Weeks #8-12

I've really been slacking on writing about my experiences here, but with school and other things going on it hasn't been easy.

The past month I've really increased my distance. I've run 15 miles three times now, 17 once, and I made an attempt today to run 20, but I just didn't have it in me. I'll try next Saturday to make it happen. I made it 12 miles somehow, and I was forcing myself to run every single mile after 5. All my experiences with 15+ miles have been different. Some runs I've felt awesome, while others I wanted to stop after a couple miles. On my 17 mile run, I cruised through the first 10 miles like it was a 5 mile run. I guess I was on a mission that day. Eventually I slowed down, but that was a fun/awful run. I couldn't walk up or down the stairs without bracing myself on the stairwell.

I think a valuable lesson for anyone, is know when to give up. Your body tells you a lot more than you think it does. I'm not happy that I couldn't finish my long run, but I'll live to run another day. My goal was not to run 20 miles on April 23, 2011, it is definitely to run the Cleveland Marathon on May 15, 2011. I've got time.

Also, I thought running a marathon would help me get into better shape, but there's a lot of grey area there. What a lot of people don't think about, is that you have to fuel your body to run long distance. It's true that I've gone out of 15-17 mile runs and burned between 2500 and 3000 calories, but it takes a lot of calories just to be able to run that far. It's a hard concept to get behind, as most people don't need to eat a lot in order to do most things in their lives.

I'm getting close. Run Jimmy, Run.