The long runs begin!

Today I took my first long run of the marathon training! While 8 miles is not very long to any seasoned marathoner . . . this was the longest run I've ever taken . . . and I felt great! I took a nice route down the river path to 72nd street and then cut across 72nd to Central Park West and ran down along the park to Columbus Circle where I took a left to go across the bottom edge of the park to the SE corner. 8 miles.

I ended up running it in 1:12:22 which is about a nine minute/mile pace, but I'm not sure that this is a completely accurate reflection of what I really did. First of all, I'm almost positive that I negative split the run. This means that I ran the second four miles faster than I ran the first. I suppose that for my longest run ever, that's not a bad way to go, but ultimately, I think I could've run the whole route a little faster, getting in under 1:10. Also, I left my watch running for a few seconds while I waited at various intersections. I wasn't standing still at these times, but I wasn't moving forward either. Usually I'd just run in place and keep the watch going. This might have added a little to my time as well, though I'm not sure how much. By the end, I was worried that I'd finish too slow, so I practically sprinted across Central Park south in order to finish in 1:12 . . . but who knows. For my next long run, I think I'm going to try to go out a little faster to begin with. I was going very conservatively to begin b/c I wasn't sure how much I'd need in reserve, but I ended up being fine. I'd like to push myself a bit in my next few long runs.

All in all, though, I'm very happy with my first 8 miler of the training. I definitely had something left at the end, meaning that I could've gone a bit faster, but I don't think it's completely bad to average 9 min/mile (my goal marathon pace) for my first run over 7 miles EVER and to feel that I had something left in me at the end. I actually feel pretty pumped right now! I can't wait to go out and run some more tomorrow.

Next week, my long run is another 8 miler, but I might combine this with a 10K race . . . and the following week my long run is a 10 miler, but again, I might combine this with a four mile race. Although I'm sort of interested in running the four miler by itself to see if I can set a PR and then running my 10 at a different point in the week . . . perhaps Thursday . . . so we'll see.

Yay.