Monday Marathon Training - How NOT to do a long run

I woke up with a start around 5am this morning.  I was having a bad dream about finishing school.  But then having one more thing to do.  And one more thing.  And one more thing.  I think I was channeling My Pooky Bear and the Qat Lady.  Oy. 

Around 5:45am I gave up and got out of bed, 45 minutes before my alarm clock was supposed to go off.  I set out for a "long" run of 8.5 miles. 

It was a gorgeous run. I got started too fast because I was dreaming of a PR in the Gopher to Badger Half Marathon and apparently I wanted to get an early start.  I evened out my pace along the parkway and held it nicely as I started around the lake.

I totally stopped to take a couple pictures.  It was okay that I stopped at Lyndale to document the bridge construction.  I couldn't breathe at the top of that hill anyways.  Below is the "South Beach" at Lake Harriet.  More information here.

Things sort of fell apart when I stopped to eat some food around mile 5.  I never really got back in the running groove after that and took several walk breaks. 

 
I took a couple walking 'photo' breaks too.  The sailboats are between miles 5 and 6 when I stopped at the only real water fountain on my route.  The rest involve pumping your own water. Serious.  The expressway looking into downtown is at mile 7, over 35W.  If I had a better camera that picture of downtown would look amazing.

 
I'm glad I went out this morning becuase it was ultimately a fun run.  I reminded myself what *not* to do on long runs.  Namely, don't go out too hard.  By the end of the run I was so mentally not there, I couldn't hold it together.  Also, since my running pace was faster than a normal long run, I decided I'd earned the break.  I did run up all the hills.  Wow.

 Here's what my friends at Nike+ think I did.  You can see I had an awesomely steady pace and then boom! I went nuts.

The rest of my day was, work  I had to be at work by 10am for a monthly meeting with the boss.  I had the best chicken salad in the world for lunch. I am such a good cook.  Then I had a visit at 2pm.  It's starting to warm up out there.

Me sitting at one of my least favorite lights in the whole Twin Cities.  Why is 36 an expressway until there's just a random stop light in the middle of it all.  Why?!?

I came back and worked for a while.  Then I headed out to Pilates.  The only picturesque view on Hiawatha Ave is something that's not actually looking *at* Hiawatha.  Sun set was pretty intense tonight.

Pilates was wonderful because we used the foam roller.  A lot.  I feel like I just had a massage.  Now I'm home.  I forgot to do my laundry this weekend so I'm staying up and doing it now.  That way I don't blow Running Beth out of the water tomorrow with some stinky running clothes.