Jonathan Lemon’s Unrealistic Running Quest, 5/17/17

I was fooling around with my Run Keeper app over the weekend and learned that you can enter goals into it, such as weight loss, distance running, or time goals. (I prefer the term Running Quest to Running Goal, but that’s neither here nor there.)

So of course I had to enter a running quest… no one likes the planning stage of something more than I do! Well, almost no one.

I entered a goal to break 2 hours for a half marathon, which is 13.1 miles. I’ve managed to break that wall before, but’s it’s been a couple of races. (I could blame my times on my brother, my running partner who doesn’t train for races. But it’s hard to run and throw someone under the bus at the same time.)

Running more races than one Half Marathon a year would probably help my pace as well, but I’m usually very busy on Sundays, what with sleeping in and everything.

Anyway, a 2-hour finishing time is a pace of about 9 minutes per mile, which is very doable with some focused training. And that’s the no fun part for me: turning plans into action. As an analytical person, I live in my head all most of the time. But actions don’t occur in the brain, no matter how much I try.

So I laced up shoes and went on training run #1 today, a standard 5-miler at an easy pace. Good thing, because I wasn’t feeling it today. But I finished it! And that’s enough to get me on a winning streak.

One last thought before I go eat an entire pizza and gallon of ice cream (I earned it, right?). If you’re a runner, you’ve probably had those days where running was effortless. Like you could go forever. And you know how maddening it can be when you do all the same things you did to get those perfect days but feel like garbage during a run.

There’s a reason why you might feel that way: you’re going through the same symptoms as drug withdrawal.

I’m not sure that thought helps in any way but the truth hurts sometimes. Like some runs.