{"id":300,"date":"2009-08-20T00:36:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-20T00:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2009\/08\/41-miles\/"},"modified":"2009-08-20T00:36:00","modified_gmt":"2009-08-20T00:36:00","slug":"41-miles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2009\/08\/41-miles.html","title":{"rendered":"41 miles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>Under a gorgeous pink sunset (similar to the one in this 2006 photo), I completed the longest week of running in my life: 41 miles.<\/p>\n

Thurs: 11 miles
Sat: 18 miles
Tues: 6.6 miles
Wed: 5.7 miles
Total: 41.3 miles.<\/p>\n

I wish I could find the photos my sister and I took of ourselves running through the French countryside in January of 1996, just to reminisce a bit on how long I\u2019ve been at this. If someone had told me <\/span>then <\/span>that I would one day run 41 miles in a week and feel great about it, I would have laughed<\/span>. Now I can\u2019t wait for the marathon. I can\u2019t wait to try running 30 miles or 40 or more in a single day. Sounds crazy, but then so do most things I do to at least some people.<\/p>\n

Even more, I like to tell the story of how, when I was 17, I went to the doctor for a physical and when he looked at my feet he remarked, \u201coh, you\u2019ll never be a runner.\u201d I have almost-flat feet. This happened to be after I had been running with my sister for two years. From what I\u2019ve read over the years, a lot of the old ideas about running simply aren\u2019t true anymore: running form such as <\/span>Chi Running<\/a> vastly lowers the impact, and advancements in shoes have done the rest<\/span>. Sure, you can<\/span> still hurt yourself, and many will, but if you do it right, a regular running routine shouldn\u2019t be out of reach.<\/p>\n

~<\/div>\n

Running long distances, 18 miles being my farthest so far, is very much a meditative endeavor<\/span>. Just as in a long solitary meditation, one is bombarded with excuses to quit: pain here, pain there, pain everywhere, tiredness, distraction, boredom. Two and a half hours worth of this. Actually, the first hour or so is okay \u2013 and then you realize that you\u2019re not even half way done<\/span>. More boredom, excitement, pains and discomforts, pretty scenery, etc. And then, every once in a while the mind will just settle into the body as the body settles into the posture<\/span>. Pains disappear, distractions fade, and a beautiful sense of flow<\/span> emerges. As I told my fellow runners in China, it\u2019s as if I simply sit down<\/span> in the run.<\/p>\n

I sit, and momentum takes over. <\/p>\n

What a wonderful way to travel.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Under a gorgeous pink sunset (similar to the one in this 2006 photo), I completed the longest week of running in my life: 41 miles. Thurs: 11 milesSat: 18 milesTues: 6.6 milesWed: 5.7 milesTotal: 41.3 miles. I wish I could find the photos my sister and I took of ourselves running through the French countryside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n41 miles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Under a gorgeous pink sunset (similar to the one in this 2006 photo), I completed the longest week of running in my life: 41 miles.Thurs: 11 milesSat: 18\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2009\/08\/41-miles.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"41 miles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Under a gorgeous pink sunset (similar to the one in this 2006 photo), I completed the longest week of running in my life: 41 miles.Thurs: 11 milesSat: 18\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2009\/08\/41-miles.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Buddhist Perspectives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-08-20T00:36:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_fyeYpxfdjuI\/SozF_iy6LAI\/AAAAAAAAAkY\/SEsMXhY-F5A\/s320\/IMG_0586.JPG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justin Whitaker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justin Whitaker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2009\/08\/41-miles.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2009\/08\/41-miles.html\",\"name\":\"41 miles\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-08-20T00:36:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-08-20T00:36:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/abfb8f851f671638c4c7536b963f9da9\"},\"description\":\"Under a gorgeous pink sunset (similar to the one in this 2006 photo), I completed the longest week of running in my life: 41 miles.Thurs: 11 milesSat: 18\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2009\/08\/41-miles.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2009\/08\/41-miles.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2009\/08\/41-miles.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"41 miles\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/\",\"name\":\"American Buddhist Perspectives\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/abfb8f851f671638c4c7536b963f9da9\",\"name\":\"Justin Whitaker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/817b6fba8ae056aaff4f9bdc84347d72?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/817b6fba8ae056aaff4f9bdc84347d72?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Justin Whitaker\"},\"description\":\"I am an almost-life-long Montanan; a baptized Catholic; an ardent Atheist; a practicing Buddhist; a lover of Wisdom. 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