Is it okay to take a couple minutes break in a long run?

Sure. its called stop lights and traffic.

some good reasons to stop during a long run

1. bathroom break

2. traffic

3. water break (if from a fountain)

4. literally anything else, who cares?

Stopping probably isn't ideal for training for a marathon, but neither is collapsing from heat exhaustion, for instance

If the breaks are short, then it makes no difference at all. I find myself surprised that so many people still train according to old wives' tales and how things were 30-40 years ago. Times have changed. The best are utilizing new methodologies based on physiological research. You can now fuel marathons on more than three dixie cups of water and your ability to suffer.

i was a mid distance runner (1500-5000) so the long run wasn't as important to me. We'd do about 12-14 at a moderate clip (6:00-6:30) almost every weekend. We'd also stop around halfway to get a quick sip of water (often we'd have a coach or injured teammate biking alongside us) and piss.

Yes of course it is.

Over the years I’ve gone on plenty of long runs with NCAA champions, Olympic trial finalists in the 1500m, 5k, and 800m, and even a couple of Oly/WC medalists.

All of them would break up their long runs with a water break or two, so you can too. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Yah mon, it is a waste of time, so is getting older as well my friend when you do what you have to do to survive, mon.

True, and I have not heard of people taking salt tablets like they did in the past either. Perhaps some individuals have to do that.

If I see someone jog in place, I exasperatedly start spanking them hard till they stop.

I stop for water every five miles or so. I gulp it down - it's not an extended stop. Maybe it's affecting me on race day, but I don't like hydration belts / vests.

I live in Seattle and in the winter sometimes I have to do long runs in very cold steady / heavy rain. In those cases I will often stop once or twice during my run to change. If it's cold and rainy enough, I have completely changed my outfit (in the car). That might take ten minutes. I doubt it has much impact on the value I get from my long run, though I obviously wouldn't stop like that normally.

It's a sign of weakness. I don't even take a break at the end of my long run.

Anything more than 90 minutes I will often take a 60 second breather either at halfway or 1 hr. Will take water if available, but usually just to decompress for a second. Long runs can be a lot for me mentally sometimes and honestly that 60 seconds is more of a mental break than anything. I find it's been beneficial for me as I usually run alone nowadays and training can be a mental battle. Perhaps it makes me soft?

I think it just depends what your goals are for the day. If you have an easy long run for a set duration & can't get through it without walking then you need to dial the pace back & figure out what's sustainable. If you have some quality in the long run then a short break before/after it is probably fine. If you get weather like we've gotten in the northeast the last couple of weeks where the dew point has been above 70 every day then some breaks are probably warranted. Pace is going to suffer on those days anyways & getting in quality is going to hurt. All of this is to say there's a difference between examples like this & the person who averages 6:59 pace for 2 hours but their elapsed time is 2.5 hours. I try to keep my long runs continuous as much as I can.

Wait for a better day? So from july to September you dont run longer than 5 miles because the dewpoint doesn't drop below 75? Are you trying to look like a strava hero and 2 minutes will mess up your segment for a 2 hour run?

It's okay as long as you jog in place.

"Quitters never win and winners never quit" - Mr. Brady to Greg

Yes.

Often it gives you body time to re-set if having a bad run. Its not a race and I find you can get more out of the run with a mini break. Plus you are not a robot. On a really cold day you can really wrm up a lot sheltering behind a wall for a couple of mins. I used to do this on the mountains when you are gradually getting colder when its windy even though running

What id not not think is a good idea is where people split up a long run to do a race/parkrun.

A couple of mins then setting off when you feel like it is ok. Hanging around waiting for a race to start or pushing the pace so you make it on time is not a good idea imo

It depends what you want to get out of the run.

For a generic aerobic long run, I don't hesitate to stop for bathroom breaks or to hydrate, but I get back to running quickly. The aerobic benefit is still there.

If it's a race simulation or race-pace specific workout, then I don't stop unless absolutely necessary. For hydration on these runs, I'll set up a water bottle where I can grab it, drink, circle back to drop it off, all while still running, like a race.

But like others have said, it's your run, do what you want with it. The ghost of Pheidippides won't haunt you for stopping.

It's also worth remembering that it's important to enjoy your running (most of the time).

It’s probably ok.But I would only stop for #1 or#2 when critical. But it was mainly psychological for me, thinking once ya start taking breaks it’s like skipping runs, and it can lead to more and longer gaps.
There was no #3. Physiologically, I doubt there’s any loss.

There were times when Lydiard and his athletes would stop during their long runs and eat fruit growing on trees that they were running past. It worked out okay.