Progression

There's something really exciting about the first time you train for a marathon.  I would guess that for most people, the longest that they've ever run before completing a marathon training program is somewhere around 13 miles (in my case, the soldier field ten miler right before the beginning of the season was my longest run ever before my first marathon training program [I never said I was smart]). That means that almost every long run that you run, you've run a new distance, that you've conquered something that you've never done before. After a couple of marathons, the joy of being able to say "I can't believe that I just propelled my body 20 miles" wears off a bit (I am not as crazy as most and I've run 20 miles or over around 20 times). Running a 20 miler becomes commonplace. Unimpressive. Normal (I imagine that it is this that makes people do stupid s*** like Ironman).
I went up to Madison this weekend to ride the course. After a fairly heinous ride last time (during which I also figured out that I don't have enough gears on my bike [a problem that still has not been remedied]), it felt good to get back on the course and ride it like I knew what I was doing (at least a little bit). I had a fairly good ride and finished feeling strong (despite getting a little lost around the beginning of the loop) despite the hills and despite not having enough gears (still [I never said I was smart- take 2]).  After I finished, feeling pretty good about myself, I looked down at my watch and realized that this four hour ride was the furthest I'd ever ridden my bike before. And then I got a little excited. I remembered what it felt like to do that 14/17/20 mile run for the first time and I got excited about riding 100 miles for the first time ever, or about swimming 2 miles in open water for the first time, and after a frustrating couple of weeks got excited about progressing through training again.
So, I end this training week excited about conquering new distances again (and wondering what in the hell I will do with myself when I've conquered all those distances... ultra running? [scary]).