Getting over those limits

Yesterday I finally saw Marco and Giorgia after their trip to the States. You may remember that they were with us in Paris when we ran the marathon. The neat thing is that they made friends with Christine, who came over from New Jersey to cheer us on. They stayed at her house for a few days during their trip. (SHOUT OUT TO CHRISTINE. THANK YOU FOR THE PEANUT BUTTER AND THE VANILLA!!!) They also stayed with my brother and sister-in-law (SHOUT OUT TO ED AND HEATHER, THANKS FOR PUTTING THEM UP!!).  I love it when my friends make friends with each other.

Marco and Giorgia brought me the book BORN TO RUN which Michael B. has been recommending for a long time now. I haven't finished it yet, but what I can say is that since I started it (last night, and I'm about half done), I have been itching to take off and run as far as I can for as long as possible.

Why? Because the book makes you think about how many things you can do if you don't have anyone telling you that you can't.

For example, when did there get to be so many RULES for running? You have to have such and such equipment, such and such pants and shirts, run too much and you'll blow out your knees, You have to have 400 dollar orthotics if you want to run past 40, "The human body just isn't made for going the marathon distance," follow the running table, run as few days as possible, avoid asphalt, blah blah blah..

WHY? WHY? WHY? I mean, if I want to run 5 miles in a pair of long johns, who's stopping me (in the past, at least, no one, especially when I had one pair of running tights and they were dirty). In the end the only person stopping me from doing anything, is me. I can think of a million excuses NOT to run at any given second. But then I remember that I like running, especially long distances, when you get just past where normal people start to think that you're not.

So I just have to do that. Run run run because it's fun and because I feel like it. I have also decided that I'm going to do my training for May's marathon the same way: I am not going to follow any tables. I am going to just run as much as I can, and increase my longs every week. I think the ultimate would be to arrive on race day and have it almost feel easy because you just decide that it doesn't have to be a grueling ass kicker. Is it possible? I don't know.

I like Kara Goucher's running advice, it went something like this: training? Run as hard as you can for as long as you can. Period.

UPDATE: YOU MUST READ THIS. YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF PEOPLE (NYTIMES)MAKING RIDICULOUS RULES FOR OUR SPORT. BAH! THANK YOU, MISS FOOL! THANKS, MICHAEL B. FOR THE HEADS UP!