Marathon - Long Run 6 miles

I see on my countdown clock that I have less than 50 days before the half marathon and my training is in full swing. Sunday evenings are the long run of the week. Today it will be 6 miles. That means I am running from my house to my local CVS store and back. The only difference is this time I am not in my trusty van, rather I will be on foot.

I developed my training program from an internet website of a person who is a marathon trainer and former runner of many marathons. He recommends long run on Sunday, rest day on Monday, short run (2-3 miles) on Tuesday, medium run (4-5 miles) on Wednesday, another short run on Thursday, another medium run on Friday, and a rest day on Saturday. Each long run increases every other week by 1 mile. My long run will be up to 10 miles the week before race week.

The training is tough because I am training alone. I could have joined the road runners club and done it with others but I didn't want to do that. They run their long runs in the morning and I struggle with that. Plus I didn't want the added pressure of being with a group. I prefer to tough it out by myself. I am not sure why but I just do.

Being alone has its disadvantages. There is no one beside you to commiserate with. There is no one to talk to. There is no one to encourage you. It's just you and your thoughts (and in my case, my ipod). If your thoughts on that particular day are negative in any way that is sure to be a bad training day. There are so many days when I wonder why I signed up for this. There are days when I think about the race itself. There are days when I try to imagine breaking up the race into distinct segments (first 4 miles, next 5 miles, last 4 miles). I think about when I will get water and gatorade and bananas.

I wonder how it will feel when I cross the finish line. I wonder if I will drop to my knees or will I feel so elated that I will be on a high. I wonder what the medal will look like. I wonder if I will have enough energy to walk around Disney or will I have too many blisters.

I am not sure of the answers but this is what I think of when I am running and alone with me and my thoughts.