M.O.R.E.: Loneliness of a LD Runner

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Loneliness of a LD Runner

I have the book "Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner" and I even tried reading it, but gave up because it was so boring. I suppose the book is a metaphor for what long distance running is like...boring and rather lonely when running by yourself. Even though I had my husband with me today on my run, it was still rather lonely because as Patty knows, the husbands don't talk much when running. I was determined to run 10 miles today because I will be missing next week's 14 mile run, but I also had it in the back of my head that if I was feeling okay, I would continue on and run more. My husband and I ran from our house down McBean to Newhall Ranch where we ran across the Bristol Farms shopping center to Grandview and into Bridgeport Elementary. From there, we connected to the Lowes trail and crossed the river behind the post office and headed towards South Fork. Once we got to South Fork, we stopped and refilled our water bottles and walked for about ten minutes. I wanted to try our walking/running strategy for the marathon and so we ran about 3.5 miles and then walked for 10 minutes. When we were running on the South Fork trail, my husband told me to scoot over more so he can run in the white line lane too. I pointed out to him that there was no one around so there was no need for us to cram into this little white lane. What is it about husbands and running in the white lanes? My husband stopped before the Wiley Bridge and I continued on to the end of the trail at Orchard Village where I turned around and met up with him again. On our way back we stopped at the South Fork water fountain and walked for 10 minutes again. This is when I started feeling the blister on my left pinkie toe and ran into Chris D. the first time. We continued back toward McBean and ran under the bridge to the bike trail side and ran to Heritage Park for a bathroom and water break. My husband stayed with me until Decoro when he turned off the trail and headed home for a 10 mile record for him. This was mile 11 for me and I was actually feeling "okay" energy-wise, but feeling a bit more pain in my feet. I continued up the trail to almost Copperhill where the last water fountain is and turn around at that point. As I was heading back down to Decoro, I ran into Chris D. again and she had this look of surprise like "what is she still doing out here?". Once I got to Decoro, I turned toward McBean and crossed the bridge, but I was still short 1/2 mile so I ran down McBean again for 1/4 mile and back up to my house to make it an even 14 miles. My overall pace was 11min/mi which included all the walking so that wasn't too bad. I have to say, this run didn't feel any worse than the 12 miles we did last week, in fact maybe a little easier because of the cooler weather and less hills, but there was certainly more pain. The bottom of my feet were feeling rather bad, not to mention the blister. I was also cramping up in my left forearm and my right groin. The worst part of the run was when I finally finished and stopped. My calves locked up and it was very painful just trying to stretch. Sorry this was so long, but like I said, husbands don't talk much on runs and I was running by myself for much of the run so there was a lot to share today. Now I am done with my 14 miler and can go away and play without any guilt.

2 comments:

Patty said...: WOW! great job, I don't think I could have done that much running by myself. After the difficulty of our 12 miler I have lost my enthusiasm for these long runs and am afraid they are all going to be torture. I am wondering if you are going to feel like running tomorrow morning, especially with a blister. Now the pressure is on C and I to complete that run next weekend (ugh!); August 2, 2009 at 3:04 PM
marathon mom said...: I took an epsome bath after my run because I was too tired to stand for a shower and actually dozed for a while in the tub, not sure how long. I am now able to walk without looking totally crippled. I have to be at CP tomorrow morning so I'll give it a try and see what happens. Right now, the thing that bothers me the most are the underside of my arms, which got quite raw from rubbing back and forth. It's interesting to see what starts to bother you after so many miles. As the book Once a Runner says, "the trial of miles, the miles of trials".; August 2, 2009 at 4:59 PM

Post a Comment

Favorite Trails

South Fork 3.1: Start from dirt parking lot on Magic Mtn Pkway and run to the loop at Wiley Bridge and return the same way.

Tesoro 3.25: Start in Albertson parking lot and take sidewalk/trail until it ends and then enter the water tower road to the top two towers where the ends. Return the same way.

Chesebrough 3.25/4.60: From Chesebrough Park, N. to Copperhill, So. on Bike Trail, turn around at Decoro, back up trail to power lines to bridge at park. Turn around at Heritage will give you 4.6 miles.

Chesebrough 3.5: Chesebrough Park down to McBean, south to Northpark Dr., the paseo trailhead. Take the paseo to Helmers and back. Very hilly.

Bridgeport 4.0: Fairly flat, run toward Lowes and under Bouquet bridge to RiverPark community until you reach the closed gates and return. For a hilly run, go north into Helmers and run up the paseo switchbacks into Northpark where the paseo ends and return the same way.

Chesebrough 4.0: N. to Copperhill to west side of river trail, run S. on Bike Trail past Decoro bridge, across Decoro to the east side of river trail, up back to power lines trail, back to park.

Chesebrough 4.0: From park down power line trail to Heritage Park and back same way.

Bridgeport 4.0: From School, cross McBean via bridge or street and head into industrial center on Ave. Scott Bridge and enter bike trail going south toward the train bridge. Turn around at train bridge and return same way or cross the bridge and head toward Peet's after crossing train bridge and back onto the Lowes Trail.

Heritage 4.0: From park, run up bike trail to Decoro, over McBean Bridge into Helmers, and into Bridgeport through lake trail back to park. Can be done in reverse. Moderately hilly.

Chesebrough 4.25: Chesebrough north to Copperhill, left to Albertson side of bike trail. Run south on trail to Decoro and cross over bridge and head north all the way to Copperhill on east side of river trail and back to the park the same way as started.

Cheese/Decoro/Helmers 4.25: From the park, down dirt trail to bike path, south to Decoro. Leave bike path at Decoro and cross paseo bridge at McBean. Stay on paseo up hill towards Helmers. Run up water tower trail once then continue on to switchbacks and paseos back to park.

Heritage/Bridgeport 3.3: Heritage Park south to McBean Bridge @ Panera. Cross and head toward Lowes bike trail and head east toward Bridgeport Park. Halfway mark is at park bathroom, head back by entering trail along the lake and back onto the bridge.

Lowes 4.25: Lowe's parking lot to McBean, cross the bridge and to South Fork. At Valencia Bridge, enter trail behind Hart Baseball diamonds. Continue on trail to Bouquet and across the bridge on the east side and back under the bridge again towards Lowes.

Peet's & Decoro 5.2: Peet's Coffee to train bridge path; to Decoro and across bridge; back down McBean side of bike trail back to Peete's.

Peet's & Wiley 6.0: Start at Peet's Coffee and head east toward South Fork trail and past the Wiley Bridge. Keep running another 200 yards to where the trail forks left and right. Turn back same way.

Peet's & Copperhill 6.0: From Peet's to bike trail heading north to Copperhill and back.

Albertson 7.0: From the Albertson parking lot on Copperhill, enter the westside bike trail and head south until the train bridge. Return the same way.

Peet's 8.5: Run to Copperhill on east side of river trail and return via train bridge on other side.

Lowes 10: Start in the Lowes parking lot. Enter the bike trail heading west. At McBean, cross the bridge and head east toward SouthFork trail. Continue on trail until you come to the Wiley bridge and head back the same way.

McBean 14: This route can be done from anywhere along the trail route. Starting from McDonald's across the post office, run to the end of the South Fork trail and return the same way, cross the McBean bridge and run on the Lowes trail until you hit Bridgeport Elementary and then cross Newhall Ranch via the bridge or street and run back towards McBean. Continue north on McBean until you hit Copperhill. At Copperhill, cross McBean and enter San Francisquito bike trail and run south on the trail until you are back at McDonalds.