I haven't wanted to blog here since I was a big fat loser last weekend. I started running our long run, got to about 5 miles and couldn't go any further without gagging. I was so weak. My legs and whole body just felt ready to pass out. So, I called KT to come get me and turned out I had a virus that kept me down for 2.5 days.
I know that there was nothing I could do about it and that it's better to not run when you are sick but I still feel like a loser for not doing the 13 mile run that day. I'm going to beat myself up about it until I finish the half in one short week.
This week, I did 4 on Wednesday night all alone. Fine. it was hot. I ran too fast (10:30 mile!) I was still a little weak, whatever it was done.
Met the girls on Thursday morning for another 4 miler and I thought I might die during it. WTH?!
Saturday we went back to SL for a long run around the lake. I hate that lake. The run itself was fine but I just felt like it was hard. I hate running in a circle. Most people hate running out and back but I've realized that in a circle, I'm ALWAYS looking for the end. On an out and back AT LEAST I know where I am and when. Crazy, but true.
Anyway, I talked myself out of stopping the entire time and quite honestly, I still felt weak. Just blah. Not like the strong runner girl I felt like a few weeks ago. I think part of it is my attitude. I need to just get over myself and love running again. Get over the sickies, get over it all.
This week we taper which I'm happy about but totally nervous about. I'm definitely not very good at switching up my normal plan and short runs typically are hard because I think they should be easy when in fact, no run is ever guaranteed to be easy.
Lordy, running is such a wacked out mental game.
I'm going to focus on hydrating and eating healthfully this week. No beer!! Maybe..
Showing posts with label long run. Show all posts
Showing posts with label long run. Show all posts
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Still
I still have nothing much to say about the 12 mile run we did on Saturday. It was really hard. I was starving around mile 4 and luckily our coach was prepared for that. We stopped at 7 miles and were able to eat a banana for the rest of the 5 mile loop.
Everyone keeps asking "did you run the whole 12 miles without stopping?" I kind of hate that question. I also hate the "did you run today?" that people give me EVERY day.
But, back to the did you run the whole time without stopping. I like to just say "yes" because I mean, I ran 12 miles! We did stop at the 7 mile mark to eat a banana and have a potty break but we were stopped for maybe maybe 5 minutes. There was no way in hell I could have run another 5 miles without that banana. Then, as we were going up a beast of a hill around 10.5, I ran maybe 5 yards and then again on the beast of a hill at 11.5 another couple feet. So, I don't really consider those few seconds of walking time as WALKING time.
I have no clue why this matters really.
What does matter is that I didn't feel great during the run. I was TIRED. I never thought "there's no way I can go another second" but it was just hard. I guess it WAS 12 miles so feeling tired, is okay, right? I sure hope so.
On Saturday we are doing 13 miles. Fantastic.
Everyone keeps asking "did you run the whole 12 miles without stopping?" I kind of hate that question. I also hate the "did you run today?" that people give me EVERY day.
But, back to the did you run the whole time without stopping. I like to just say "yes" because I mean, I ran 12 miles! We did stop at the 7 mile mark to eat a banana and have a potty break but we were stopped for maybe maybe 5 minutes. There was no way in hell I could have run another 5 miles without that banana. Then, as we were going up a beast of a hill around 10.5, I ran maybe 5 yards and then again on the beast of a hill at 11.5 another couple feet. So, I don't really consider those few seconds of walking time as WALKING time.
I have no clue why this matters really.
What does matter is that I didn't feel great during the run. I was TIRED. I never thought "there's no way I can go another second" but it was just hard. I guess it WAS 12 miles so feeling tired, is okay, right? I sure hope so.
On Saturday we are doing 13 miles. Fantastic.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
T W E L V E miles.
yes, 12. TWELVE. as in one point one less than race day.
holy crap.
It was hard. I felt weak. but I finished it.
I even stepped it up at the end and pushed it the last 1/4 of a mile.
12 miles in 2:14.
