this week's long run was laps in my usual running digs, bush pasture park. lots of laps. so many 1 mile laps, that i had to keep track of them some place other than my head. i started leaving bark chips on a guard rail with each pass in order to remember how many rounds i'd completed.
now i never envisioned long runs being just that--a long run. i've always romanticized them a bit and pictured nothing but adventurous epics through forests with waterfalls around every bend or deserts with views so open I could see for hundreds of miles. this week's long run was anything but that.
not that bushie (as I affectionately refer to the park in my "jog log") is a horribly ugly place--I actually love the park. it is, afterall, the place that i hung out with kt and where i eventually asked her to be my wife on a picnic 4 yrs. later.
it's just that laps are laps and they are somewhat boring and well, repetitive. yet, i found this long run to be oddly rewarding. something about laying down those bark chip "tallies" felt good. it also makes me want to go at things a little harder than usual for some reason. i hardly check the watch but the repetition does make it easy to gauge progress in terms of distance and time which is not always the case on trails, especially new ones.
i am not sure if i'll make running laps a long run favorite but while the weather is crummy, the hills are covered with snow, the days are short, and trying to save on gas ($) it just might be the answer for the time being.
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