First MCM Long Run: Not What I’d Hoped For

If every long run for the rest of the season feels like today’s, I’m screwed.

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It had all the promises of a good run at 8:15, as I waited for Laura and Stephanie. I’d gotten a good night’s sleep, my stomach wasn’t bothering me…that was about all I thought I could ask for. Oh, and the weather was okay.

But Laura and Stephanie came up, I jumped in Forrest Gump-style (thanks Emily) and carried on. Laura already wasn’t feeling awesome, but I hoped that we could distract her into feeling better. I jumped in with them right across from the Tavern on the Green and we continued around the loop until we saw Ali and stopped to chat for a few seconds. None of us were feeling super-hot, and we just ran with what we had, which wasn’t much.

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We ran up to the reservoir, halfway around it, then up to the 102nd Street Transverse and back across to the East side down to the 5th Ave entrance.

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Again, nothing ever hurt, but nothing ever felt great either. All my long runs need to be faster than this (and I believe they will) if I want to accomplish my goal in October. This was kind of a discouraging way to start my long runs, but I can only go up from here, right?

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This was unequivocally awesome–whole wheat everything bagel with tofu cream cheese. I stopped with Laura at the southeast entrance to the park, and ran another 2.5ish miles alone, straight to the bagel shop.

Afterwards, I met her and friends at Rattle & Hum for some beer and could NOT get comfortable, whether I sat or stood.

But I’m plenty comfortable on my couch right now. You know, recovering.

Did you run today? How’d it go? Have you had a crappy start to training that you turned around? Yeah? Awesome.

14 comments on “First MCM Long Run: Not What I’d Hoped For

  1. kelsey

    I’m training for a half marathon, and I had a great 6 mile run, but the next day I had a crappy 3 mile run! It’s so confusing why some days are great and some days feel awful. Remember the really good days for motivation!

    Reply
  2. Abby @ BackAtSquareZero

    I am sorry your run didn’t go great. I am having some serious low back & hamstring problems and couldn’t get my runs in this week. I keep reading your blog for MCM motivation. I love how you say it can only go up from here, that is what I am going to keep reminding myself when I get down because I missed my first week of training. Thanks for being a great motivator.

    Reply
  3. Kathy Q

    Sorry to hear you weren’t thrilled with your first long run; but I’m sure you’ll have plenty of good runs this training cycle! I am also training for MCM and it sounds like we are on somewhat similar schedules (I also did 9 miles yesterday), so I’m excited to follow along with your training.

    Reply
  4. Meghan

    Better to get the bad runs out of the way now and be stronger toward the marathon. I am re-starting my NYC Marathon training tomorrow, wiping the slate clean from several bad runs, including one with a scary blood sugar crash. Eeek.

    Reply
  5. Jamie @ couchtoironwoman

    I think you can definitely turn it around! The beginning of our training cycle didn’t go that great (we had to split up a run and we cut one short), but it’s definitely improved.

    You still did great regardless!

    Reply
  6. Shauna@Pleasure, not Punishment

    Good for you for finishing and not just bagging the whole thing in favor of breakfast!

    I ran 6.5 miles for the first time today and it went well! I was glad that I paced myself because the last half mile + was a pretty steep and neverending incline. Oy. Both of my short training runs this week started SUPER crappy and ended up personal bests for that distance. Sometimes a crappy beginning fuels my desire to kick ass at the end…

    Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

    Reply
  7. Fionarwbl

    Its your first long run in a while – put it down to body shock. Your body will adjust and relax into for sure

    Reply
  8. Aubrie

    1) Everybody has bad run days, don’t be discouraged! You’ve killed a marathon before and you totally will again.

    2) Tofu cream cheese? Is it good? Does it taste like regular cream cheese? Is it better for you? (so many questions!)

    3) You rock.

    Reply
    1. Theodora

      @Aubrie: 1. Thanks!
      2. I’m mildly lactose intolerant, so regular cream cheese is just a bit more than my stomach can handle, especially the way bagel places shmear it on. It doesn’t taste *exactly* like regular cream cheese (less sweet), but once you haven’t had regular cream cheese for a while, you kind of forget that.
      3. Thanks!

      Reply

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