I will try to give more detail tomorrow. For now, I'm sleeping.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
"don't stop, get it get it"
Heh. At about mile 9.2 we saw one of the cheerleader runners and that's what she said to us: "don't stop, get it get it!" She was so right and I so needed to hear that at the time!
Yep, so I totally ran 10 miles today. Not 9.99 or 10.1, but 10 miles. I told Susan there was no.way. I could go anymore than 10. and we didn't!
I woke up this morning and was totally nervous. Freaking out about 10 miles. I ate a 1/2 bagel with peanut butter and banana to give me a little extra fuel with a glass of water. I was thirsty when I woke up so I really wanted a second glass of water but decided that might make my tummy upset once we started running. Good call.
It seemed to me like we started REALLY slow. I almost thought we were going too slow but once we turned the corner and were headed downhill and broke up the packs a little, we were good to go.
There was a little confusion around mile 3 about which direction to go. Honestly, making decisions like that WHEN we are running makes me crazy! The thing of it is, MOST of us know our ways around the parks by now and so what if we add a few miles on in places that our coach didn't technically tell us to? I know we all have to be safe and all that jazz, but by 8:00 in the morning, in the most visited park in the area, I doubt we have much to worry about. AND, most of the smaller groups that are running together have Garmins so it's not like we don't know our mileage and can adjust accordingly. Right? So, I just told them where we should go and we did. No biggie.
After that, we GUed at around 3.6(?) and then all the sudden we were at 7.25. I have no idea where the miles went but they did. It was awesome!! I highly recommend finding a friend that you can talk nonstop to on these long runs. It is great for taking your mind off of what you are doing (RUNNING 10 FREAKING MILES!).
I'm worried I was too bossy when we got to 7.25 miles and I hope Susan will tell me if I was. ;) We were at the nature center and she asked if we needed to go to the bathroom or get water? And I said "NO!".. Of course, I explained to her that she could go if she wanted but I felt like the only reason she wanted to go was because it was there. Maybe I'm totally wrong on that but going up that huge hill to the nature center, going potty and then running again just seemed like too much. We only had 3 miles left! What is 3 miles when you've gone 7?
So, I got her past there without stopping. We just kept on moving. We decided that it might be nice to run out far enough so that we wouldn't have to run the massive hill up past the park, the nature center, the golf course, etc.. that we could end at the bottom of the huge hill if we were at 10 and then walk the rest of the way to the car. We said "take a leisurely stroll to the car", which is exactly what we did!
We ran the greenway out to 8.5 miles, turned around but STILL had to go up the huge hill to the nature center. But it was okay. At the bottom of the hill we were at 9.97. and then finally, we were at 10. And we stopped. Stopped. Stopped.
I tried to refill our water bottles (but the water was ICKY) while I waited and then we took our leisurely stroll up the hill.
Our 10 mile time was 1:52:26 which is faster than any of our previous long runs!! Yeah!
It felt great. I loved it but I'm exhausted tonight. My feet hurt, my shins are bugging me a little.
During the run, my back was hurting as were the balls of my feet. I hope it's not my new socks I bought! My legs were tired but other than that, my breathing was fine most of the time (minus the few hills we had on the course) and it was an all around good run. Tough, but good.
Glad it's over. Mama's going to bed.
Yep, so I totally ran 10 miles today. Not 9.99 or 10.1, but 10 miles. I told Susan there was no.way. I could go anymore than 10. and we didn't!
I woke up this morning and was totally nervous. Freaking out about 10 miles. I ate a 1/2 bagel with peanut butter and banana to give me a little extra fuel with a glass of water. I was thirsty when I woke up so I really wanted a second glass of water but decided that might make my tummy upset once we started running. Good call.
It seemed to me like we started REALLY slow. I almost thought we were going too slow but once we turned the corner and were headed downhill and broke up the packs a little, we were good to go.
There was a little confusion around mile 3 about which direction to go. Honestly, making decisions like that WHEN we are running makes me crazy! The thing of it is, MOST of us know our ways around the parks by now and so what if we add a few miles on in places that our coach didn't technically tell us to? I know we all have to be safe and all that jazz, but by 8:00 in the morning, in the most visited park in the area, I doubt we have much to worry about. AND, most of the smaller groups that are running together have Garmins so it's not like we don't know our mileage and can adjust accordingly. Right? So, I just told them where we should go and we did. No biggie.
