Horses for courses

Running is my catharsis, it could also have been destiny some years back! I make my own equation with the track - run as long as I feel like, as fast as I like and as I like. As I go along, I make new equations - I started off with flat foot running given that I am a flat foot, running too fast initially only to discover (as is so commonly known) that I was out of my depth and breath after the first lap. Believe me, it was an effort to slow down and start off slow, going slower and slower to last the distance. One would imagine I was preparing for some event - even got some well-intentioned jibes from fellow morning joggers asking me the same! At 35? I would seriously have to be nuts (then again, people who know me will probably attest that I am!)
Admittedly, my thigh and calf muscles ached for the first few weeks and my heels hurt like hell when I wanted to walk. It took several days and weeks to adjust and figure out how to minimise the pain - landing on the ball of my heel and outside edge of the foot. I don't know if this is the correct technique, but by jolly rogers, it's worked for me. Then came sustaining myself over long distances - the whiteness of the distance on a winter morning could tire not just the eyes but also defeat the mind. In fact, everytime I tried to push myself beyond my known endurance levels of distance, I admit, the mind just gave way. It was frustrating.
Then suddenly, like the second wind, I crossed the barrier one day, the mind just willing the body to go on and on. It was exhilarating!
But the second wind was soon passe - and I soon found myself getting stuck at the two mile barrier. I don't know if it was the body which tired out or the mind, but I just threw in the towel everytime I exhausted my second wind. It was probably during one of these self-defeating times that ancient wisdom revealed itself - horse trotting. For anyone who's seen the horse carriages and tongawallahs in India will know that these horses have eye-flaps that prevent them from looking too far ahead. The thought behind that is that horses if they realised how much distance were they covering would tire sooner, and that's exactly what I followed. I started following my feet, looking down instead of straight ahead and just watchng my feet cover the ground one step at a time. I soon found that I could cover as much distance as I wanted without tiring or runnng out of breath - the only thing I used to run out of was time! What a fun!