Someone asked me last week what I think about when you’re out on a long run. It actually stumped me.
Well some pretty deep thinking occurred on my 25 mile race I just finished (Kilkenney Ridge 25M) – the following is a compilation of some thinking done during this race and during training for it:
A few hours talking about what we want to do when we finish….warm/soft slippers…
Or how we’ll feel when we finish….awesome!
I had made a huge new music playlist I did not use at all
Sometimes I listen to ultrarunner podcasts or audiobooks (if not on a road)
What we want at the next aid station (potato chips, quesadillas…)
Other races run or future races
Personal history of husbands
These mosquitoes/flies are killing me! Did I just eat one?
OMG! Those are spider eyes reflecting off my headlamp – they are everywhere
Vacations
Chafing issues
Let me help this frog get out of the road
Beautiful or horrible landscaping or scenery
Where to pee
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 switch to left, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 counting uphills right to left feet (never look up ahead, just one foot in front of the other)
Mad at someone at work….then remembering to love everyone and feeling better
If I’m this tired now, how am I going to feel in another 15 miles (quickly squashed that train of thinking!)
I’m hungry….did I eat the last hour? Once you get past hour 3, they fly by
Need to take electrolytes
Need to drink more
Turn off that Garmin 180 metronome/no way we’re hiking that fast on this race!
Photo op! Don’t drop my phone in the lake….
Who cares about the spur trail to a view, carry on! We want to finish
How close am I to last place?
Pets
Once a run, call Kenny out of breath, sometimes crying, sometimes exuberant, sometimes saying I gotta go because it’s too tiring to hold the phone up…
Beautiful weather
Are there bears out here? Moose? What am I going to do if I run into one?
Is there a murderer in the woods (this is by my house in the dark)
Scared due to weather…am I going to get lost up here? If it rains, I’m never going to get down these rocks…
Am I on or off the course?
How the &%$& am I going to get up that rock? Please don’t have any scary ledges on this trail….
Just one more “Nashoba” to go (1000-2000′)….watching elevation gains as you go up
We’re almost half done (at about a third of the way)…
I am a badass motherfucker…
I am the trained!
I am lucky to be out here
I’m going to kill myself running downhill with abandon….hope I don’t fall
I know I should run this section but hard to get started…
I get mile alerts….that was slow! that was fast! Speed up…Need to stay consistent the entire time
I love my husband…