The Anatomy Of A Difficult Run & The Will To Prepare

 The alarm went off, as usual, at 6 am.   Typically, I'm already awake.  Often, I'm already up.  Today it woke me.  It happens.  I wasn't alarmed.  I normally don't feel like heading right out the door.  I like to take some time to wake up.   Today, my usual routine didn't take me to my that feeling of 'alright I'm ready, let's go' that I am accustomed to.    Nevertheless, I headed out the door.

There was no pep.  Okay, I thought, it's going to be one of those days that takes a while to get warmed up.  Not a chance.   I just couldn't get away from the feeling of 'I'm tired'.   Thoughts of turning around early crossed my mind.  It's easy to find a reason to quit.  I kept telling myself to hang in there.  This, too, will pass.  It did but it was a struggle.

The many thousands of miles I've run paid dividends.  I actually did feel a bit better for a few miles after my turnaround, thanks to a cool breeze.  I managed to finish all 13.5 miles.  It took me about 20 minutes longer than usual.   I was thoroughly wasted.   But I survived.

I'm thinking that it helped me prepare mentally for the end of the upcoming marathon.  I'm going to be pretty wasted during the last few miles.  Proper preparation is essential.   Paul 'Bear' Bryant said it well: "It's not the will to win that matters...everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters."