That Which We Persist in Doing Becomes Easier

That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do. Not that the nature of the thing itself has changed but our power to do it is increased. **Ralph Waldo Emerson**

Our Saturday long run was a mixed bag this week. I got a flu shot on Friday so I was worried that it would slow me down, and my running buddy was a few days away from her final divorce hearing so she was pretty stressed out. Fortunately the weather was good. When my buddy called me that morning to double check our time and meeting place, she remarked that it was uncanny how the weather can be horrible all week, but as soon as it is time for our long run, the clouds part, the sun comes out, and the thermometer shoots up 15 degrees! That is a bit of an exaggeration, but we have been very fortunate for the three long runs we have done together.
We ran the flight line again, opting to start along the water where the wind is ferocious. Although it was the best decision in the long run, it made it really tough to get the ball rolling. The run itself was pretty uninspiring. The planes weren’t taking off, and my Garmin was ticking off miles that were so slow we could have walked them faster. One of our miles took us more than 14 minutes, and the rest were pretty darn close.
Since we were going to be running for well over an hour, we decided to take water and power gels. Gels have sure improved in the last couple of years, the vanilla and caramel that we had on hand were a nice diversion when we hit the hour mark. We plodded on after our treat and finally finished 7 miles after 1 hour and 34 minutes.
After stopping at the restrooms and downing ½ liter water bottles, my running buddy started dialing the phone. She had three people she couldn’t wait to call to tell them she had run 7 miles. Each time she put it on speaker and I heard all their surprise, praise and encouragement. She was absolutely beaming with the biggest smile I had seen on her in quite a while. It really reminded me why we were out there, to lift our spirits, take us away from the stresses in our lives, and have an hour and a half of uninterrupted girl talk.
It is amazing to me how each run has not seemed longer than the last. By the end of our first 5 mile run, we felt just as good and just as tired as we did at the end of our 7 mile run. Frankly, I think the first time I ran 3 miles as a beginning runner was much harder. I hope this means that we are adding miles sensibly and that the 13 miles of race day will be equally comfortable; I guess we will find out…