Respect

In my last marathons, hitting my limit has meant leg muscle cramping rather than the exhaustion of the Wall. I was beginning to think that all the miles and the training at lower carbohydrate replenishment levels had made me immune to this famous marathon malady. It was this hubris that let me to insufficiently prepare on Saturday for my 20 miler the next day. Admittedly, 20 miles on a treadmill is going to have its own effects on the mind. The roads are still treacherous and, with traffic, an open invitation to an accident. So I loaded up my iPod Classic with 7.7 hours of music and pounded the treadmill. Around mile 16, I began to smell my family's breakfast cooking in the kitchen, wafted down through the heating vents.

At mile 18, I pretty much hit the Wall. It is becoming so tired that any and every movement is exhausting. I clawed through the last two miles, grateful that I had not planned a 21-miler for that day. I managed to hold pace and finished at the 'easy pace' I had planned for the entire run.

I don't mind hitting the Wall. It is extremely unpleasant, but it is the ultimate instruction to the body to conserve carbohydrates and use as much fat reserves as early as possible in the run to survive the distance. This is all part of the long evolution over the years of training to become a faster distance athlete.