The route took us past the pier in Santa Monica and along the beach until we hit Speedway in Venice, all the way to the jetty and back. By the time we hit the beach path on the way back I was feeling pretty good. I was feeling so good that I couldn't believe I had almost run 11 miles. I decided that I may as well finish strong and I took off like a crazy person, left the group I was running with and ended up running with a pretty fast teammate for a while. I was flying and had that strange feeling you get after running for a while that your body is separate from you. It becomes like a machine that you have nothing to do with, all motion and rhythm happening on automatic while you hover above yourself, watching. Watching the whole time, thinking I couldn't believe how great I felt. Was I really improving this much? Did I have abilities beyond my wildest dreams? I started to count the intervals we had done so far and the numbers didn't add up. In a painful flash of sudden understanding I asked my teammate "How many miles do you think we've done so far?"
I knew the answer before he confirmed it. "Probably six or seven, because once we hit the pier it's a mile and a half to San Vicente and back." The machine broke, my stride felt clumsy and I began to slow down. I watched him run ahead of me as I struggled to keep moving. How could I be so foolish? I had just spent the last twenty minutes running like a demon and I had only been a little over halfway done! I still had at least three miles to go and I had run ahead of my teammates so I was on my own. It was a long and lonely middle.
But I finished! I ended up back with my pace group and they helped me to keep moving. Running is so much easier with company!
Lessons learned:
- Know your route before you run it
- Stick with the group
- If something seems too good to be true, it probably isn't
Wednesday: hill training
Thursday: 4 miles
Sunday: 11 miles
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