Mileage Monday

Lora recently texted me: "If heartache was a physical pain I could take it."

Running converts emotional pain into functional energy. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there is more emotional pain at the start line of an ultra endurance event than at the alter of a church. We keep trying to convert it over, pushing the pain through the emotional/physical barrier, but no matter how much pain we put ourselves through, we merely sweat blood. All that the physical pain does is temporarily distract us from the heartache. It gives our hearts a rest and sometimes that's all we need to keep breathing, to keep moving forward.

I'm not really in a lot of pain. Running ultras doesn't demand a history of abuse or neglect; it simply calls forth the sensitive souls, the empaths, the ones who carry too much of everyone else's shit in their own suitcases. I've often tugged at my hair and wailed, "I just don't want to feeeeeel so much anymore!!!" And then what do I do? I run it out. Or, at least I try. All I know is that I feel a whole lot better after a run than I do after four crown and cokes. Both result in a bit of nausea, sweating and chaffing, but nevertheless, the run just works better for me.

Here's my weekly mileage: 60 big ones.

Monday: A slothy 7 miles on the treadmill during Callum's morning nap. I tried to watch a movie but it was stupid. Ah well, got 'er done.

Tuesday: No school today, so I left the big kids in charge and took off for 8 miles while Callum slept. It was freeeeezing, and the wind was relentless. My mom came over later and I joined Andrew for 6 miles of his 21 mile training run. He did really well, especially considering the wind and cold.

Wednesday: 5 miles on the therapymill while the chubby kid napped.

Thursday: I watched the first half of the movie "Almost Famous" while doing 10 miles on the treadmill. LOVE that movie. Love love love love.

Friday: I started watching the rest of the movie on the treadmill but then Andrew came home to do some work and print things off so I decided to cut my run short (5 miles) and have lunch with him. And then I scored some free time later on and decided to finish my day with 8 miles outside in the freezing but beautiful temps. I even paused to watch the sun go down.

Saturday: 5 miles on the treadmill, keeping an eye on the MOST DISGUSTING SPIDER IN THE UNIVERSE.

Sorry Jen!!!

Sunday: 6 miles on the treadmill. The spider is gone. Please baby Jesus let it be not in the house.

I'm dying to run another marathon, but I can't until the C man is weaned from the boobies. Until then, I'm going to keep hammering out as many miles as possible. My dream is to take my current PR of 3:10 to a sub-3 hour marathon. We'll see.