Realization

I felt good Sunday and planned on running about 15 miles, and at around mile 14, decided to bump it to about 16.5 miles. The thing is, I had to decide at mile 15 whether it would be 16.5 miles, or 18+ miles. As I was starting to feel fatigue in my legs, and feeling raindrops, I opted for the former. When I got home it felt really good to stop. I like the solitude of running alone, which is why I absolutely cannot listen to music while running. I have tried, but I don't like it. I guess my point is that after almost 2.5 hours of running in silence, I was starting to get bored. I was beginning to think about fatigue, instead of being distracted by random thoughts and stuff along the way. I like the distance; I just need to work out how to pass the time mentally. My time for a comfortably-paced (151 average heart rate) 16.53 miles was 2:25. Here is my route: Geist Lake+more

It has finally sunk in: 26.2 miles is a long way to run. When I got home, I felt okay, but was it okay enough to go another 10 miles? What dark place might I find along the way? Granted, I was running alone, and being in a race is a different dimension. I'm looking forward to finding out.