By Terrence Mahon

Chances are that if you are training for a race then you are incorporating a weekly long run into your running program.  It is a standard run that will prepare you for success in any middle or long-distance event.  However, not all long runs are the same and not all runners look at them with the same mentality.

For the typical 800-meter runner or miler, the long run is seen as a necessary evil.  These athletes will slog through it and look to get it behind them so that they can get back to running some fast intervals on the track.  These runners often get bored with such endurance runs because the pace is so slow and so long compared to their race distance.  However, for the marathon runner, the long run is one of the most exciting runs of the week – if not the most exciting.  It is a chance to build their endurance and go farther than ever before.  Long runs for the marathoner become mini vision quests as they ride the physical and psychological roller coaster of life over the course of a few hours of running.

So how do you view your weekly long run? Do you get up for it or try to avoid it all costs?  Do you like to go it alone or desire to run in a group to help pass the time?  Do you see the long run as an exciting challenge or something that has its place like every other run in the week?