After that, we GUed at around 3.6(?) and then all the sudden we were at 7.25. I have no idea where the miles went but they did. It was awesome!! I highly recommend finding a friend that you can talk nonstop to on these long runs. It is great for taking your mind off of what you are doing (RUNNING 10 FREAKING MILES!).
I'm worried I was too bossy when we got to 7.25 miles and I hope Susan will tell me if I was. ;) We were at the nature center and she asked if we needed to go to the bathroom or get water? And I said "NO!".. Of course, I explained to her that she could go if she wanted but I felt like the only reason she wanted to go was because it was there. Maybe I'm totally wrong on that but going up that huge hill to the nature center, going potty and then running again just seemed like too much. We only had 3 miles left! What is 3 miles when you've gone 7?
So, I got her past there without stopping. We just kept on moving. We decided that it might be nice to run out far enough so that we wouldn't have to run the massive hill up past the park, the nature center, the golf course, etc.. that we could end at the bottom of the huge hill if we were at 10 and then walk the rest of the way to the car. We said "take a leisurely stroll to the car", which is exactly what we did!
We ran the greenway out to 8.5 miles, turned around but STILL had to go up the huge hill to the nature center. But it was okay. At the bottom of the hill we were at 9.97. and then finally, we were at 10. And we stopped. Stopped. Stopped.
I tried to refill our water bottles (but the water was ICKY) while I waited and then we took our leisurely stroll up the hill.
Our 10 mile time was 1:52:26 which is faster than any of our previous long runs!! Yeah!
It felt great. I loved it but I'm exhausted tonight. My feet hurt, my shins are bugging me a little.
During the run, my back was hurting as were the balls of my feet. I hope it's not my new socks I bought! My legs were tired but other than that, my breathing was fine most of the time (minus the few hills we had on the course) and it was an all around good run. Tough, but good.
Glad it's over. Mama's going to bed.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
catching up
Saturday, August 1, 2009
We set out on Saturday for our group run. We drove about 30 minutes to Salem Lake and got running pretty much as soon as we got there. We started out FAST.
So, I got all annoyed and pissed off because I could feel that we were running to fast and I was mad at myself for allowing it. Basically, I was just discouraged the entire time and had a crappy attitude about it. I shouldn't have let my mind be negative about the run!
My problem is that when I'm in a new place, running a shorter distance, or when I'm on a trail, I think that the run should be quick? Like, that it's no big deal to run 7 miles when I've been running 8 and 9 for several weeks? But 7 miles is a big deal and I needed to treat it as a big deal.
I didn't dislike the trail or certainly the company.. it was just that I was having a bad day. My knee was hurting, my back was aching a little.. blech.
At the end, there's a monster hill that like Susan has said, "You really need a ladder to get up that hill". I walked most of it because really, it was STRAIGHT UP. On the down part of it, we had to walk because if we ran too fast, we would have rolled right down it!
So whatever it was done. I was glad it was done and was ready for it to be done at mile 2. That's never a good thing.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
This run, I feel better about writing about. I definitely feel like a runner again and have restored my confidence after the crappy run on Saturday. Yesterday, we got an email from our coach that said something about blah, blah, blah, need to work on pace..blah, blah, blah, on a 5-mile run this week, do 1 mile warm up, 1/2 mile at race pace, 1 mile normal (easy) pace, 1/2 mile race pace and finish the run, blah, blah, blah.
So, I made sure my running partners knew what to do because I was a little worried about running hard knowing how 5 miles has been treating me lately. Well, we did the 1 mile run through GA and when we got to the "little park" (I'm sure there's an offiicial name for it, but that's what I call it) we kicked it up and RAN. Susan's Garmin said that our best pace was what? 8:45 and I am pretty sure it was while we were in the little park. We were kicking arse.
