Cindy’s Marathon Training: Recap Week 7
Monday: 6.6 miles
Tuesday: 4.5-mile fun run with Dr. Ed Wolfgram
Thursday: 4.5-mile fast run
Saturday: 18-mile slow run in 2 hours 53 minutes
Total: 33.5 miles
Saturday’s 18-mile run was really hard. I think I may have gone out too quickly on the first 10 miles, because I was sluggish on the last 8 and my legs hurt afterwards. When training for my first 2 or 3 marathons, feeling this bad got me worked up and emotionally down. But I’ve since learned that you can have a bad run one week and a good one the next, so I don’t panic anymore.
My friend Zeta Cooper joined me for the final 6 miles. She tells stories to distract me from my fatigue. (She also brought me a Gatorade. Thanks, Zeta!) Marathoners have gobs of ways to distract themselves on long training runs. They listen to podcasts and digitally-downloaded books, they listen to their favorite music (Old 97s for me), they play mental games such as listing cars, fruits, dogs via the alphabet (A is for airedale terrier B is for bichon frise, C is for collie. . .), they list state capitols, you get the idea. Anyone else have clever ways to pass time on a long run? Let’s hear it.
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Cindy Billhartz Gregorian is a features reporter at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She has reported for the Healthy & Fit section since its first issue. She's a distance runner with seven marathons under her belt. 
I play air guitar. Drums too. Both seem to boost adrenaline a little.
I’m not sure if I attract attention when I do. But frankly, I really don’t care.
Wow, David, that’s interesting. Are you listening to music when you do this? Anything in particular? Does it mess with your running stride?
I do listen to music when running alone, usually uptempo tunes. I usually find myself strumming along for only a song or two. My stride isn’t affected too much as far as I can tell.