The Muscle that is Pain

Sixteen miles this morning and a broad mix of emotions and experiences. The first hour--mostly before sunrise--went by so quickly that I could almost not believe that so much time had passed. Hour two was neutral with several large hills. The last half hour was downright unpleasant. Mentally the first hour was easy, as you might imagine. The second hour required attention. The last 30 minutes called for a constant mental litany, "I will not stop. I will not quit. It really is worth it." (One advantage of running a 16-mile loop is that there really is not an option of stopping. You still have to get the rest of the way home.) Whatever the experience, I now have run 16 miles at one shot. Could I have gone another 10 this morning? Probably not, but I don't need to until October 7th.

I recently read an article in Outside magazine about a pain researcher and what he has learned about pain tolerance. I read that pain tolerance is like a muscle--it can increase over time. The article used the example of Lance Armstrong, saying that he developed an extraordinary pain tolerance during his cancer treatments that probably allowed him to endure greater amounts of pain than other Tour de France riders. This may have partly accounted for Lance's dominance over the last years that he rode that race.

Next Saturday I am running the Mora Half Marathon. Other years I have looked up at the distance as a major accomplishment. This year the 13.1 miles of the race will be less than what I run the past two long runs. I am curious to find out how it will feel different. Rest assured, I am fully aware that 13 miles is still 13 miles and I do not expect a walk in the park. But I wonder if I will have a greater resilience later in the race because I know what it is to go that distance and still be able to walk.

I wonder what else in life I could do more, better, stronger if I were to put in the "training" to get to higher levels of accomplishment?