Does everyone remember yesterday when I said I was going to go out and run 8 miles today in under an hour and ten minutes?  To be honest, I knew I had wanted to run eight today, but had no clue whether or not I would be able to hit that time mark.  I haven’t come anywhere close to that in any of my races lately, and sadly outside of races I haven’t really been doing any running.

I went back and forth in my head on when I wanted to head out for the run.  Initially, I had thought I would go in the morning when I woke up.  Then I slept until after 9!  Much needed rest, but kinda threw me off a little.  Amy and I were supposed to head out together, but she needed to be at work at noon which meant being in the shower by 10.  Definitely not going to happen if we had gone out to run.  So I decided that I would go with her when she got home from work in the afternoon.

Amy got home around 4 and was exhausted, not surprised there as she has a tiring job.  She decided to forego the run today and instead take a nap.  I can’t say that I didn’t consider doing the same, but I knew I needed to get out for a run, and am really glad with my decision to head out for my eight miler.

It was a good feeling to get back out putting rubber to pavement.  I went out on my usual long run route which can vary in mileage from 4-5 miles to upward of ten miles depending on just a few turns.  I did some light stretching at home and then took the first mile a little easier to let my legs warm up.  I felt pretty good for the first three miles, and then felt that I had to really work to keep the pace up.  To my delight, I was able to push through some fatigue and keep my pace exactly where I wanted to.

A great run, a BIG confidence boost to head into this week of training.  Next weekend I’d like to do a 10 miler under 1:25:00.  Let’s Go!!