Every step counts

D - Tuesday: Ran 5 miles in 47:27

      Wednesday: Ran 5 miles in 46 minutes
This week's runs were a bit tough. I'm pulling in 9+ minute miles but feeling like i'm working harder than I should. It might be the 5:15 alarm that's screwing with my pace, or it might be that i've gotten out of the habit of a pre-run snack. Either way, I could use some motivation. Yesterday, before I returned the book to the library, I went back through Racing the Antelope for some interesting quotes to share.

C at the Boston Public Library

Ben writing about what his college coach, Coach Styrna, told him. "What he learned in track and field he needed for everything in life. For example, you don't get anywhere by magic, but only by putting in the required number of steps, one at a time, and in correct sequence. ... There is a truth, a beauty, and a symmetry in this that is inviolate. Every step counts."

"Runners are rational. They have to be. Although driven by dreams, they learn uncompromisingly to confront facts, and they do not get misled too far by wishful thinking." 

"In a one day race between a horse and a camel over a 176 kilometer course, the horse won, but just barely, since the horse died the next day and the camel kept going." 

"We are a different sort of predator. We can't outsprint most prey. We are psychologically evolved to pursue long-range goals, because through millions of years that is what we on average had to do in order to eat." 

"If running had been a constant in our lives throughout evolutionary history, it may now be required as a supplement for optimum health." 

"This experiment of one will be, in the parlance of science, an anecdote. Nevertheless, it isstill an experiment because I've been guided by logic derived from a vast body of experimental work on animals, and backed up by my own experiences toward acieving a specific outcome, and I have the satisfaction of knowing that I've done all I thought I could do."

Hopefully I'll dig deep and find some inspiration, because I am very excited about this weekends long run. We are supposed to do 13, but I might scale it back to 12 for convenience. Last night I did some research on places to run in CT. I found a park called Penwood that has a 3 mile trail accross it. So, our run will be a 4x3 miles. Considering there are two lookout points, I don't think this will be an easy run.