Because I'm training for a marathon, I have lost control of how far I need to run. There is a certain inevitability to it -- the date is on the calendar, a formula exists, it says this week I need a long run of 16 miles. The formula does not care that I'm going to be snowboarding in Austria on the day I'm supposed to run, it's up to me to figure it out.
And so I arrived in Munich yesterday and awoke this morning knowing I needed to run 16 miles, at what was about 11 p.m. according to my body. Lucky for me, the hotel has a good web connection and a look at a map and a web search told me my best chance was to run north along the Isar river. It was a good choice for a couple of reasons -- I knew my body would be willing and the spirit weak, so if I did an out and back instead of a loop I was pretty committed to getting the miles in. Plus, the scenery would be good, and running along a river tends to ensure the route is pretty flat.
I woke up this morning to rain. Of course. But the formula said run, so I ran. Out the door of the hotel, down to the river, turn right and keep going. After a mile I took off my coat -- it was drizzly but not cold, although I noticed all the other runners were wearing tights and puffy coats. For me, shorts and a tee shirt. Swans drifted down the river with me, people walked dogs, bikes passed me. The miles passed. I listed to the Hold Steady. I took one wrong turn which made me loop back a bit. For a long time I ran by myself along the river path, listening to birds, the wind, the water. I saw a sign that said I was leaving Munich city limits. The return was into a headwind, of course. I got slow.
Probably did not get quite 16 miles, but ran for two hours and eight minutes, so a good approximation.
The formula is happy.