Then, we slowed it down and kicked it up again after almost a mile. (I didn't want to hit a hill at a hard pace, so I convinced the girls to start earlier than after a mile.) That was not as hard of a run as we did in the little park but we still had a good pace.
After that was done we were ON the big hill in MP so we slowed a bit.. Then, I don't know what happened to me. I just got the feeling of LET'S GO! SO I did. I really didn't want to kick ass on those hard runs and STILL come in at the normal time at the end. I wanted to improve SOMETHING with all that tiredness I was feeling and we still had 2 miles left to do.
So I just went with it. The second hill in MP was hard but I slowed a bit at the top to get my breathing right again. It never quite got all the way back down but once we hit GA, I was ready to step it up again.
After the big hill for GA, I looked at my watch and saw that we were at 52 minutes. I totally wanted to set a goal at that point to beat 55 minutes. So I looked at Debbie (who I never run with because she's speedy all the time) and said, "think we can finish before 55 minutes? This is the best time I've ever had this summer and I'm ready to kick ass." So we did. We ran hard and finished in 54:48. And, we did 5.19 miles according to Garmin. That means my pace was 10:34!!
WHOO HOO! I've been SO ready for a 10 minute mile all summer and while it wasn't 10 minutes, it was close, right?!
Maybe I can do this 1/2 marathon??
YAY! We have our MOJO BACK ladies!!!!!
Now that I'm 4 hours post-run my knee is hurting and my muscles are sore.. I need to be better about stretching afterwards. I think I might start bringing a towel to lay on the ground so I can stretch. There's something about those public parking lots that totally gross me out.. hehe.
I'm going to ice that knee tonight and keep taking the Glucosamine to see if I feel better. Knee pain sucks.
We set out on Saturday for our group run. We drove about 30 minutes to Salem Lake and got running pretty much as soon as we got there. We started out FAST.
So, I got all annoyed and pissed off because I could feel that we were running to fast and I was mad at myself for allowing it. Basically, I was just discouraged the entire time and had a crappy attitude about it. I shouldn't have let my mind be negative about the run!
My problem is that when I'm in a new place, running a shorter distance, or when I'm on a trail, I think that the run should be quick? Like, that it's no big deal to run 7 miles when I've been running 8 and 9 for several weeks? But 7 miles is a big deal and I needed to treat it as a big deal.
I didn't dislike the trail or certainly the company.. it was just that I was having a bad day. My knee was hurting, my back was aching a little.. blech.
At the end, there's a monster hill that like Susan has said, "You really need a ladder to get up that hill". I walked most of it because really, it was STRAIGHT UP. On the down part of it, we had to walk because if we ran too fast, we would have rolled right down it!
So whatever it was done. I was glad it was done and was ready for it to be done at mile 2. That's never a good thing.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
This run, I feel better about writing about. I definitely feel like a runner again and have restored my confidence after the crappy run on Saturday. Yesterday, we got an email from our coach that said something about blah, blah, blah, need to work on pace..blah, blah, blah, on a 5-mile run this week, do 1 mile warm up, 1/2 mile at race pace, 1 mile normal (easy) pace, 1/2 mile race pace and finish the run, blah, blah, blah.
So, I made sure my running partners knew what to do because I was a little worried about running hard knowing how 5 miles has been treating me lately. Well, we did the 1 mile run through GA and when we got to the "little park" (I'm sure there's an offiicial name for it, but that's what I call it) we kicked it up and RAN. Susan's Garmin said that our best pace was what? 8:45 and I am pretty sure it was while we were in the little park. We were kicking arse.
Then, we slowed it down and kicked it up again after almost a mile. (I didn't want to hit a hill at a hard pace, so I convinced the girls to start earlier than after a mile.) That was not as hard of a run as we did in the little park but we still had a good pace.
After that was done we were ON the big hill in MP so we slowed a bit.. Then, I don't know what happened to me. I just got the feeling of LET'S GO! SO I did. I really didn't want to kick ass on those hard runs and STILL come in at the normal time at the end. I wanted to improve SOMETHING with all that tiredness I was feeling and we still had 2 miles left to do.
