4 weeks remaining, 65 miles and a mostly successful pursuit of escapism

This week was a pleasant change from the previous few in terms of feeling less pressure than those with long training runs at the end and also being able to switch off for larger parts of these than I usually can.

I started the week with a 7.5 mile run on Monday and managed to repeat this for the next 2 days. I was able to settle into the run for the majority of each of these outings.

Thursday morning was an aberration and I couldn’t get anywhere near comfortable for any part of the same 7.5 mile run. I had ran slightly faster than usual on Wednesday and my legs were heavy as well as my calves locking out with cramp.

I managed to do the 7.5 mile route twice on Friday. The first of these in the morning was the best I have found in ages. I had read some quotes about escapism on Thursday evening and came across one that seemed to have the desired effect.

I managed the evening run quite comfortably and enjoyed being out a bit later being able to finish while it was still light at 9pm.

Yesterday I finished the week with two laps of the 7.5 mile route followed by one of the 5.4 mile route. Because I had 45 miles in my legs from the running earlier in the week I found the second lap a bit harder but had virtually all of the both of the other laps where I wasn’t thinking about running.

I think it is because of the amount of miles covered and consistency of pace that this happens. The ability to let your mind wander is usually my main answer whenever people ask me what I am running from or what I think about when running. I have a strong feeling my ability to do this will help in just under 3 weeks in the race.

I tend to listen to music that has an escapist theme quite often, this may contribute to how I can use running to achieve a similar effect. Although there are several bands which have great, one I tend to use regularly are Paramore. This theme was possibly articulated best in their Brick by Boring Brick song lyrics below.

There is an element of object permanence (being aware something is there when you can’t see it) as well that I can remember being able to do this when the race is at it’s absolute toughest.