It is so officially marathon training season.
I woke up at 5:45 this morning. On a Saturday. To run 9 miles. I don’t even wake up that early when I have a job.
But it’s always so worth it to wake up for long runs–especially when they’re not solo. This morning I ran 1.7 miles to Ashley’s to run with her. I’m getting really sick of running along the Hudson (I really never thought that day would come, but alas), so we ran east to the East River path. Which sort of sucks. We ran from the 20s to about 35th Street, where the path ends. We ran back west to First Ave, which is part of the NYC Marathon route. That bitch is HILLY. We did an out-and-back, running 3.5 miles up and 3.5 miles back, chatting and catching up the whole time.
(Running down First in the 20s and teens was interesting–there was a bumpy sidewalk in the middle, so we ended up running in the parked car lane.
I was just so tired I couldn’t keep my eyes open.
It was sort of weird doing yoga in the middle of a store (it wasn’t open yet, but still), but it was still pretty awesome. The instructor adjusted me quite a few times, which I usually don’t mind, but drove me nuts since I was so tight and tired. I was sort of going in just looking to stretch a bit and zen out a bit, not do perfect yoga. Although the stench of my running 8.7 miles in the heat probably evened the score.
While we were running, I was frustrated that I thought we were running slow, but we did have to pause a few times for lights and stuff, which you can see reflected in the difference between the average moving pace and the time. (My Garmin was totally off for the first 1.7 miles, so I’m not including those splits here. I clearly did not run a 6:12 mile. I am not Emily.)
After yoga, I ran an extra .33 miles to even it all out to 9 miles. I was famished and grabbed a bagel at Murray’s (per Sara’s recommendation) and some coconut water and iced coffee.
I’m so glad to be done with my run and glad it went well. And glad I had a bagel.
Back to my roof with the last Hunger Games book.
P.S. If you have an iPhone and are outside today (or any other hot day), hide it. My iPhone shut down for a little bit because it was too hot. Whiner.
Yoga and a long run in one day? Awesome! I keep telling myself that I need to get back into yoga to help with the marathon training (am running NYC too, my first) but have yet to actually do it! Have been reading along for a while now, love your blog!
@Sarah: Seriously I cannot imagine training for a marathon without yoga. I did not “get” yoga until I started training.
Also, I got HANGRY halfway through yoga.
Wow great workouts today! I loved the Hunger Games! Enjoy it! Really, the iPhone turned off? I’d be bummed if that happened to me!!!!
@Corrie Anne: I looked at and was like, seriously!?
I did not get up early enough today. I woke up and saw all of the early morning tweets and felt like I might be a little screwed. The first half of my workout was OK because I was near the water, but the rest was killer. Hateful, hateful sun.
Hope you enjoy Mockingjay! I read all 3 books last month and really liked them. Can’t wait to see Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss!
@Alison @ The Peacock Diaries: Yeah, it was HOT out today. I’m about 1/3 into Mockingjay so far, and actually liking it a little less than the others–so far.
congrats on the long run!!
Also, I second your frustrations with heading uptown on the east river, but, I must say, I love it heading downtown!
Wow, 5:45am? Rough. But good for you! It’s bound to be cooler at that time, too.
yay! congrats!!! isn’t it great to feel accomplished before 10am on a saturday? 🙂
If you run further downtown on the Eastside path (below 14th street) it gets prettier and you can run by the river for about 3/4th a mile…for a long run I’ll usually run along the lower easter river path and loop around to Battery Park/Hudson river — I’ll agree the Hudson is more scenic!
Oh and sounds like an awesome run! How do you get yourself out of bed at 5:45am!? I’ve tried so many times but always hit the snooze until 7am :-/
@Katherine: I am so not a morning person, but it’s much easier in the summer because I HATE running once it gets really hot out, so it’s nice getting it over with.
Sounds like a great training weekend! Am a little worried by your comments about the hilly route – how hilly? NYC will be my first marathon… where we train (in the UK) it’s very hilly so hopefully we’ll be OK as we are used to lots of hills but I’m not sure how I’ll cope with them towards the end of the run.. Is it really bad?