So I just went with it. The second hill in MP was hard but I slowed a bit at the top to get my breathing right again. It never quite got all the way back down but once we hit GA, I was ready to step it up again.
After the big hill for GA, I looked at my watch and saw that we were at 52 minutes. I totally wanted to set a goal at that point to beat 55 minutes. So I looked at Debbie (who I never run with because she's speedy all the time) and said, "think we can finish before 55 minutes? This is the best time I've ever had this summer and I'm ready to kick ass." So we did. We ran hard and finished in 54:48. And, we did 5.19 miles according to Garmin. That means my pace was 10:34!!
WHOO HOO! I've been SO ready for a 10 minute mile all summer and while it wasn't 10 minutes, it was close, right?!
Maybe I can do this 1/2 marathon??
YAY! We have our MOJO BACK ladies!!!!!
Now that I'm 4 hours post-run my knee is hurting and my muscles are sore.. I need to be better about stretching afterwards. I think I might start bringing a towel to lay on the ground so I can stretch. There's something about those public parking lots that totally gross me out.. hehe.
I'm going to ice that knee tonight and keep taking the Glucosamine to see if I feel better. Knee pain sucks.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
cussin' and runnin'
I cussed a lot on today's 9-mile run. It was hard...kind of. There were parts where I wasn't sure my body could go another inch but I'd just push it and it would go. Running is a huge mental game and today, my mental game was not at it's peak. This is not to say it was a bad run. It wasn't. It was just that my body was tired from vacation and not sleeping much last night (worried my alarm wouldn't go off and guess what? It didn't!)
I met Maria and Susan at 6am and we headed out. The first mile was a killer and I swear my legs were doing really wonky things. I finally got into my groove and just whisked away the miles. We GUed at 3.5 and 6.5 which was perfect. I needed my GU.
The hardest part about this trail that we do out and back is the last freaking hill before you hit the apartments. It's pretty much straight up and deary, it's tough. We didn't walk AT ALL during the entire run but on the hills, we were going pretty slow.
Luckily, Susan told me when we were at 8 miles (my plan called for 8 today) but I decided what's another mile? And then, as soon as I made that decision for myself who do we hear behind us? Our coach!! Thank goodness I didn't stop. She was very complimentary saying that we looked like we'd just started -- yeah right. I slowed down a little during that last mile because I knew the big ass GA hill was coming up and I wanted to run it...not walk it.
At the end, I felt good but now, I'm really stiff. My hip flexors are KILLING me. I need to go take some ibuprophen, I think.
I loved being on vacation but I love being back in the swing of my routine even more. And a 9 mile run on the first day back was just what the doctor ordered!
5 miles coming up on Tuesday. I'm gonna try hard not to cuss.
I met Maria and Susan at 6am and we headed out. The first mile was a killer and I swear my legs were doing really wonky things. I finally got into my groove and just whisked away the miles. We GUed at 3.5 and 6.5 which was perfect. I needed my GU.
The hardest part about this trail that we do out and back is the last freaking hill before you hit the apartments. It's pretty much straight up and deary, it's tough. We didn't walk AT ALL during the entire run but on the hills, we were going pretty slow.
Luckily, Susan told me when we were at 8 miles (my plan called for 8 today) but I decided what's another mile? And then, as soon as I made that decision for myself who do we hear behind us? Our coach!! Thank goodness I didn't stop. She was very complimentary saying that we looked like we'd just started -- yeah right. I slowed down a little during that last mile because I knew the big ass GA hill was coming up and I wanted to run it...not walk it.
At the end, I felt good but now, I'm really stiff. My hip flexors are KILLING me. I need to go take some ibuprophen, I think.
I loved being on vacation but I love being back in the swing of my routine even more. And a 9 mile run on the first day back was just what the doctor ordered!
5 miles coming up on Tuesday. I'm gonna try hard not to cuss.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
8ish miles
Quick update because surprise--I'm exhausted. Let me just say being a busy person with a busy baby can make a girl tired. I've been, literally, chasing Will all day. I think he is my cross-training.
