Running Longer Distances

When I was a little kid growing up in the sixties (strange how so many of my articles start this way), I was super-scrawny and super-fast. I could out-sprint anyone. It wasn’t until I got into my mid-teens that my running skill began to fall behind others. Sadly, this was the very time that I could have actually gotten something useful from it (like high school athletic recognition and respect). I went out for track in my junior year and decided then that I would concentrate my efforts on distance running. This emphasis continued past high school, with me training by running several miles at a stretch. I never did get to the point of being what most people would call an “athlete”, but I did get to be a pretty doggone good runner anyway. And I discovered that running long distances can do something positive for one’s spirit.

Ever go to the beach and begin to wade out into the ocean? Often, the water gets deeper and deeper until you’re almost certain that you’ll have to soon turn back or else get completely immersed. And then, as you continue to wade out toward the sea, the water level begins to drop and before you know it, you’re standing knee-deep in water. Looking back to the shore, the people standing there are so far away that they look like ants. Now apply this analogy to running.

When I begin a long run, the first couple of miles are usually a struggle, with my body trying to adjust itself to this shocking activity. This is like the initial wading out into the ocean. At a certain point, though, I reach a “groove” and rhythm to my running and it begins to smoothen out, much like that sandbar I reach so far from the shore. But then, I keep running and the analogy fails. For in the ocean, the water begins to deepen again beyond the sandbar. However, with running, something commonly referred to as “second wind” kicks in and puts my mind and body in a completely different state. After about five or six miles, instead of feeling that I’m about to drop from exhaustion, I get the light (albeit not dizzy) feeling that I am “soaring” and could continue running like this from miles on end. This sensation is also called “runner’s high” by some. And is a big reason why so many seem to be “addicted” to running long distance. But if you have never “waded” that far from shore to experience it yourself, you wouldn’t really know what I’m talking about.

In this seemingly paradoxical state of mental/physical relaxation and bliss after running so many miles, I have in the past felt detached from the world in the sense that I was more an observer than a participant. That physical life itself was something completely independent from who I essentially was. Sure, I was bound to my body in time and space, but whatever I really was transcended it and would endure beyond its eventual demise.

When in this state, I have been completely “tuned in” to what was going on around me. So if a car looked as if it were about to plow into me or a vicious looking dog made its presence known, I would be completely aware and ready to properly react, if need be. But at the same time, I would feel freely in control of my thoughts and completely liberated from the stresses and anxieties normally plaguing me during everyday living. Freeing my imagination in the process as well.

I have to admit that, during my latest foray into running that I’ve been doing for the last two years, I have rarely reached this desired second wind/runner’s high state. But that’s because I have usually been running for too short of a distance. I think that getting it going past six miles should do the trick, though. I think it’s just about time for a little more “running spirituality”. And I have devised my own personal "dream course" (with plenty of hills) to do my distance running on. Today I just finished running 4.15 miles on it. I plan to gradually increase my distance to about 7-8 miles at a time. Others can have their five-kilometer races. I’m taking the “long road”!