a New Sensation

last night was another milestone. actually, it was eighteen milestones.

by far, the longest run yet.

on our previous outing (not the one in the last post, but just last week - remember, the snow really messed everything up, schedule-wise), scheduled for a 14 mile jaunt, i bailed out somewhere between 9 and 10 miles. remember those new shoes i got? i don't think they were entirely broken in yet. in a word, ouch.

so, to date, my longest run was around 12/13 miles.

I have two training partners - Meg and Rachel. Meg is fast. She's run four marathons, and doesn't understand the word quit. i aspire to that (and i'm getting there!). Rachel has run a half-marathon, but we're pretty close in terms of pace. an ideal running partner.

because Meg is significantly faster than Rachel and i, and carries a fancy little device that tells us how far we've gone, we arranged for her to leave a white ribbon at the 9-mile point, so we would know when to turn around without her needing to stand there until we caught up with her. as it turned out, we weren't too far behind her (by my standard, anyway) on the 'out' part of our out-and-back route. a very nice feeling.

and this run was characterized by nice feelings - i had my breath for the whole time, my legs were strong, my form was beginning to come together (i only caught myself slipping into my lazy stride a couple of times) - all in all, things were ticking over in a pretty efficient fashion.

AND, we ran 18 miles! 18! that's nuts!

the pain comes in the last three miles, i've discovered. we've been running the same route on our long runs, out and back on a country road that connects Leeds to the much smaller settlement of Otley. Otley is 11 miles away, and when we get there and run back, our training is pretty much finished. last night we were within 2 miles. i can't overstate how psychologically important that is to me - i can run to Otley! (which means i can run BACK - which means i can run a marathon!).

the pain of the last three miles is a mental thing. i think i get a bit bored, for starters (in spite of my sweet little ipod). then, i get a bit tired. and then, when certain landmarks appear, i start thinking of home, an ice pack, a glass of water, some food, my bed, a hot bath, a hug and some praise from Kaley, and so on.

(you'll note that i am most definitely NOT thinking about running anymore)

but that's a familiar sensation. the New Sensation?

nipple chafing.

there's no pain like it.

(tomorrow, an easy 10 miles - if yer reading this, Meg, can we try a different route? and next week, a long run of 20 miles, with my chest wrapped in duct tape, if need be)