Running For the Feel of It

Amy and I have office cubicles a few feet away from each other, post on the same blog site, but we typically don't know what the other is going to write about…not until we read it right here like everyone else.  So imagine my surprise and delight at her post Why We Run.  And rather than leave her a rambling comment, I'm posting about it again.

I run for the pleasure of running.  But there’s still a little gauge operating inside me comparing today's run with past runs.  The gauge factors in the distance, intensity, weather, my energy, mood, health—monitoring how today's run feels different compared to other runs.

Sort of like squeezing the Charmin—I run to experience what each run feels like.

Over my years of running, I’ve intimately courted every distance, storing a warehouse of runs to compare with my next run.   When I run easy, I compare it to other easy runs.  When I have a hard tempo run, I assess it against past tempo runs like it.  Sometimes the stopwatch helps measure a run, but mostly perceived effort and feel are the ways to size up my runs.

I'm not in search of the grand feeling from one of Runners' World's picturesque Rave Runs, and I don't run hoping to float along free from discomfort.  Instead, my runs have countless details to compare.  One day's easy street incline can feel like scaling Everest the next day.  Last week's butt-dragging distance can be easily doubled today with seemingly less effort.  After a restless night's sleep, I expect a grim zombie run, but my legs reward me with a cushy, country club run.  That's what I run for.

I continue to run marathons to see what it feels like, to enjoy the early miles and to see if I can better manage the fatigue until later than in past marathons.  Those early miles are pretty predictable, but it’s the later stages—at mile 10, halfway, 15, 18, 21, 23 and so on that have my curiosity.  I run wondering how I will feel at certain points, comparing them to how I’ve felt at those same landmarks during past marathons.

Despite the appearance of sameness and repetition, I try to find something good in each run.  Otherwise, I wouldn’t run again day after day, year after year.  The point isn't to match or trump the feeling of past runs.  Instead, I run eternally hopeful that each run will eek out a slightly new feeling.

Watching runners like Pre looks painful and makes me wonder if other runners hope to achieve that intensity.  Veteran marathoner Elizabeth talks about a puking runner leaving it all on the race course.  That's not the feeling I'm going for. 

I'm not alone.  Da Big Leap is running the full marathon distance in his training—twice— to get ready for his first marathon.  He takes courting the feel of the distance to a new level.

And Lia writes about running a short 13 miles this past weekend as she tapers for next Sunday’s marathon.  No doubt she’s hoping to feel 13-mile-fresh at the end of 26 miles!   You also gotta love her URL—http://smileatmile20.blogspot.com

I've never had two identical runs and don't expect I ever will.  On tap for me tomorrow is an easy five-mile run.  I'll run it to discover what it feels like.

Charmin on Flickr by Roadside Pictures

Road runner on Flickr by Ironmaikl

Comments

[Amy]

Tom,
Art and I were talking about this just last night as we ran in HELL - 92' with 78% humidity - and wondered if all runners enjoyed everyrun. The answer is of course 'no', but we sure enjoyed the accomplishment when we were done.

[david]

Despite the appearance of sameness and repetition, I try to find something good in each run.

I tend to run the same routes varying them as to the length of the run. I find comfort in the sameness. As the events of the day keep things in constant change, it is good to know where the mile markers are.

[Bill Carter]

Tom

Like you, I'm not really searching for that "holy grail" of runs. For whatever reason, running is some sort of internal measuring stick that I use as I move through my running time. I'm kind of new to this having only run for 4 and a half years and I'm wondering if down the road I will mellow out a litle bit.....or will I be that guy who pushed so hard that he got burned out and turned to shuffleboard for his daily workout. I just don't know. But thank you again for your thought provoking post. People like you and Amy and many others have really given me pause to think about running and what it means to my life.

Bill

[Bob]

My favorites are those days when you just feel like sitting around and eating a whole gallon of ice cream, but instead you lace up the shoes and are rewarded with a fantastic run that you never saw coming.

[Nitmos]

Speaking of managing fatigue until later in each marathon, mile 18 has always been the point at which things start going downhill mentally and physically for me. I've been working towards edging that up. Can I stave off the drop until mile 20? How about 21? It's coming but how far out can I push it?

[Andria]

In your last post you wrote about what we think about when we run. I was thinking about that post this morning when I was running and I was thinking about how today's run compared to my last run on the same route and how it felt different from my long run. It is fun to think about how each run is different and compare it with past runs and then to future ones.

[Elizabeth]

Thanks for the mention, Tom - I hope to NEVER be the puking person at the end of the race. :-) I'm looking for a really good run w/ an honest, well-trained-for effort - and sometimes I think the race is just a bonus you get on top of the satisfaction of putting in the miles during training season...

[DawnB]

wow someone else who runs like me!!! :)

[Tom]

Running does produce a feeling that's enjoyable and unique.

Bill, I don't see you settling for shuffleboard anytime soon, not with your quality of running.

Bob, Those runs we never saw coming are exactly what tugs me out the door.

Nitmos, I'm glad I'm not the only one who things "stave off"

Elizabeth, you might have said it best in one word: "Bonus."

Thanks everyone, for sharing your thoughts.

[david]

I love how we all run for different reasons ... yet in the end, they all make sense and we all have something in common. we do it because we can. :)