Week 17/18 (of 20) -- Rain!

(Sept 22nd - Oct 5th, 2008)

After having completed our longest long run, we started to taper our mileage and intensity in preparation for the big race. This week, I only had to run 12 miles! (I had a lot fun telling people I was only running 12 miles. ;-) )

We went back to Sawyer Camp for this run, which is where I ran 8 miles in week 4 of training. Only this time it was raining... :-( But for those of you don't know yet, I've signed up to be a Mentor for TNT in winter season, and I'm going to train for a half-marathon (I thought another marathon would be a bit too much) in the Feb/Mar time frame (I know, I know, I must be crazy! I haven't even completed my marathon, yet, and I'm already signing up for another half!). In any case, winter in CA is designated as the "rainy season" and our runs continue as scheduled - rain or shine - so I figured that running this run in the rain was just good preparation for winter season! It turned out that it wasn't too bad. For the most part, it was kind of on again, off again rain, and usually just a heavy drizzle. At one point though when I was running in a particularly open area, the rain and the wind picked up and the rain was coming at us sideways, but that only last about 10 min or so. The rest wasn't too bad.

I did have to marvel at the idea that 14 weeks ago, I was only running 8 miles and that was the farthest I had ever run, ever! I really have come a long way! I've suffered a bit, I guess (Woodside, the end of Los Gatos Creek Trail), but in the end, it's worth it. Although I have a hard time telling whether I've improved physically, even now it still seems hard most of the time. I do see my times getting faster, though, and I regularly run 3-5 miles a couple times a week like it's no big deal, whereas before I started this program 6 miles was the most I'd ever done, and only twice in my life!

So, now I'm hoping that after a few more months of training with a group (through winter season), I'll be well on my way to making this a life long habit. I keep reading these articles in Runner's world that describe amazing accomplishments by seemingly ordinary people. One such person in last month's issue had started running in his mid-30s and was now nearly 70 and had done something like 50 marathons and about 20 ultra-marathons (which by the way, doesn't have a standard distance, it's anything longer than a marathon, which could be anywhere from 26.5 miles to 50-60 or even 100 miles!). In any case, the one comment from him that really struck me is that he said he didn't really like to run! I've heard this comment over and over again from top athletes. In an interview with one of the female long distance Olympic runners who was retiring (I can't remember who now), they asked her what she would miss about training. Her response: "Not much!" And I thought well, gee, I don't like running that much either! I mean, I do, but I really don't! I like the feeling of accomplishing something I've set my mind to do (like the marathon), but the actual act of running... well, that's not so fun, most of the time. Yet, I'll continue to do it... mostly because it does bring me a bit satisfaction, a feeling of accomplishment, and because, well, I just think it's good for me.