There's pain and then there's pain

I upped the ante a little bit this morning. I put in about 25 km today and stayed on my feet for 2 1/2 hours. The last 8 minutes or so were absolute agony. My calves just packed in and I sincerely hope regular intakes of glucose along the way would have ensured otherwise. But yes coming back to the pain. As you're in the 20th km or so...the sweat more or less dries up covering your arms and legs and face with layers of white...which is salt. And when a drop of sweat does trickle down from your forehead it falls straight into your eye carrying with it some of that very salt. You're stinging like crazy and tears are streaming down your eye, your calf muscles feel like blocks of wood with nails driven into them, there's a strange but sharp pain in your chest and two dull red spots glowing through your running jersey....in the trance like state you look down and your mind rationalizes, "Oh that's blood...I should have used a little more Vaseline". Your tongue feels like sand paper hanging uselessly in your mouth. Extremes of pain I've heard serve to clear your mind, at times enabling brilliant streaks of clarity where suddenly you see. Maybe the Zen masters and yogis did it without the pain or maybe that's why some of them would lie on beds of nails. Didn't Bhismha lying on Arjuna's bed of arrows see all that took place as the war raged on?
I don't know but yes a lot goes through your head in those moments...not least when you begin to curse yourself ...why on earth are you doing this? Are you mad? And as that question raised itself, I broke into a big smile and decided that yes...in many ways I accept yes I am crazy to do this. What else can explain this drive? And I like this crazy side. Next stop 30 km.