Foreside 16

I kicked myself out the door this morning and got on the roads for my 16 miler. It was warm and overcast, with no wind. Not to mention the roads were dry and there wasn't a lot of traffic. I couldn't have asked for more from a mid-February road run, honestly. I hit the roads around the high school and then headed out onto Foreside Road, doing a very similar loop to my last 16 miler. I kept the pacing a bit more even this time. The majority of the miles fell in the 8:30 to 8:45 range, with the fastest being 8:22, and only two miles at over 9:00 pace (mile 1 @9:01 and the slowest being 9:34 (the 15th mile, where my feet begged me to get off the pavement and I hit the powerlines for a stretch. In my road shoes without much tread. Slow going, but a nice change.)). I felt pretty good most of the way, although the neuroma on my left foot was acting up a bit. I have pads in my shoes that typically do a good job of keeping any neuroma pain at bay so I am not sure if it was the roads, or the slant of the roads, or what, but that left ball of my foot was aching by mile 11. I actually stopped and loosened the laces as much as I dared, which helped. Who knows? In any event, I'm happy to have gotten in a decent run, and extra happy that I had the chance to meet up with Ryan after the run for a delicious post-run lunch at Frontier. Warm peanut noodles and vegan blueberry crisp - YUM!

While I was out running, I had a lot of time to think about a question Jeff recently posed about running and racing, and were we really having "fun" while we raced? I've always thought "fun" is not a truly appropriate word to describe running or racing. There are many things in life that I need to do, either societally or to survive as a human being. I work because I need money to live. I clean the house, grocery shop, cook, clean, etc. I take care of Sam. I derive some pleasure from these things in a job well done, etc etc, but none of them, with the exception of taking care of/watching/playing with Sam, are really what I consider fun. They are just things that need to be done. But running. Well, no one is telling me I need to run. No one is pushing me out the door, unless you count a little TMR peer pressure, but that's another story. No one if telling me I must race. It is something I do for me. And therefore, it is called "fun."

This sort of questioning reminds me of  the question Ryan and I got often when people heard we had attempted a thru-hike. Was it fun? Hell, no! And hell, yes! How could hiking (almost) every day for 4 months/1500 miles be fun? There were tears of frustration and pain, there were bugs and poison ivy and rain and snow and sweaty, unwashed clothes. There was heat and cold and hard ground. There was pain and suffering. And yet, how could it not be fun? To be out hiking for 4 months, to be hiking through the change of seasons, to watch the wildflowers bloom as we hiked along, the watch the sun rise from the mountain tops, to find friends and kindred spirits along the way?

The same goes for running. It is hard. It is challenging. It hurts. Sometimes I get bored out there and wonder why the hell I do this to myself. But there is a beauty to it. To being out running as the sun rises. To watching a hawk float on the air currents above. To running along a babbling brook. To running through the snow. To running with friends and sharing in a common activity. There is quiet and solitude and peace. I can run and run and run and my mind will slowly empty. I can work through problems. I can reflect. There is pain and suffering. There is exhileration at what my body can do, at where my two feet can take me. There is a sanity that comes from an active body. There are moments where it all comes together, and I feel light and free and beautiful and strong. Racing too is part of the running experience. To toe the line with others. To compete and see how one stacks up. To push, to try, to fail, to succeed. To be a part of a shared suffering :-) Why do I run? Why do I race? Well, why the hell not? It sure beats sitting on the couch doing nothing!!