Running keeps you humble. I was thinking about this today as I was out on a 16 miler that ended up being a 15.5 miler. (I had to talk myself into the last mile and a half too.) I have ran half marathons and recently a full marathon, I’ve been running for over 5 years, but every long run is still a surprise. I can have a completely amazing run or a horrible one. Sometimes I will have a couple of bad runs in a row and it’s very humbling. I love running, but on those super discouraging-want to quit-how much farther- bad long runs- I hate it. I know I can run 13 miles, but for some reason last weekend I felt like I couldn’t go on at mile 10. I wanted to quit. I didn’t care. It’s very frustrating when you know you should be able to do something, but your body doesn’t want to work with you.
It’s because I got cocky. I didn’t respect the distance. 10 miles used to be an amazing distance for me to aspire to, but I started training for a marathon and 10 miles didn’t seem as far. But it is. I am not “made to run“, so I need to make sure I am giving my body all the rest, recovery and proper fuel it needs to keep running.
Today I really slowed down over the course of my run. I could have kept up my pace a bit, but my head was telling me I couldn’t. I know it is super cliche, but it’s true – running is very psychological. When you are pounding the pavement with nothing but your thoughts to entertain you, those ideas in your head determine whether or not you will finish strong, or finish at all.
Running keeps you humble because it is all about you. I can’t blame my bad run on anyone else or on anything else. My opponent is me. If I quit it’s my fault and no one else’s.
In my lifetime I have ran hundreds of miles. I have gotten better. It has gotten easier. But I still have shitty runs. I still have goals I want to accomplish in running. I have not conquered running, but some days it conquers me. I run and I stay humble.
Eats –
Since I ate so much last night I was not hungry at all before my run. I did eat half this White Choc Mac Cliff bar though. Yes, I finally found them! It was really good and I don’t even like white chocolate OR macadamia nuts. Isn’t that funny? I wondered that out loud when I bought it and Ben said I wasted my money, but I did like the bar 🙂
When I came back from my run I wasn’t really hungry, but I did want something in my empty stomach. I made a yogurt bowl. It had vanilla Greek yogurt, half a naner & pineapple, cereals (2 kinds), dried cranberries and a few sesame almonds. 
This combo was amazing! I normally don’t like fruit in my food except for in yogurt. Isn’t that weird? I will eat 5 pounds of fruit a day, but I hate it in desserts and a few other dishes. Ha. Anyways, I loved it. This will definitely be another breakfast staple as it gets hotter in SoCal 🙂
I will be finishing off the last of this fruit pretty soon too…
Foodsthatfit – Thanks 🙂
Kilaz – I knew my fellow funners would get it.
Chandra – we had the same run yesterday. Let’s put it behind us and keep running!!!
OMG – I had the exact same problem on my 12 miler today. I wanted to quit at mile 10. I was sore, tired, hungry, etc… by 10.5 I was angry and stopped and walked. I even started thinking in my head “running and training just isn’t fun for me anymore.” But that’s a lie. I just let my head get the best of my run and it made it even worse. The last 2 miles were total hell for me… I hate long runs like that…
You put that so well – running DOES humble you. I’ll have weeks of great runs, then bouts of bad ones. And I feel upset that I want to quit. I think, “I’ve done this before! It should be easy.” We have to respect our bodies 🙂
Great job on your run! 15.5 miles is a huge accomplishment!