The Long Run That Felt Like a Human Game of Pong

Well that was interesting! After last week's snowstorm, I knew that the amount of runnable roads would be limited. Throughout the week, I began mentally preparing for whatever our group would be able to come up with for a place for our long run. How long was on the schedule, you ask? 18 miles! Yep. Not cool.

We typically run all our long runs on the W&OD Trail as a combination of out and back or double out and back, but it was just not runnable, especially for 18 miles. Luckily enough, there was some scouting going on behind the scenes to find something else. The end result was a stretch of neighborhood roads of approximately 1-1.5 miles long each way. So, while certainly not the greatest type of way to run 18 miles it, it would be better than doing it on a treadmill or even a track (if one had actually been cleared off). So doing the math, that means I'd be pinging and ponging back and forth from one end to the other somewhere between 7-8 times! Oh yea, and it was nonstop hills. Beggars can't be choosers!

I'm happy to say that the run was completed, and done in a respectable time. In order to play mental games, I made each lap slightly longer or shorter, so as not to run the exact same lap each time. Sometimes I did 2 miles in an out and back lap, while other times it was closer to 3 miles. I ended up with about 2:20 of solid running the whole time.

One thing is for sure - I feel very mentally strong after this run. This week is a slight recovery week, but with another big run coming the week after, let's hope the weather improves and we can find some different roads. Oh what's that? There's another major storm coming? Crap! One can dream...