Yesterday, we got together for our group run. It was nice to be together since we haven't gotten together for 2 weeks now. I miss seeing all the girls and Liz, even if she did seem a little cranky before we got going. ;) I'm pretty sure having hundreds (?) of women to deal with day in and day out gets pretty exhausting for her...
On my schedule was 7 miles but my Tues/Thursday running partner had 8 on her schedule. So I thought, there's no harm in going out 4 with her and then walking the last mile. I really didn't mind doing that and had every intention to do so.
The first 4 miles were fine..although we were in a icky pack at the beginning which I hate. I always run too fast when we do that. And I realized it was hot not long after we started. There was nice cloud coverage and we ran the greenway, so luckily the sun wasn't beating down on us but it was still humid.
Around 3.8 we GUed. I love GU. I told Susan stories and she told me some. It's really nice to have a whole hour + to chat with girlfriends. How often do most women and moms really spend time together just chatting? Probably not much and when running, what else is there to do? But talk about birthing babies, blogging, stupid ex-husbands of friends, pets, gatorade vs. water, the pretty scenery, etc. It's awesome.
Sorry, I lost my train of thought there..
Ok, so we turned around at 4 miles and head back the way we came. No problem but I did notice my breathing was a little hard so I knew we were going too fast. I tried to slow it down and then boom, boom, boom... hill, hill, hill. Ugh. The hills were long and a little tough on this run this time...definitely more difficult than they were last time we ran this same route.
At the next to last hill, I swear, my legs just STOPPED. It was the weirdest feeling. I was going and going and then, BAM! Nothing. So I walked up that hill and asked Garmin how far we'd been and my partner said "7.15". Whew. I knew I could just stop and walk the rest of the way if I wanted to. But, you know how this story ends.
I started to run.. walked.. ran..walked and then just ran. Ran to the finish. I was SO over the entire thing and just wanted to be done. And seeing my partner up in front of me made me keep going. I wanted to keep up with her!
So, all that to say I really don't know how far I ran. But I definitely ran/walked 8 miles. I would guess I ran a total of 7.75 miles total because I really didn't walk far when I did walk. It might be crazy that I've gone a mile over my schedule both of the past two weeks, but my schedule has been all messed up anyway. I did 3 to make up for the 8 the first week and this week, I totally didn't even run 1 minute on a scheduled day.. so it's not like I'm overacheiving or anything in terms of total miles.
I'm maybe stressing a little about my goal time for the race. I really need to think about it and decide how exactly I'm going to finish in my goal time. Because if I don't reach it, I might be disappointed. My ultimate goal is to finish it without walking but I really would like to finish in a time I have in my head... we'll see... guess I need to start listening to our coach about how to be a stronger runner, huh? :)
Yesterday, we got together for our group run. It was nice to be together since we haven't gotten together for 2 weeks now. I miss seeing all the girls and Liz, even if she did seem a little cranky before we got going. ;) I'm pretty sure having hundreds (?) of women to deal with day in and day out gets pretty exhausting for her...
On my schedule was 7 miles but my Tues/Thursday running partner had 8 on her schedule. So I thought, there's no harm in going out 4 with her and then walking the last mile. I really didn't mind doing that and had every intention to do so.
The first 4 miles were fine..although we were in a icky pack at the beginning which I hate. I always run too fast when we do that. And I realized it was hot not long after we started. There was nice cloud coverage and we ran the greenway, so luckily the sun wasn't beating down on us but it was still humid.
Around 3.8 we GUed. I love GU. I told Susan stories and she told me some. It's really nice to have a whole hour + to chat with girlfriends. How often do most women and moms really spend time together just chatting? Probably not much and when running, what else is there to do? But talk about birthing babies, blogging, stupid ex-husbands of friends, pets, gatorade vs. water, the pretty scenery, etc. It's awesome.
Sorry, I lost my train of thought there..
Ok, so we turned around at 4 miles and head back the way we came. No problem but I did notice my breathing was a little hard so I knew we were going too fast. I tried to slow it down and then boom, boom, boom... hill, hill, hill. Ugh. The hills were long and a little tough on this run this time...definitely more difficult than they were last time we ran this same route.
