I really wanted to post yesterday but I did my long run, almost 19 miles, and the only titles that were rambling around in my head were “Holy moley my legs hurt” and “Oy vey I can’t move.”  After some sleep and a little birthday cake at a toddler birthday party yesterday, I’m ok to sit upright long enough to type.  Ok, it’s not that bad.  I’m just a little achy.

I ran into my friend who is training for her first 1/2 marathon on the trail, she was set to do 7 miles yesterday.  I know that the fact that I was doing more than twice as many seemed a little overwhelming to her but it wasn’t that long ago when doing 7 seemed like that to me.  People who are newer to running or training for their first distance race can look at people who are routinely running marathons and think “that’s so far, I’ll never get to that point.”  But the truth is, we all start from a base of zero.  I didn’t just open my door one day and run 20 miles.  In fact when I first started running I would add in some walking.  I’d run 9 minutes and walk a minute, when training for my first marathon I always did a little walking during my long runs.

There’s no magic bullet in running, if you want to be able to run farther then you have to, well, run farther.  The easiest way to build your long run mileage is by adding 1-2 miles a week to your long run.  Going from a 5 mile run to a 10 mile run would be overwhelming physically and psychologically if you tried to make that jump at once.  But adding just one mile a week to your base of 5 miles builds your endurance gradually.  It’s easier to mentally adjust too, telling yourself it’s only ONE extra mile makes it seem much more do-able.  You get to the point too where everything’s relative. Once you do a 10k, a 5k seems like a piece of cake, when you finish a marathon you can knock off a half-marathon much easier.

Some people are better sprinters and doing long runs don’t seem worthwhile, but even if you’re not training for a longer race, there’s value to the long run.  Here’s a good Runner’s World article about the merits of long runs.  Even when I’m not training for a race I like to do a long run on Sundays, old habits die hard I guess.

Here’s an appropriately titled pick for your running mix, Run On.

A few years ago  I was visiting my friend who lives in Boston.  It happened to be when the Boston Marathon was being run and as luck would have it, she lived just a few blocks from part of the course.  We went to watch for a while and I happened to see Dick and Rick Hoyt run by.  I had heard of them before because they are well known in running and triathlon circles. They are a father and son team, dad Dick pushes Rick in his wheelchair when they race.  Not only do they finish marathons and Ironman triathlons but they sport pretty good times as well!  If you are not familiar with their story, go read it, it will most certainly inspire you on your next run.

Often though you don’t have to look far to find inspiration all around you.  This morning on my run I saw a mom pushing a triple jogger with triplets.  And she was running!  I know how tough it is to get one kid wrangled into a jogging stroller and push that thing so this was one amazing mom.  There’s plenty of inspiration all around me, my mom who has rheumatoid arthritis and had rotator cuff surgery is running again and ran almost every day last week.  My little brother stopped smoking (YIPPEEE) and stopped eating meat and started running and has lost over 20 pounds.  My friend Sandy is training for her first half marathon and building her mileage.  Each one of them is doing something that is challenging them and that’s one of the really cool things about running.  Even if you don’t race you can challenge and push yourself just by running faster or farther.  You’ll not only be doing something good for your body but you’ll be learning a lot about yourself.  Whether your run is easy or tough, either way you get a daily affirmation that you are strong and who doesn’t need that?

Here’s one of my favorite songs that inspires me, especially on the rainy days we’ve had this week.