As of yesterday, I'm officially half way through my training plan for the (now virtual) Marine Corps Marathon. 

I feel like I say this in every recap, but 

1. I can't believe I've stuck with it this long because the race is virtual and 

2. I'm still really on the fence about actually running a virtual marathon with no course support. 

But here we are, eight weeks into marathon training. Because of the pandemic, my long runs have pretty much been my only weekend plans so far. It's nice to have something to look forward to and plan for every weekend -- even if that means close to three hours of running.

I'm also finding at this point in the training plan, motivation is a bit of a struggle. It's hard to get excited to do all this training when there's not a real race to set my eyes on. Plus the pandemic struggles are still real and sometimes I just have weeks where I struggle in general and that bleeds into my running.

Week seven was definitely one of those weeks. I felt like such a useless waste of space that entire week. I was down in the dumps, dealing with a lot of stressful work crap, and just wanted to sleep the days away. I managed to do some of my workouts, but also skipped a couple. 

Monday - Strength training. 

Tuesday - 5 miles. It was 68 degrees on this run and the first hint that we might actually get some more pleasant running temperatures at some point in the future! It was the first run I didn't need to carry water on in ages!

Wednesday - 5 miles. This was a garbage run. I slept in in the morning, so did this after work, which is very weird for me. I was able to run for the first 3.5 miles and then basically walked the rest of the way back home. Felt tired and all around crappy. 

Thursday - Rest day. 

Friday - Rest day. Usually I don't take two rest days in a row, and I was actually supposed to have another five mile run on Friday, but I just couldn't do it. 

Saturday -10 miles. It was really humid. I was really unmotivated, but this run happened and that counts for something. 

Sunday - Rest day. 

Total: 20 miles

I rebounded a bit mentally in week eight. Some of the work stuff calmed down, which helped a lot. I got some better sleep and in general was just in a better mood all around. Plus I also tackled my longest long run in eight years, so that was a pretty exciting milestone. 

Monday - 6 miles. This was another super humid tempo run, but despite the humidity, I actually felt pretty OK and was able to push the pace during the middle miles. 

Tuesday - Rest day

Wednesday - 6 miles + strength training. This run ended on a really steep and long hill that I've never actually been able to run all the way up. I always stop to walk. Until this run! I shuffled my way to the top of the hill. 

Thursday - 5 miles. This was supposed to be my Friday run this week, but Friday was my birthday and I wanted to take the day off, so I rearranged my schedule. 

Friday - Rest day. 

Saturday - Rest day. Pushed my long run to Sunday because of the weather. 

Sunday - 16 miles. Felt pretty OK for the first 12 miles. Then had to swing by my house to refill my water bottle and motivation just disappeared for the last four. I think they were harder mentally than physically, which I guess is a good thing. Was so glad to be done this run and proud of myself for going so far. 

Total: 33 miles. 

Because I bumped my long run to Sunday this week and the next two weekends are a bit busy for me, I'm going to have to shuffle some things around in my training plan. My goal is to focus on first prioritizing my long runs, and then making sure I hit at least one of my key weekday workouts. If I have to drop a few other workouts, I will. It's only for the next two weeks, so it won't be the end of the world if I can't hit every workout.