I used to hate running so bad. I was never an out-of-shape person but I just loathed it--I hated doing the mile once a year in high school, I hated doing sprints for sports conditioning, I even hated doing it when I tried it on my own: I figured that if it was that tedious and boring and painful, then it must be the ultimate form of exercise so if I could master it, then I was really in shape. After a while I realized that life is too short to do exercise you loathe, so I gave it up. Last year though, I got into pretty good shape for my wedding, thanks to working out 6 or 7 days a week, twice a week with a trainer. Even though I rediscovered the art of eating after the wedding (a practice I had temporarily given up), I thought it would be a shame to let my physical achievements go to waste, so I decided to set a goal for myself--I'd run a 5K.
Fortunately I have a personal trainer who is really into running and who taught me, largely, that I had been doing it wrong the whole time. Basically, that cute pony-style of trotting where you lift your legs up high and pump your arms is a bit waste of energy. Plus, she'd run with me and tell me about her girlfriend and let me complain about various aspects of my life and before I knew it two and a half miles had gone by, which was annoying because it put an end to that whole "I can't run more than a mile" excuse.
I ran the 5K earlier this year and it was easier than I thought it would be, and fun, to boot, even though I was freaking out the night before recalling the time I had to run the mile in high school in under ten minutes and basically wet myself at the end. "I could have gone farther than that," I thought to myself, so as a challenge the other week I jogged from my house to my parents' house (about four and a half miles) and then last night, in the ultimate showdown (so far), I did five miles on the treadmill.
While I was tired and sweaty and stinkier than I'd ever been when I was done, it wasn't the distance so much that was rough (although I was mildly worried that I was going to pass out). It was the time: a little under an hour. Even though I'd get occasional bursts of "I can do it! I'm doing it!" I'd also think "This is so boring. I can't believe I have 45 more minutes of this. I could be home right now. I want to quit."
So I accomplished it but instead of thinking about the next goal, all I could think about is how I'm never going to run a marathon, not that I ever especially wanted to. What do you think about for five or six hours while you're jogging and beating your body up? I need mental and physical breaks from just sitting around for that long a period of time in front of the computer. I truly want to know, but I don't want to hear it if the answer is something along the lines of "I focus on the strength of my body and give thanks to God the entire time that I am alive and able to do this" because that is not helpful nor entertaining. So if you run marathons or know someone who does, can you please fill me in--what goes on in your brain during those 26 and 7â„32 miles? Is there some sort of software where you can download movies directly into your brain and watch those while you run? Because maybe that would explain it.