Intestinal runs

No, not that kind!

By "intestinal runs," I mean running routes that go into and out of every cul-de-sac. It's actually quite amazing how long a distance this kind of route can cover within a total physical space that's not that big--just as with the human intestine(!). In my immediate neighborhood, the intestinal loop route is about 3 miles. If I veer out to include the nearby community library, then that loop is about 3.7 mi. A few weeks ago, I had a scheduled 12-mile Sunday run, and I decided to do it by running this neighborhood-library intestinal loop (3 times plus another mile or so, for a total of 12 mi). During the run, this came to mind: 7 of these loops would be close to a marathon. Somehow, a marathon of 7 such neighborhood loops seems easier/shorter than a typical marathon. More recently, I had a scheduled 10-mile weekday run, and I decided to do it by expanding the intestinal run to encompass a larger community, one that includes intestinal routes of 3 other neighborhoods plus a loop around the local high school. The latter is at the farthest point of this loop route from my house (~1.5 mi). Thus, at any point of the route, I'm within an easy 30-minute walk from home. The other advantage is that, for the longer runs, I don't need to carry water or fuel. Home is the water/fuel stop! Unless, of course, I want to train for carrying water and fuel during races. With this 10-mile loop as well, it seems 2 of them plus a 10K, together, is easier and shorter than a typical marathon. All of this is just mental, of course; the distance is still 26.2! And, I've no idea how I might use this perception in running actual marathons. But, for the long training runs, breaking them down into shorter segments, one cul-de-sac at a time, helps to make the runs seem easier/shorter (cf. Running WBS for an analogous strategy for long treadmill runs).