At the next to last hill, I swear, my legs just STOPPED. It was the weirdest feeling. I was going and going and then, BAM! Nothing. So I walked up that hill and asked Garmin how far we'd been and my partner said "7.15". Whew. I knew I could just stop and walk the rest of the way if I wanted to. But, you know how this story ends.
I started to run.. walked.. ran..walked and then just ran. Ran to the finish. I was SO over the entire thing and just wanted to be done. And seeing my partner up in front of me made me keep going. I wanted to keep up with her!
So, all that to say I really don't know how far I ran. But I definitely ran/walked 8 miles. I would guess I ran a total of 7.75 miles total because I really didn't walk far when I did walk. It might be crazy that I've gone a mile over my schedule both of the past two weeks, but my schedule has been all messed up anyway. I did 3 to make up for the 8 the first week and this week, I totally didn't even run 1 minute on a scheduled day.. so it's not like I'm overacheiving or anything in terms of total miles.
I'm maybe stressing a little about my goal time for the race. I really need to think about it and decide how exactly I'm going to finish in my goal time. Because if I don't reach it, I might be disappointed. My ultimate goal is to finish it without walking but I really would like to finish in a time I have in my head... we'll see... guess I need to start listening to our coach about how to be a stronger runner, huh? :)
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Kicking some asphalt - 8 miles!
Hooray!! An awesome run!
That 10k has been messing with my head in terms of doing more long runs. I thought about the 7 miles ALL DAY yesterday and was trying to stay focused on what I needed to do: get through 7 miles, without walking. Sounds easy enough right? Right.
I got into bed at 8:30 and picked up a book that I've been hanging onto even though it isn't mine.. It's Julie's.. (sorry Jules)... and I happend to have been reading the part that I needed to get through today's run. It talked about all the limits we put on ourselves. Saying "I can't" or feeling a pain or not eating enough, drinking enough, etc. It even talked about GU in the 4 pages that I read last night. Talk about perfect! The author said very clearly that if you GU when you feel like you need to, it's too late.
So with all this in mind, I decided I wanted to be POSITIVE. I was going to go into this run with nothing but GREAT thoughts and KNOWING that I could do it. I CAN DO IT. I also knew that in order to get through the run, I might have to slow my pace more than the others and just focus on taking care of myself so that I could finish without walking (I honestly HATE to walk.)
We got going and it was the three of us that it usually is, Maria, Susan and I. We just kept running. We took a new route that wasn't hilly persay but had hill that were STRAIGHT UP and very short. So, totally doable.
Now, this mother runner is a little bit crazy about whole numbers and not stopping before a clear stopping place. We were running the greenway and were set to turn around at 3.5 miles. Well, you could SEE the road up ahead where the greenway crossed the street and I didn't feel like we should turn around mid-greenway (if that makes any sense AT ALL) and knowing Susan had to do 8 miles, I thought we could just keep going to the CLEAR turn around spot and that way she'd have less to do alone. Right?
At the turn around spot, we were at 3.66. We GUed not long after that and just kept moving. We were chatting and chatting and the time went quickly.
I hit a little bit of a wall around the 5 mile mark (I'm guessing it was 5 miles) but talked myself out of it by telling the girls about the book I had read last night. We just kept on moving.
Finally, I asked Susan what Garmin was saying and we were at 6.83!!!!! Yahoo!! Then we chatted even more until we'd realized we'd gone over our 7 mile mark...we were at 7.15 at this point. And remember? I like whole numbers and stopping at a stopping point and here we were, done with all the hard hills smack dab in the middle of the greenway. We CLEARLY coudn't stop at that point. Right? Right.
So Maria and I decided we felt great, let's go the extra mile with Susan. Susan might need us on that extra mile and WHO wants to do an entire MILE alone after already doing 7? No one! That's what we are all there for! To keep each other going! So we did it!
