Two weekends in a row, I've run two ten mile runs. Both weekends I ran with someone (or someones) else on Saturday and alone on Sunday. The Saturday runs were at 7:54 and 8:02. The Sunday runs were in 7:56 and 7:52. All the runs were important. This weekend's runs brought me more of a sense of overall well-being than last weekend's.
That is not to say that I did not enjoy or gain from the runs last week. Running with a friend on Saturday and to see how I could do in ten by myself on Sunday was great. This weekend was even better as I previewed the race course for next weekend on Saturday with two friends (each of whom will play an important role in my summer training) and then ran another hilly north Baltimore course on Sunday. The latter was most excellent as I felt comfortable and ran it in the fastest pace of the four runs.
What does that get me besides a fast time? Well, first it gets me some of the mental readiness that I need. Part of the mental readiness is dealing with hills, and I feel one step closer to being ready for that after taking all the hills pretty strongly this morning--and following through after each one. Second, it lets me know that I can run a pretty good pace with my adjusted stride. Still working on perfecting the new stride but I am getting there. Third, it gives me the hope that I can do pretty well without making any small injuries and worse--that goes along with the new stride, too. Fourth, and finally, I have gotten better at determining what I need to eat after a run to get myself back to normal.
It is all good. I look forward to continuing to use my running to bring myself to a sense of overall well-being. I hope that others who exercise can also find that point at which this is what they feel.
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