well done you

i'm slowly getting back into the routine of long runs. i've had a bit of a gap in terms of them since summer - no particular reason, i just haven't felt like it, but now as the marathon is four months away i thought i had better get back to them sooner than later.

this is for a few reasons, but a concern of not being able to make the 42 kilometres is not one of them. in all honesty i could probably run a marathon now - it wouldn't necessarily be very enjoyable, but still. and this is one the reasons i started hitting the long runs now; i want to keep things feeling fine. mentally this isn't really an issue, i love long runs and the feeling they give more than any other aspect in running; but rather, i want to keep things fine physically as well.

i have a tendency to overdo certain things, and running certainly is one of them.  i have done it before, started training for an event and ended up with stress injuries just because i make the amateur mistake of building up the distances too fast. partly because i like running, partly because i can - my physical condition is such that it is not the factor setting limits to the distances of my runs. so as i feel i can run longer and more frequently without being too tired, i do so too fast; and my poor feet and legs and joints, lulled into a state of not being asked to do this so often, get this abrupt wake up call too fast.

so, i reasoned with myself that if i start early, i can trick myself a bit. that if i feel that there is plenty of time (four months is not _that_ long but it's still plenty) i can have more relaxed an approach and not necessarily feel the need to lengthen the runs so fast. we will see how this works, but today for example it did - i ran 20 on thursday and felt the temptation of doing a long one today as well, but managed to talk myself out of it with this very reason - that there is enough time, i don't have to be running much longer ones yet, and that i would be wise to give my body time to adjust.

so wish me luck.