Yesterday morning one of my favorite dates returned to my calendar, a long run with Theodora. As you may recall, we spent many miles training together last year as we each conquered our first marathon. You learn a lot about someone when you spend 18 miles running through Central Park or 15 miles exploring New York City and Brooklyn.

I was up by 6:15 to prep my CamelBak and enjoy some pre-run fuel.

I was excited to enjoy our first long run of marathon season and the hour of catching up.

Theodora met me at my place where we quickly stretched a few minutes and talked about our route. We are both tired of the West Side Highway so we chose to conquer the East River Path instead. Our initial plan was to run up the East River to the Upper East Side before heading back down towards Union Square.

Unfortunately we were met with some East Side barricades including running up the FDR on ramp by accident before having to hop over a concrete barricade. After that we were only able to progress a half mile before hitting another dead end. Come on NYC, why can’t you make the East River Path as nice as the West Side Highway? Frustrated, we headed over to First Avenue to continue our run up towards the UES.

I actually remember spending a very long 3 miles on First Avenue last November, with Melissa by my side, hating every minute. During the marathon you hit First Avenue around mile 17, right after the Queensborough Bridge, and then stay on it all the way until crossing the bridge into the Bronx.  It’s not the intimidating type of hill like a bridge or Central Park’s Harlem Hills, instead it’s a quiet gradual and consistent incline for two straight miles.

Once we hit the 3.5 mile mark, we turned around and headed back down First Avenue until reaching 14th street where we cut over towards JackRabbit.

By the time we arrived we were disgusting, to say the least. We had dirt on our legs from our East River escapade and sweat everywhere else. Theodora was worried she’d get sweat in her eyes if she actually opened them.

Only the two of us would decide to conquer a long run and then go directly to a Well+Good NYC free yoga for runners and athletes class. The second Saturday of each month, they host a free class at the Union Square and Upper East Side Jack Rabbit locations. These free classes are amazing because they specifically address the concerns of runners, cyclists, and other athletes.

By the time the class started there were six of us in attendance, enjoying an hour long class with an instructor from a local yoga studio. The small class meant that she adjusted us frequently which was a bit uncomfortable yesterday due to my sweat and stench. But, her adjustments did make me move into deeper stretches which felt amazing.

After class I ran .9 miles home to make my long run a total of 8 miles. My overall pace for the entire run came to 10:09 based on my faster last mile run home after yoga. Our pace for the 7 miles together was 10:17. While this is slower than normal it is still well within my marathon training pace and not bad considering the heat,  humidity, and gradual incline.

I used RunKeeper to track yesterday’s run with my iPhone and am overall very pleased with the output it provides.

My goal is to try doing First Avenue again in a few weeks and see if I can improve the pace.

Question: Are you training for the NYCM or another race? How is your training going?