Two miles of surprise

I ran two miles today. It hurt. A LOT. I’ve also confirmed what I knew to be true in the first place, but chose to carefully ignore because it’s cold outside: I’m going to have to start spending more time running on the road, because it took me by surprise. The asphalt doesn’t move.

Besides sheer frustration with the running being so HARD, the horrid sound of my own rasping breath began to irritate me to no end, so that every other sound, every movement, every vehicle that passed, drove me closer to The Edge, until I nearly hurled my camera at a crow that was CAW-CAW-CAWing at me on the other side of the road.

At that point I could see the first mile marker, and suddenly walking became a very attractive option. Very. Attractive. Still, I passed the marker and kept. on. running, telling myself that if I finished a full two-mile run, I would feel good inside. I feel alright. Besides, when I’m out running, I always have this irrational self-conscious feeling that someone is watching. And taking notes.

I was very glad to reach the final half-mile, which spanned the length of a very straight bridge. Have you seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail? You know the part where Sir Lancelot is charging across a field toward Swamp Castle (I *think*) as the camera cuts back and forth between the castle guards and Sir Lancelot, and the drums are rolling, badum-badum-badum-badum-badum, but he isn’t getting any closer? Yeah. Me running across the bridge.

At some point–probably when I was dead-set on walking for a minute or two or five or ten–it occured to me that two miles is the longest distance I have ever run at once. So I kept going, I did not throw my camera at anything, I did not get hit by a stray golf ball, I did not get trapped in an infinite time loop on the bridge, and I did not throw up at the end although I had thought I might, my chest and diaphragm and abs were contracting so hard. I ran it in just under 21 minutes, which is not a fantastic time, but it surprised me. Heck, finishing surprised me too.