We ran around the parking lot, circled around and came back. I'll be very honest in saying that around the 7.8 mile mark I was TIRED. I told the girls that and they agreed, which helped. We moved and moved, got to our cars and were at 7.97... so you guessed it, we kept going to right at 8 miles. And luckily for this totally crazy obsessive person, we stopped RIGHT at the gate at the cemetary. So, it was a pretty visible stopping line.
I'm telling ya, it felt GREAT!! When we stopped, I wasn't out of breath at.all. and we all seemed perfectly fine. Love it!
We stretched, looked at our watches and realized how late it was! I was missing out on seeing my men before school and work, so we left quickly. I need my morning hug from my little man!
Now, as I sit here, my hips are a little sore and my legs are feeling the 8 miles. But, I did it! And the best part was spending lots of time with great friends and holding a great conversation for 1.5 hours!
So excited!!
That 10k has been messing with my head in terms of doing more long runs. I thought about the 7 miles ALL DAY yesterday and was trying to stay focused on what I needed to do: get through 7 miles, without walking. Sounds easy enough right? Right.
I got into bed at 8:30 and picked up a book that I've been hanging onto even though it isn't mine.. It's Julie's.. (sorry Jules)... and I happend to have been reading the part that I needed to get through today's run. It talked about all the limits we put on ourselves. Saying "I can't" or feeling a pain or not eating enough, drinking enough, etc. It even talked about GU in the 4 pages that I read last night. Talk about perfect! The author said very clearly that if you GU when you feel like you need to, it's too late.
So with all this in mind, I decided I wanted to be POSITIVE. I was going to go into this run with nothing but GREAT thoughts and KNOWING that I could do it. I CAN DO IT. I also knew that in order to get through the run, I might have to slow my pace more than the others and just focus on taking care of myself so that I could finish without walking (I honestly HATE to walk.)
We got going and it was the three of us that it usually is, Maria, Susan and I. We just kept running. We took a new route that wasn't hilly persay but had hill that were STRAIGHT UP and very short. So, totally doable.
Now, this mother runner is a little bit crazy about whole numbers and not stopping before a clear stopping place. We were running the greenway and were set to turn around at 3.5 miles. Well, you could SEE the road up ahead where the greenway crossed the street and I didn't feel like we should turn around mid-greenway (if that makes any sense AT ALL) and knowing Susan had to do 8 miles, I thought we could just keep going to the CLEAR turn around spot and that way she'd have less to do alone. Right?
At the turn around spot, we were at 3.66. We GUed not long after that and just kept moving. We were chatting and chatting and the time went quickly.
I hit a little bit of a wall around the 5 mile mark (I'm guessing it was 5 miles) but talked myself out of it by telling the girls about the book I had read last night. We just kept on moving.
Finally, I asked Susan what Garmin was saying and we were at 6.83!!!!! Yahoo!! Then we chatted even more until we'd realized we'd gone over our 7 mile mark...we were at 7.15 at this point. And remember? I like whole numbers and stopping at a stopping point and here we were, done with all the hard hills smack dab in the middle of the greenway. We CLEARLY coudn't stop at that point. Right? Right.
So Maria and I decided we felt great, let's go the extra mile with Susan. Susan might need us on that extra mile and WHO wants to do an entire MILE alone after already doing 7? No one! That's what we are all there for! To keep each other going! So we did it!
We ran around the parking lot, circled around and came back. I'll be very honest in saying that around the 7.8 mile mark I was TIRED. I told the girls that and they agreed, which helped. We moved and moved, got to our cars and were at 7.97... so you guessed it, we kept going to right at 8 miles. And luckily for this totally crazy obsessive person, we stopped RIGHT at the gate at the cemetary. So, it was a pretty visible stopping line.
I'm telling ya, it felt GREAT!! When we stopped, I wasn't out of breath at.all. and we all seemed perfectly fine. Love it!
We stretched, looked at our watches and realized how late it was! I was missing out on seeing my men before school and work, so we left quickly. I need my morning hug from my little man!
Now, as I sit here, my hips are a little sore and my legs are feeling the 8 miles. But, I did it! And the best part was spending lots of time with great friends and holding a great conversation for 1.5 hours!
So excited!!
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