Running was for me what is found inside a cabinet with a glass door, which has on it the legend “break in case of emergency”. Running saved my life, moving away from negative dynamics and habits that put my physical, mental and emotional health at risk, events that made me suffer.
I started running at a comfortable pace. Those who introduced me to this sport recommended that I run at a pace that would allow me to talk with the people with whom I shared my sessions. In those early days, the watch was only used by me as a tool to measure the time I spent running and not to compare the minutes with the distance traveled translated into speed. I stopped when comfort disappeared or pain set in.
After years of running all kinds of distances, I dare to conclude (at great risk of being wrong): 1. That long distances suffer. 2. That the higher the speed, the greater the discomfort.
Last weekend I had the great opportunity to once again face the challenge of trying to successfully complete a marathon. Before the event, I usually plan a rhythm, hydration and nutrition strategy that allows me to finish the event in the best physical condition possible and in the shortest time. Once again, I suffered a drop in pace towards the last quarter of the competition that caused me to arrive at the finish line approximately 9 minutes later than planned.
When I run a marathon I find emotions, smiles, pain, pride and a lot of suffering. During them, for periods of time I found myself running above the planned speed, with long periods of sticking to the rhythm that the strategy dictated and on some other occasions, I had episodes of pain that have led me to decrease my speed to the point of not being able to recover it. ; the cause lies to a greater extent in the absence of adequate preparation.
There are many runners who manage to keep the pace from the start line to the finish line, registering very small and insignificant differences, or even achieving second parts faster than the first; I dare to assure you that they also feel uncomfortable and also go through suffering.
The marathon brings extraordinary satisfaction to the runner and to the people around him. The price of this is in the suffering that is experienced at times, both in training and in the race. A suffering that is worthwhile and that forges the runner to face all kinds of races, in sports and in other facets of life. A completely different suffering from the one I experienced, before I started running.