The Surprise Long Run

One Monday a few weeks ago, a friend of mine texted me asking if I wanted to go for a run the following morning. At the time, I didn’t think anything of it. My current routine, while more lifting-focused, calls for 1 steady 5-mile jog per week, so this was a perfect chance to knock that out; I replied that I was in.

The next morning, I woke up, drank some water, laced up my shoes, and walked out the door to meet my friend.

Our first 1.5 miles were nothing to write home about. We were jogging while also discussing recent updates in our lives; weddings, trips, work, etc., very standard for the easy runs I’d grown accustomed to.

At one point during this warmup phase, my friend turned to me and jokingly said, “I hope you’re ready to go for double digits [miles] today”. I laughed, assured him I was NOT, and we continued on.

For anyone who knows NYC, we were running north along the West Side Highway, starting roughly at the Intrepid and working our way up in the direction of the GW Bridge. It’s a lovely run once you get past the craziness of the cruise terminals that live right there. However, unlike other popular NYC-runs (Central Park), which are loops, this run is an out-and-back, meaning if you’re doing 5 miles (as I assumed we were), you do 2.5 miles up and then 2.5 miles back down.

As such, when I saw my watch flash 2.5 miles, I looked over at my buddy to subtly indicate it was about time to turn around. When he didn’t react, I assumed that my watch was a bit ahead of his, and figured he’d call for us to spin in a minute or two. When that didn’t happen, I decided to speak up, “alright should we spin it here?”

He just looked at me.

“What do you mean?” He said.

“We’re a little over halfway,” I responded.

“Oh, you thought I was joking?” he said.

And that’s when it dawned on me. His double-digit “joke” was not a joke. We were going for 10 miles.

Immediately, my mind began to race with reasons (excuses) I wouldn’t be able to do 10 miles and would need to turn around “I didn’t eat anything”, “I haven’t had any coffee”, “I have to get to the office”, “I haven’t been running much, so injury risk is high” then I got annoyed “why didn’t we talk about this at first?”, “We did 5 miles last time we ran together. Why are we suddenly doubling it?”, “We aren’t college athletes anymore, what’s the point of draining ourselves with a long run pre-work day?” and then finally, I got competitive: “No shot I’m showing him that this bothers me. I’ll knock down 10 miles with him, no problem.”

And that’s exactly what we ended up doing.

By the time I got back to my apartment, my body was exhausted. I had consumed a glass of water and no calories before running 10 miles after doing next to no real running for the past two months.

But after a long stretch, a big breakfast, and a HUGE iced coffee, I started to feel better than I had in a long time.

Not only were the endorphins firing in my brain, but thanks to my friend, I had also proven to myself that my limits far exceeded what I believed possible.

And HERE is the key point in all of this:

Oftentimes, we underestimate what we are personally capable of. We box ourselves in based on past experiences, fear, uncertainty, etc., usually without even realizing we’re doing it.

The status quo becomes so ingrained in our minds that we just accept that as our limit.

However, what running with my friend reminded me of is that one surefire way to break these bad habits and push past your self-imposed limits is to get in environments with people who will push you. Who will ask more of you than you ask of yourself. Who will be right alongside you doing the thing you thought was impossible while also cheering you on.

If I had gone out for a solo run instead of going with my friend, I would have done 5 miles nice and easy, not a bad workout, but also not all I was capable of.

So, a question I’m asking myself this week: what other parts of my life need a friend who will push me to do 10 miles?