8 miles

I've been doing my long runs on Saturday mornings up to this point, reluctantly. Of course that hasn't too many runs yet ~ I think I started at 5 miles, so I've done 6, 7 and this week 8. I decided to try the long run on Friday morning, hopeful that sleeping in on Saturday would feel like heaven. I was so right.

Julie ran 6 miles with me two weeks ago and we've been doing a once a week 3 miler together, too. We agreed to meet Friday morning to run 8. Our run started at the high school tennis courts where there is a conveniently placed port a potty. We stretched a little, chuckled nervously over the insanity of attempting to run 8 miles, walked a lap around the block, then took off running.

My 7 mile run the week before had been rough, so I wasn't sure how this would go. Of course prior to my 7 miler I had stayed up past midnight, eaten an enormous pile of cheese (who can resist smoked gouda?), and had about zero water to drink all day. Oh yes, I was in fine form to run 7 miles. The run was as good as my preparation, but I had a good time with Christi and was thankful to have that week behind me.

In an attempt to learn from my mistake, I got a lot more sleep for the 8 mile, hydrated more carefully and refrained from large piles of gouda the night before. I set my intervals for 5:1, thinking we could back off if we needed to.

I think to both Julie's and my surprise, the run went great! We ran down Miller, out past the railroad tracks, through the farm fields and all the way to Highway 99, our turn around point. The whole time we were chatting and occasionally snacking on little bites of the Clif Bar I had torn into chunks and tucked into the zipper pouch on my water belt. I'm not sure if the Clif Bars bites help, but at least they give me something to look forward to.

Julie and I turned around at the highway and headed back, both realizing we were feeling good. We continued our 5:1 run/walk intervals until about mile 6, when we decided to run the rest of the way in without the walk breaks. It was so great to realize we could not only accomplish the 8 miles, but finish strong! Such a high! I came home and used my energy to clean house.

Since I started marathon training the beginning of September I've been constantly squishing down the thought that I'm not really sure I'm capable of pulling this off. Out there around mile 7 this week I had the glorious thought that maybe I really AM capable of this. I feel an excitement about the weeks ahead ~ somebody remind me of that when I need it, please.