When you find yourself where you never thought you'd be

Then what?

My friends, I love you. This is a running story. A story of growth and self-challenge.

Two weeks ago I ran the Baltimore Charles Street 12-Miler, a race that starts on the north side of the city in Towson and runs the length of Charles Street, ending at the Under Armor Global Headquarters. I thought I knew hills. That race taught me that I do not know hills. I tripped near the end, recovered without falling, and finished the last miles at a walk. I have been declaring I never have to run that race again.

I’m not a fast runner. I came in just over the race pace (15 minutes/mile). But it was a race I’d deferred once already, and dammit, I was getting it done. So I did. It was beautiful, with zero traffic on Charles and most of the cars off the street as well, it was a wide open space to run up and down hills, slowly working my way to the Inner Harbor through universities and past monuments. Every intersection had police. They had closed the smaller streets. For the larger streets, they stopped traffic for us.

One of my favorite moments was watching two policewomen fearlessly stop traffic on Pratt Street…so the lone runner could go through (me. They stopped traffic for just me). I may have been slow, but I was running my race, and they were there to support me.

Thinking back on moments like that, maybe I could do that race again.

Yours truly, running into the city limits proper (that orange and black thing behind me is the city limits sign). credit to race photographer

This morning I got up early, dressed in the half-light of dawn, and met a friend at the trail to get some miles in. My friend is a cold-weather runner, and it was finally chilly enough for him to join me. He’s also a faster runner than I am, so he lets me set the pace—it’s a relaxed distance run for him. I have a half-marathon at the start of November, so I can’t let up on the training just yet. today’s goal was supposed to be 11 miles—I told him I would be happy with 9+

So we ran. I showed him my new favorite section of the trail—hillier, but less cross traffic and better shaded—and we caught up on life. I attempted to keep up conversation, which slowed my pace just a tad. And we ran. Did the first 6 miles (the new section of the trail for him), and marveled as how much energy we both still had. (He came to running after I did.) Did some runner’s math, and estimated when we would have to turn around in order to get back to the cars. Did the turnaround. Noted the slow hill where I hit the wall was coming up¹…and the wall wasn’t there. Got back to where the cars were…and felt okay. Checked my stats. It was my fastest run between 9-11 miles. And for the first time for a double digit run, I had not walked the last mile or so.

As I sit here, I’m still feeling fine. I have over 20K steps logged this morning, and I’m good. I don’t feel wiped out. I feel like I can keep doing things today instead of lie on the couch and nap. *boggle*

Who is this person?

This is a person who used to feel half-dead at the end of a 5K.

This is a person who has done two double-digit runs in two weeks, and is looking at continuing that trend through the start of November.

Last week I was thinking the November half-marathon, my first real 13.1 miles in a race, might be my last half-marathon. The training takes time, planning, energy, commitment.

That was last week. I am amazed at the person I am today.

I am a runner of longer distances, and I like it. I’d been toying with the one-and-done for a half, but do I want to do that? Or do I want to keep running the double digit races, and keep running long practice runs every other weekend?

I think only time will tell. In the meantime, I’ll keep preparing for this next race.

1. Runner’s wall: It’s a term for the mental block, the “I can’t do this”, the “this hill is going to kill me” that happens near the end of a challenging run. Pushing though a runner’s wall can be hard, but once you do, its amazing what you realize you can do.