This was a rough one, but I'm so glad I finished it. I ran my first 4 miles outdoors while the sun was still up. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish 9 miles in the 30+ minutes of remaining daylight (was a 4:00 mile pace really too much to ask?), so I ran the last 5 on my treadmill at home. I have to say, that transition is a pretty sucky one. Going from fresh air and sunshine to a dark, unfinished basement... it's actually a little depressing. Which might have something to do with why I had such a hard time convincing myself to run all 9 miles. Each mile seemed like an eternity and I frequently had to talk myself into continuing.
At mile 5 I thought 'heck with it, I'll just run tomorrow's 5 miles today and run 9 miles tomorrow'... I didn't have to worry about that nonsensical theory winning out... I knew there was no chance of that one happening.
At mile 6 I told myself I only needed to go 1 more... that 7 miles was close enough to 9... I could just call it a day. The good news was that, once I was within 2 miles of finishing, I knew I just needed to suck it up and run all 9. To be that close and not finish it just seemed plain stupid.
Let's hope that logic comes back to me on marathon day... maybe somewhere around mile 22. After all, if I've run 22 miles, I better not quit with only 4.2 to go. Maybe I'll start a list of the things I need to tell myself at each mile marker... just a few words to keep me going... just an idea.
When all was said and done, I averaged an 8:59 pace... not too shabby considering my state of mind. Let's hope this weekend's long run doesn't come with the same challenges... 18 miles of self-pep-talks might get a little old :)
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