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For Once, Running Fast Didn’t Matter, And It Felt Liberating
Internalizing that I am a lot more than just a runner
Last week, I ran 80 miles. I did it running six days, twice in one day, with a morning run of 6.5 miles and an afternoon run of 11.5 miles. I ran 20.5 miles on my long run. The runs went pretty smoothly, and I didn’t go too hard on any of them, despite it being more time consuming than my previous mileage of 70 miles a week.
This may sound stupid, but there was one unanticipated consequence of this new push to run 80 miles every week: in my daily life, I was tired. I was exhausted. I needed more sleep, more food, more water. I am on my spring break from work now, but I still worked my day job in education and went to my law classes at night, so I was incredibly busy during this time.
This was another reminder of the collateral costs of being a runner. It’s not the actual runs that often bite, but it’s the impact on the rest of your life. The last time I went to happy hour with my colleagues and friends on a Friday was half a year ago. It wasn’t out of a desire to disavow drinking or the act of happy hour or not see my friends. Instead, I skipped out on all those happy hours because I had to run.
It’s not like I devoted my whole life to running, but I did start to orient a bit…
