July Recap: MCM Training Begins

 July kicked off my unofficial marathon training for the Marine Corps Marathon. I say unofficial because I don’t ever really follow a plan 100% or even 80%. And in the beginning of training I just wing it.  Lately, I’ve had a lot of social/personal commitments that have kept me from doing my normal long runs on Saturday mornings (and a lot of mid week runs). I’ve had to become comfortable with being uncomfortable.  By that I mean, skipping runs or cutting them short or not being able to fit them in at all.  Last weekend, I had a 3 hour window to run in West Virginia. It was 2pm and a downpour outside. Still, I had to get it in. I had to modify my route and break my run up into pieces just to get it done.  I was all sorts of anxious about it driving to the trail in the rain. But when I was done, I was proud that I went outside the comfort zone.  Also, some spectacular that happened on last weeks long run (brace yourself) – I ran Garmin-less for the 2nd half of the run!  What?! I know!  I never run Garmin-less, I feel like days could pass by and I’d still be running if I wasn’t wearing it.  But because of the torrential downpours; I had to return to my car and leave the Garmin behind so it wouldn’t get soaked. And let me tell you – I ran really well without it. I did note when I left and when I returned and luckily my trail had mile markers so afterwards I was able to calculate my pace.  And I used mapmyrun for elevation and exact mileage. Not bad at all being with the Garmin. No stress over pace or heart rate. Now, I won’t be doing that again anytime soon (lets not get carried away). But now I know that I can do it. And perhaps I’ll try to make one long run a month Garmin-less.