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Back to Journal  « Submission 260 | Marathon Training Week 11 of 26: 14 Miles | Submission 261 » Marathon Training Week 11 of 26: 14 Miles February 28, 2006 It's been two day since Week 11's long run. 14 miles. More than half the distance of a marathon. By the end of the first hour, you start feeling really good about yourself. If you were having doubts at first, they're a good five miles behind you now. You're young. Invincible. Confident that you're going to own this marathon thing. In the second hour there are some twitches. Some thirsts. You'd rather be home. You'd rather have an excess of fluids. You'd rather munch on something that doesn't taste like chalk. You begin to ache, but you're a soldier on a mission and you sally forth. As the third hour begins, you experience real pain. First in your feet, then in your knees, sometimes as high as your back. This running project is a mistake. You do not have it in you to run a marathon. And if you do, it will destroy you. If you weren't already heading toward the car or home in the second half of your run, you would consider turning around now. But the best your cowardice can offer you right now is the option of walking that same distance. And walking hurts too, so you might as well get it over with more quickly. In the two days afterwards, your legs feel brittle. Like they're going to snap off if you stand up for too long. Walking up or down stairs is especially painful. You feel like your body is telling you something, especially when you think about running twice as far. So really you should write your blog entries at the end of the first hour. Yes, you should pause your run, suck on a gel, stretch your legs and feet, and type up an entry about how much ass you're going to kick on that marathon. Because two days later, when you've already accomplished more with your body than you ever thought possible and your body is clearly paying a price for it, you're not so into this whole marathon thing anymore. But you have twelve days to get that confidence and motivation back up to snuff. That'll be sixteen miles. I hurt. |
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Alex Wilson writes fiction and comics in Carrboro, NC. His work has appeared/will appear in Asimov's Science Fiction, The Rambler, Weird Tales, The Florida Review, Futurismic, Shimmer, ChiZine, FutureQuake, Pif, and Dragon. Locus Magazine has called him a "promising new writer," and Publishers Weekly also has nice things to say. Alex runs the audiobook project/podcast Telltale Weekly and the writer wiki Guidevines. He publishes the minicomic/zine Inconsequential Art. He is a 2006 Clarion graduate.  
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My Brain Is Your Stock Market "Dry Frugal with Death Rays," now at Futurismic Klean Kanteen FTW: Nalgene No More Latest Audiobooks The Star New Testament: Philippians Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Six Napoleons   Powered by MT 3.35 MySpace Profile |
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