Excuse the stolen title from Murakami, but the inspiration for this post came to me while I was midway running across the Thames river at 10pm (albeit my 10km night runs cannot compare to his 60km).
I am your average regular runner- New Balance shoes, thick sports shorts, iPhone strapped to my arm with headphones in my ears, white Adidas windbreaker, low resting pulse rate, under-pronator, average pacer of 11km/hr. What fascinates me about running is this- that the way in which I approach long distance running is somewhat similar to the way I face challenges and life in general.
1km in: This is easy. Keep it at this pace and this will be a breeze. I'm glad I came out for this run- take my mind off the workload, get a bit of workout at the same time. Life is great. Wow, London has a beautiful view at night. Who said running was hard. In fact, maybe switch it up a notch, alternate my runs with sprints and increase my pace.
The '1kms' are like the bank holidays, the summer breaks, the rare weekends where there is nothing planned. The times where I can afford to let days pass me by as I immerse in a good book. These are the days when life is so good that I might even try to look for more challenging things to do throughout the day.
2km in: Most people will not have a problem reaching this stage. This is not too bad. I am not as fit as I used to be but I will make it through. The 2kms aren't particularly challenging and they usually fly by without me realising it.
3km in: This is the 'self discovery stage'. Where I've settled in to the run but have yet to find a rhythm or a stride. I find myself experimenting with different speeds and trying to widen my strides at the same time expelling more energy than necessary in doing so.
4km in: If you run in a group, chances are, this is when the group starts to split into a few clusters. Some press on without a problem, a few start to slow down. In fact, this is probably one of the few stretches where the temptation to stop running and to take a walk is the greatest. This is where the test of endurance kicks in. Get over this hurdle and things will be significantly easier.
I like to think the 4th km are the Monday mornings, requires so much more effort to get out of bed with so little in return (the rest of the week). However, if I can jump out of bed on a Monday morning, I'm set for the rest of the week.
5km in: Halfway there! This is not so bad. It can't be. I'm already halfway through the run, might as well complete it. These are the Wednesdays, the midweek. The weekends are too far away to look forward to and there is no choice but to keep pressing on. This is the point where it becomes more of an obligation to keep moving than anything else.
6km in: The 6th km usually flies by. There isn't anything special about this stretch but if I had to label this, I would say it is 'the constant'. This is the stretch that just passes by without me noticing it. Once I find my rhythm, it is then a matter of taking each km as I go along. It isn't that I no longer get tired but it is the point where my feet feel like they are on autopilot. This is when I start to think about things like, 'what am I going to do when I get home? What work needs to get done? Should I sleep earlier tonight? Is that a blister on my foot that's starting to form? What should I blog about?' (in fact, the idea for this post came somewhere along this stretch).
These are the days where nothing special happens. The mundane days where you are so stuck in a routine and so used to the workload that the days just pass by without you noticing it.
7km in: The 7th km is a transition from the more rhythmic and relaxed stage to the slightly more fatigue and stressful stage. The 7th km is the struggle to get back to that familiar rhythm but at the same time feeling that exhaustion setting in. This is where I start to motivate myself to keep going and this is where the real test really starts. It is also the stage where the urge to stop to take a walk starts to hit hard. But if you're a runner, you know full well that the minute you stop to take a walk, all the effort to get into that stride and that rhythm is gone. The knowledge of that is usually what keeps me going.
8km in: This is where the fatigue starts to hit. I like to call this stage 'the Abuse'. This is where I question my decisions in life. This is by far, the most negative stage where I decide I will not do this run ever again. This is where I start scolding myself for putting myself in such a position.
These are the most stressful of days- the days where you feel lost and drowned by this whirlwind that you call life. Personally, these are the days where I am so busy trying to get out of the forest that I often miss out on the beauty of the trees.
However, despite these being the darkest days, it also brings out the more submissive side of me. This is the stretch where I start to find strength from elsewhere- where I tell God I can't do it anymore and that I will draw strength from Him. This stretch is the constant reminder that I can never achieve anything by my own strength. This is the stage that deflates all ego.
9km in: The penultimate stretch is a tricky one and I think different people approach the 9kms in different ways. This the point where I am not near enough to see the end point, but I know it is fast approaching. I'm tired, short of breath, and probably more overwhelming, is the fact that there is water at the end of the run. These are the Thursdays. So near yet so far. Wanting the weekend to come sooner but not wanting to go to work on Friday.
Admittedly, I am not motivated if I cannot see the goal, despite knowing it is somewhere in the distance. While others may be motivated by the knowledge that the end point is only 1 km away, I have discovered that I do not respond the same way. As long as I don't see it, I am not running any faster.
10km in: Finally! This is the end- the final stretch. This is the last push and usually the stretch where I start sprinting to the finish line. These are the Friday afternoons- the last stretch until the weekend. This is the mad dash to get all the work done.Who cares how the week went? When you hit the finish line, the negative thoughts instantly starts to fade.
Many people find running to be a bore- there isn't much going on at any given time compared to playing a sport. Running involves getting into a rhythm and keeping at it for the next few hours. Perhaps what I find fascinating about running is that I can be doing the same motion for the next 2 hours but despite the constant motion, my mind is constantly transitioning between the stages. In fact, it reflects the way in which I live my life, the way in which I get through the week. What I find is that no matter the distance that I run, whether it is a 10 , 15 or 21km, the trend is the same and the stages I mentally go through are all identical over the course of the run. No matter how bad it can get, at the end of it, all I ever want to do is to start all over again. It always is more than just a run, it's a time for reflection, rewind and self-discovery.
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