It’s no secret that I miss running marathons and the associated long runs so when I saw the prompt for this week’s Tuesday Topics, “Would you rather do a short or long run?”, I jumped at the chance to reminisce about the good ole days of 20-mile training runs.

 

What’s Best for My Body

The question isn’t whether I’d rather do a short or long run, the question is whether or not my body can withstand a long run these days. My brain and heart say one thing, but my spine says something entirely different. Here’s a typical conversation…

  • Brain: Remember how much fun we had getting up on Saturday mornings to meet friends on the W&OD Trail for a long run?
  • Heart: Yeah, that was so much fun! Why don’t we do that again?
  • Spine: Sure you guys had fun, but I’m the one that took all of the pounding.
  • Brain: Remember, we even called our long runs a party on the trail!
  • Heart: OMG, I’ve missed the excitement of working hard and feeling so accomplished when we finished our run.
  • Spine: Heh heh, I tried to stop that nonsense by sending pain signals to the legs.
  • Nerves: Yeah, we helped! Hey legs, did it work?
  • Legs: Please never do that again.
  • Brain: But your running friends miss you!
  • Heart: I’m ready, when can we go for a long run again?
  • Spine: But, but, but…

 

Long Run

One can approach the long run with dread or as I did, an opportunity to meet up with friends while getting in some fabulous cardiovascular exercise. The cool thing about spending several hours on the running trail with friends was that shenanigans abounded, conversations were plentiful, and the miles ticked away quickly.

Entering the trail when we should have detoured…

 

Short Run

Short runs are just that, short and sweet and can be finished quickly without a lot of planning. Because of that, I rarely make the effort to meet friends for my runs, but that’s all on me.

 

So Which Would I Rather Do?

I definitely had more fun on my long runs because I made them more fun. Given the opportunity, I’d jump at the chance to go on another long run, but I’m a realist and know that’s in my past.  I have many fond memories of years of shenanigans on the running trail and I’m grateful that I can still run shorter distances despite my previous injuries.

I’ve settled for living vicariously through my friends by reading about their long training runs and races on blogs and Facebook posts, and for that, I’m thankful!

 

Questions:
  • • What’s the longest distance race you’ve run? ~ I ran the JFK 50-Miler in November 1997.
  • • If you train for marathons, what distance is your longest run? ~ I typically ran 22 miles as my longest training run in a cycle, but sometimes just for fun I’d go 24 miles.
  • • Which would you rather do, a short run or a long run?

 

I’m linking up with Kim at Kookyrunner and Zenaida of Zenaida Arroya for their Tuesday topics Link-Up. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but those of the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!