NOTHING BUILDS CONFIDENCE LIKE A LONG RUN

If you have been keeping up with my blog posts, you will remember my lack of confidence in the long run department. Like many runners--Kami Semick and Nicki Kimball to name a few--I took the winter off from long runs and decided to spend the weekends skiing and snowshoeing instead. I ran 5 days/week, approximately 4 miles/day, and sometimes ran on the weekend but never very far. So when the time for long runs rolled around, I was a bit nervous. I feared that my strength and stamina had been lost during my winter retreat.

On my first long run of the season, I took it pretty easy, running only 8 miles; the following weekend I bumped it up to 10 miles. The next: 12 miles. Then I caught the office funk, a flu-like sickness that pretty much wiped out our entire workplace, and was forced to take an entire week off from running! Even though it bummed me out to see my running shoes sulking on the shelf, I knew that rest was the only way to get healthy.

The following weekend, I ran 10 miles and this weekend, 12. My new strategy is to do a long run early Saturday morning followed by a day of hiking. That way I remain on my feet for most of the day. Ultrarunning is not only about running, it's about spending hours on your feet, moving forward. So far so good. Every Saturday, after my long run and a day hike on the Long Trail, I am completely whooped!

This coming Saturday, I plan to go a little further and after that, further still. And once the snow melts up high, I'll be running on the Long Trail like I did back in July. Step by step my confidence comes back. Running will do that for you.