The Road to Boston Continues

Today was Sunday Long Run (SLR) number three.

Yesterday we had a modest snow fall of about 2-3 inches in our area. It was the heavy wet stuff and left a coating of water that produced a glaze of ice on the roads over night. The MRC always has a SLR no matter the weather and we always have a good turn out. I usually do not let the weather deter me from my running, but this week I made alternate plans.

I did my SLR on the treadmill at the gym. Our treadmills have LCD TVs so you can watch the news. If you are smart and bring head phones you can also hear the news. I ended up looking at the news and eventually just shut the TV off.

Crazy Guy Hogging the Treadmill

I’m sure many people who walked by, or who ran next to me, thought I was crazy spending over two hours on the treadmill without a TV, iPod or iPhone stuck in my ear. How can you run two treadmill sessions in a row and not have entertainment?

As I ran I thought about this a few times. The only thing on the screen in front of me for most of two hours was my own reflection; from my shoulders down to my belly. How interesting could that be? Does this guy think he looks that good?

Most of the time I went to the place that many runners go to when they are on a long run or running by themselves: deep inside that bucket of neurons sitting on my shoulders. You can get lost in that bucket!

I always get a lot of good thinking done during a solo long run. You have the time to realize that a thought process is a dead end and that you need to think of another path or solution. Today was no different. As I mentioned the other day, I have a 14 item “to do” list. Two items are done, two are started and the rest are still on the list.

Running for two hours gave me time to think through some of the items on my list. I reevaluated what I thought would be solutions, thought of alternatives and thought of more things that need to be done.

The SLR

I managed to run 12.8 miles in 2 hours and 4 minutes. The treadmill only goes up to 60 minutes, so I had to shut the system down completely and re-start to get the 2nd half of my run in. The system automatically gives a 5 minute cool down period after 60 minutes. I cut these cool downs to 2 minutes each and then spent 10 minutes doing a good stretching routine when I was done running.

It’s definitely more fun to run with the crew outside. Since I am in training for a major marathon and have committed to an aggressive time, I need to stay focused on staying healthy. Last year I had two weeks where I did not run or ran less than 10 miles during my training for Baystate. My goal for Boston is to avoid injury and illness and not miss any weeks.

What ever it takes to get to Boylston Street at 3:45, I’m going to do it.

Run well my friends.

© 2014 anagelin