Run #28 - an Epic EIGHT Miles

What a change from last week's long run. Last week I could barely string together a coherent sentence in my blog because I was so busy pouting and feeling pathetic. Well this week I am feeling on top of the world!

I didn't get up early or anything for this. I enjoyed sleeping in and lounging about for a while, then decided I would turn this run into a dress rehearsal for the Half. The weather was a little chilly, but it will start chilly at the half, too, so I was fine with that. I loved the finished outfit I must say! I loaded up the iPod with a couple of running podcasts, filled up my water, slid on some sunglasses and was out the door. I was just getting set to go when my phone vibrated. I received a text, and I shall quote it now! "88 88 88 88 88.... got it?" Got it! So I set out on this run aiming for 11 minute miles. I've been a bad student lately and keep getting faster and faster instead of working on distance. So today it would be the magic eleven!

It was a beautiful day. The path was filled with tons of people walking dogs and only a few other runners. Thankfully Stink Eye wasn't out in her vain little sports bra and flippy hair! Around 4 miles in I realized my new BIC band was missing. NO!! I loved that thing. It was so cute and the perfect finishing touch for my outfit. I have to apologize to Coach Lesley now - I ended up picking up my pace a tad when I started hunting for it. But actually, I think I was getting lethargic a bit, so this just helped me get back into the groove. I was starting loop two and on a mission to find my missing accessory. I saw a woman that I had crossed paths with on loop one and she hadn't seen it, but said she'd keep an eye out for it. The next 2.5 miles felt great and went by so fast. I think I always need to be on a mission for something and I'll be a better runner! The nice lady and I passed again and still no success for either of us. I started the loop a third time but decided to accept my loss and turned around. On my run back to my neighborhood I saw something on the ground ahead of me. Could it be? The sun was almost sending a beam of light right to it. I sped up ... and there it was! 6.6 miles in and I found my BIC band! Seems I must have lost it at the 1.2 mile mark and didn't even realize it. I realize now that it was the spot that I had stopped running to walk a few paces and grab a drink of water. Lesson learned -- bring bobby pins to Florida just in case!  When I hit the 7 mile mark I was almost 5 minutes ahead of my time from the last long run. That made me happy and put an extra boost in my step. My final mile ended up being my second fastest and I even had energy for a final kick at the end. Yippee!!

So happy to have my headband back where it belongs!

When it was all over I let out a little holler for myself and threw my arms up. I was so happy! After that last long run and feeling so bad, I was relieved to finally feel happy and satisfied that I did my best. I was smiling the entire walk home. It was GREAT!! I never bother posting my splits, but since I had that 88 88 88 88 going through my head, I thought I better post these times just to show that I did a really good job of getting close to 11 minute miles! I found that when I tried to go slower I ended up way too slow, and so I'd speed up, but then I'd be settling into my happy long run pace of 10:25. So here's how it broke down.:

10:24
10:43
11:00
10:49
10:58
10:40
10:53
10:26

So 8 miles in a total time of 1:25:59, for an average pace of 10:43! This is definitely the most I've behaved on the speed and trying to keep it from getting out of control at a faster pace than I'd be able to maintain for 13.1 miles. Woohoo for me!

***I really need new sunglasses. The ones in that picture are the glasses I bought at Universal Studios on Halloween for $15 when my awesome Fossil sunglasses broke. I've been lazy and haven't tried to replace them yet. I must look like a goofball running in them! ***

Basically, I can't wait to tackle nine miles next Sunday! I'm getting so jazzed for this Half Marathon. This run really helped me believe in myself. Hallelujah!!

OH!!! I've now completed exactly 100 miles of this training program! To put it in perspective, I only did 322 in all of 2010! So far I am at 53.7 for 2011!