnesota and had to get in a 10-miler. I discovered so many cool places in a city I knew nothing about. I wish I had thought to take pictures like this, too!
Maybe next time you are there you will take some pics 🙂
Wow, what an awesome run! I am so happy that you are in such a great place with your running and are enjoying yourself so much – that is wonderful! And I agree that not being on a schedule, once you have gotten to the point where you really LOVE to run, is incredibly freeing.
This post makes me HAPPY! I will miss the hell out of you today – you have been spoiling me 🙂
I want to be where you are with running. Going out and running 21 miles, because you want to is amazing.
Wow a 21 miler!!! I like that you’re keeping things fresh week to week 🙂 and never thought of fig newtons as a snack, did they make your mouth really dry?
Back on NYE I accidentally ran about 22 miles, which was great. But it made me so sore the next few days, and that night my body started to retain a crazy amount of water where I think I put on at least 5 lbs of bloating in 24 hours. It was funny.
They don’t make my mouth dry! But I do drink water when I eat them. They keep me nice and full 🙂
I wonder why your body reacted that way! Had you not fueled enough before? I was just so hungry all day yesterday!
That’s awesome! I love that you’re running just for fun, not pace or training. It’s the best way to run. I wish we lived closer so we could run together. You’d be good for me to relax and just enjoy the run (and have fun talking as we do it!)!
PS – Thank you for the mother’s day card! You are SO sweet!!!
I wish we could run together too! I love running with my girlfriends 🙂
You are welcome 🙂
Wow – that’s impressive mileage! I love that you are running that because you CAN, not because you “have” to! The photos are wonderful – thank you for sharing.
I love how much you love the distance! It seems like you had so much fun just enjoying running!!!
This is so awesome and inspiring! If I wasn’t blowing a ton of snot out of my nose and coughing almost non-stop, this would inspire me to go out for a just-for-fun run today. Maybe I will anyway … no I should rest. But it’s so beautiful today.
I hope you feel better today!
I still feel blah but I did go out for a run yesterday! I’m thinking about going for a walk today.
I just wrote about doing training runs with my friend but not training for anything long. I only have my tri coming up and that is only a 5k… oh, and a 5 mile race next week, but I don’t think I need to run 10 mile training runs for a 5 mile race. 😉
And you reminded me I wanted to talk about baby geese in that post but forgot.
Have a fun 5K and 5 miler!
I have seen some really advanced training plans that have people doing 10 milers for 5Ks! But I think that is when you are focusing on speed and not finishing 🙂
Running is absolutely my favorite way to explore when I’m traveling. I see things in a totally different way when I’m running. I’m also loving longer runs now. Usually after a marathon I have no desire to run long for a long time, but this year it’s different. I’m even considering another marathon in the near future. But it’s nice to be guided my body instead of forcing my body to do something according to my schedule.
Ahh, you said it much more eloquently than I ever could! 🙂
To just go and bust out 21 miles is amazing! I really liked this post! I love that you are loving your runs and feel like your in a good place with your runs! Amazing things will happen when you feel great about your sport!
Looks like a really great long run. So cool you were able to explore your own area this time!
[…] was a guy wearing that stuff. I just want to be able to have more fun while running. I want to be like this girl. […]
[…] Learn to be in the moment more and focus less on the finish line. I realized after the race when I was talking to my fellow racers that I missed a lot of interesting sights. Like the young skateboarders stopping their skateboarding to gawk at the runners. Like the Starbucks we passed. Like the I did notice a runner at Mile 2 throw up her hands airplane style as we took the turn. I want to be more like that girl. She was having fun. I’m not going to win trophies at these events so I might was well have fun with it. I want to be like the girl wearing the purple knee highs and purple plaid kilt. Oh wait, that was a guy wearing that stuff. I just want to be able to have more fun while running. I want to be like this girl. […]
It looks like you found some really nice places to run on your journey. Your post sounds very similar to something I read once by Dean Karnazes where he said sometimes he just runs until he’s done. There is something very freeing about that.
Not really realted, but did you know Dean was giving a free speech last Thurs in Highland Park? I kind of wanted to go.
This weekend, I discovered that our regional trail has been connected to another branch since the last time I’d been to that end of it, so that’s nice. I’m not sure what the end-to-end distance of the full trail is now — I’m pretty sure they haven’t done the connection at the other end yet — but it’s certainly longer than I currently run (factoring out-and-back).
I’m coming to the end of my Bridge-to-10K training schedule with nothing further planned. Despite my comment last week about not enjoying running, I find I am happy about it. I think I was just coming off a particularly difficult run that day. My problem is that my schedule really isn’t compatible with more than about 75 minutes of running. Not sure what I’m going to do about that.
Do you want to make more time to run longer? 75 mins is a lot of running, especially if you run fast!
I’m not really sure. On one hand, having a goal is helpful. My swims are a fairly consistent routine, so perhaps I should just aim for the same thing with my runs.