It's all relative

Even though I've been running since high school, my maximum distance per run, until graduate school, was about three miles. It didn't seem I could go farther. Then, one day in graduate school, I went running with a friend and followed her all the way for some six miles. I was amazed. Six miles or about an hour worth of running became my perceived limit. Even when my weekly mileage got up to 30-40, that was usually from something like 6 miles x 6 days. This limit persisted through jobs, marriage, and family (many moons). Then, last year, training for the 2011 Marine Corps Marathon (my second one ever), I followed a 20-week program that had long runs starting at around 10 miles and maxing out at 20 miles. My usual six mile run became part of my weekday short runs, and a half marathon race became not a big deal, just a medium-length weekend run. The marathon, however, remained, both physically and mentally, a race of personal challenge, even as I'm contemplating going beyond (JFK 50). I'm currently reading Scott Jurek's new book, "Eat & Run," chronicling his journey to and through ultramarathons (and plant-based diet), with fascinating accounts of his training for and running the Western States 100 (seven consecutive first place finishes), among many others. I've not finish the book yet, but, already, the marathon has also become not a big deal--at least mentally!