Suffering Optional - 11.32 miles

11.32 miles (Garmin link)
1:31:39
8:05 pace

Went out with few expectations yesterday; Chris couldn't run, so I did not set a distance goal. Kept a comfortable pace, which was around 8:10 for most of the run. I'm thinking more and more about why the longer (>12 miles) distances are so daunting for me. I think it is largely a mental thing; a combination of performance anxiety and giving in to overthinking my physical state.

One thing that Huraki Murakami said in What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is, "Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional." It's not an original insight, but it can be very useful. When running for miles it is easy to let my mind get fixated on some aspect of discomfort until it is blown out of proportion. During this run, whenever I started thinking about fatigue or pain, I tried to stop myself and take a real, objective inventory of how I was feeling. When I do this, I am almost always surprised to find that I am actually feeling pretty fresh, wind is sustainable, discomfort is generally at a pretty low level.

I went out close to Hunting Park, the 5.75 mark - calculating that 11.15 would put me at 1,055 miles. I've noticed that I usually start to speed up, or at least increase my effort level past the sustainable point, for the last 3 or so miles. Tried to hold that back today, and concentrate maintaining good form instead. I suspect that I sometimes get sloppy trying to go all out the last few miles and cause extra wear and tear on my legs.