When your long runs become your short runs

I once saw someone's facebook status that said "You know you're a runner when what used to be your long runs, now become your short runs." I really enjoyed that when I saw it and have just recently realised how true it is! Six months ago, I had just finished training for the 32km Tough One and was ready to take on this scary distance for only the second time ever. I was incredibly nervous and had put in a fair amount of training to complete the race. I looked forward to it and prepared for it for weeks, even months until race day finally arrived.  I had race strategies, time and pace plans and a clear goal in mind.  The race was tough to say the least, but with all that planning and preparation, I managed to achieve my goal.  Yesterday, there was another such 32km race.  However, with a few more marathons and an Ultra under my belt, I hardly gave this race a second thought.  My main aim for the race was to get in another good training run with the ultimate goal in mind.  I was not at all concerned with speed or pace...except maybe being careful of not going too fast or too hard...what with a 60km coming up in less than a week! I had no race strategies in place and the thought of 32km didn't seem anywhere near as scary as it did 6 months ago.  The race passed by fairly quickly and I thoroughly enjoyed every step.  With a few km's to go I looked down at my watch, I realised that I was going to end up with a similar time to the previous 32km that I worked so hard for.  Only this time, it happened a lot more easily! It's funny how your perception of what is far or what is hard changes in a few months of intense training.  I hope that one day, I will look at 60km as somewhat of a 'non event.'  For now however, it's 4 days until my last Ultra training run before Comrades and in my books 60km is still ridiculously far and I am pretty nervous!