The Breakthrough

[Pheidippides]

Weather in Houston was miserable tonight, so no outdoor running for me. Off to the gym for some treadmill work.

This is my easy week of base building. 3 miles four times this week.

Instead of setting my iPod for 3 miles, though, I decide not to look and just enjoy the run. So I set it for "Basic Workout" (so the sexy lady voice doesn't tell me how much I have left or how far I have come), cover the treadmill readouts with a towel, and go.

A few other people start running on treadmills around me. They finish their workouts - maybe they were just warmups - and step down. I keep running.

New people come and run for a while. Some of them run very fast. Some of them walk. Eventually they all step down. I keep running.

A baseball game is on one of the televisions on the wall. I can't see who is playing because I don't have my contacts in. One teams wins and the other loses. I keep running.

On another TV a sitcom changes into cheesy crime drama with a flourish of sunglasses, while on yet another Madonna and several of her understudies gyrate in succession. I keep running.

There is a mirror about 30 feet in front of me. The man in the mirror keeps running towards me, never getting any closer, but always running.

9 miles later I stop running.

[Surfah]

Awesome Niku. Awesome.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Wow. Good for you.

[Sea Chicken]

Well done. I think after nine miles on a treadmill, I would want to kill myself.

[Teenage Dirtbag]

That was well said. For some people, there comes a point where running becomes less about exercise, and more about seeing just how far you really can go. I guess it's a way for those of us whose best athletic days are behind us to still feel like we have a foot in the game.

[Coach McGuirk]

I notice another breakthrough too, Niku. You breached 200. Nice!!

[Pheidippides]

I notice another breakthrough too, Niku. You breached 200. Nice!!

Thanks for noticing - it was my surprise when I got home. I'll be back around 202 or so tomorrow with hydration, but that's not important.

[happyone]

Congrats - It was a big moment when I finally went below 200.

[Katy Lied]

Weather in Houston was miserable tonight, so no outdoor running for me. Off to the gym for some treadmill work.

This is my easy week of base building. 3 miles four times this week.

Instead of setting my iPod for 3 miles, though, I decide not to look and just enjoy the run. So I set it for "Basic Workout" (so the sexy lady voice doesn't tell me how much I have left or how far I have come), cover the treadmill readouts with a towel, and go.

A few other people start running on treadmills around me. They finish their workouts - maybe they were just warmups - and step down. I keep running.

New people come and run for a while. Some of them run very fast. Some of them walk. Eventually they all step down. I keep running.

A baseball game is on one of the televisions on the wall. I can't see who is playing because I don't have my contacts in. One teams wins and the other loses. I keep running.

On another TV a sitcom changes into cheesy crime drama with a flourish of sunglasses, while on yet another Madonna and several of her understudies gyrate in succession. I keep running.

There is a mirror about 30 feet in front of me. The man in the mirror keeps running towards me, never getting any closer, but always running.

9 miles later I stop running.

It finally struck me this morning what your post reminds me of. The Long Walk, a novella by Richard Bachman (Stephen King). The Long Walk itself is written in a similar style to Shirley Jackson's The Lottery. Have you read this?


Here's a summary:

Set in an undetermined future that strangely mirrors our own present, The Long Walk is an excersize in exhaustive horror. The dystopic plot is simple enough: one hundred young boys compete in a marathon, The Long Walk. The goal is to walk, and walk, and walk. The rules: you cannot walk slower than three miles an hour, you cannot interfere with the other Walkers, and you cannot stop. If any of these rules are broken, you get a warning. A Walker can get three Warnings. Then, they are shot. The winner is the one left alive.

Along the way, Garraty and the others undergo a transformation. They chat casually about necrophelia and enemas. They reveal horrible secrets (especially Stebbins). They suffer, both mentally and physically (an especially tense scene involves Garraty's struggle with a leg cramp). They question the validity of The Prize and their views on The Major shift dramatically. Toward the end, their tenebrous grasp on reality falters, and the last few chapters read almost hallucigenically. And they die. One by one, they die.

As stated before, the outcome of the Walk is no real surprise. But when the second-to-last Walker is shot down and Garraty is informed that he has won, he finds he cannot stop walking. He sees a "dark figure, up ahead, beckoning." And, in his crazed, exhausted state, Garraty finds the strength to run.

[Pheidippides]

It finally struck me this morning what your post reminds me of. The Long Walk, a novella by Richard Bachman (Stephen King). The Long Walk itself is written in a similar style to Shirley Jackson's The Lottery. Have you read this?


Here's a summary:

Set in an undetermined future that strangely mirrors our own present, The Long Walk is an excersize in exhaustive horror. The dystopic plot is simple enough: one hundred young boys compete in a marathon, The Long Walk. The goal is to walk, and walk, and walk. The rules: you cannot walk slower than three miles an hour, you cannot interfere with the other Walkers, and you cannot stop. If any of these rules are broken, you get a warning. A Walker can get three Warnings. Then, they are shot. The winner is the one left alive.

Along the way, Garraty and the others undergo a transformation. They chat casually about necrophelia and enemas. They reveal horrible secrets (especially Stebbins). They suffer, both mentally and physically (an especially tense scene involves Garraty's struggle with a leg cramp). They question the validity of The Prize and their views on The Major shift dramatically. Toward the end, their tenebrous grasp on reality falters, and the last few chapters read almost hallucigenically. And they die. One by one, they die.

As stated before, the outcome of the Walk is no real surprise. But when the second-to-last Walker is shot down and Garraty is informed that he has won, he finds he cannot stop walking. He sees a "dark figure, up ahead, beckoning." And, in his crazed, exhausted state, Garraty finds the strength to run.

I have not. But I do think the threat of death would help me keep up my pace.

I also have an epilogue: after I ran the 9 miles, I got really, really sick (I think I had the flu and my exhausted body finally gave in) and started drifting in and out of sleep watching late night food network while vomiting peanut butter sandwiches in between dreams.