Phidippides The Stud Muffin

I ran 70 minutes on the treadmill today. I went to Woods Fitness and found my favorite treadmill (the quiet one) and ran the longest run I've done all year. And I got 20 miles in for the week. That might not sound like anything to a long distance runner but 20 miles in a week is nothing to sniff at. That's four runs of five miles, or five runs of four miles or, as I do it, a mix of sprints, hill repeats, short tempo runs and my very important Sunday long run. But it is not, under any circumstances sitting on the couch eating Bon Bons. I also weighed myself after the run in my sweaty running clothes and weighed in at 181 pounds. That is the lowest I've shown on that scale since I've been going to the center.

I listened to a podcast as I always do while I ran. It was unusual to say the least. The podcast is called the100mile Endurance podcast and the voice of the pod was having a meltdown. He had DNF'd a couple of one hundred mile races this year and just completed a disappointing marathon and he was ranting about giving it all up! I mean the podcast, the racing.....everything. I listened and took heart in it. If a guy that devoted and talented could get to the point of depression like that and recover from it, it made me feel that my times of "is it all worth it" weren't that unusual. I can't wait to see if he is back on his podcast next week. I bet he is.

I felt good today. I found a good pace albeit a slow one. I got into a rhythm of running fast for four minutes and walking one minute while I toweled off and took some water. I have no intention of making this my strategy but today it worked. And the time flew by and I felt fresher and stronger after 70 minutes than I had on some of my hour long runs. I firmly believe that as you see yourself, so shall you feel and perform. And today, for 70 minutes. I was Phidippides The Stud Muffin. See you tomorrow.