Member-only story
What I Learned From Running 100 Miles This Week
I’ve never run for fun. And that’s something I’m trying to change.
I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with the sport of running. I have a growth mindset about most things in my life — in running, it’s a bit more fixed: if it’s not a personal best time, it’s a failure.
Recently, I’ve tried to let go of super high expectations of myself. I had a marathon I prepared half a year for that was not a good race. My goal was to, at least, run a personal best in the marathon that was faster than my 2:39 time.
However, I ended up blowing up, having to go to the bathroom mid-race, and running 2:53. It’s not like I had to walk at any point, but I did feel like dropping out because it was going so poorly and because it felt like I was going to die for almost two consecutive hours.
But, as anyone who runs a marathon knows, dropping out of a marathon is incredibly inconvenient because you don’t have a good way to get back to the finish with all your personal items.
I really don’t like making excuses for myself, but I’ve had a lot going on lately. Working a full-time job in the school system in special education and being in law school at night has led to me only having two hours of free time before 9 p.m. some days.
