the zen of distance running

I get this deep deep deep inner calm after distance running, very zen like. like those near-infinite percussions of bam bam bam bam of my feet on the earth and pavement totally jiggle the body, and when I'm done, all is quiet and well and still. Its also a kind of total body exhaustion unlike most other exercise / play I've done. And the farther I run, the longer that peace lasts. I'm currently 12+ hours out from my 2h45m run, and still feeling that ease and grace.

In most long runs, my skeleton is the limiting factor. I can basically breath deeply and even sing songs while running that 10, 12, 15 miles... I'd safely bet that my heartrate isn't even pushing past 100... which bothered me for a while, because I really like to push myself... but every time I pushed myself to faster paces, my knees and hips begin to scream and threaten to break / destabilize. And as I learned last year, it is imperative to listen to your body while doing distance running (or any activity for that matter :)

note to readers: last year I entered a bet that I couldn't run 10 miles... so to win, I ran, cold from the couch, two back-to-back 13 mile days. In the middle of the second run, I felt something like a knife go into the small of my back, but I just chose to ignore the pain and continued to run another 6 miles. Upon my return home, when I finally stopped running, I actually collapsed into the ground, and the full extent of the pain enveloped me. I literally crawled on the grass to the front door, crawled up the stairs, and laid in bed for the next 12 hours. It took me 2 full days until I could walk again, and another 60 days before I could even think about running again. So that was my lesson of Yes, mind can win over matter, however, there are prices to pay for exceeding the body's current training limits

So I keep going at my lazy pace, just knowing that first I'll get the musculo-skeletal endurance in place, and then I'll improve my speed.