Yesterday I did my 8 mile run. It took me 1 hours 29 minutes. It was a beautiful morning, almost 40 degrees and sunny. It had a feeling of spring to it. I heard some birds and the sun felt warm. I used mapmyrun to set my route, but when I was out there running I forgot specifically which route would get me to the 8 miles and I turned a little too soon on one of my roads. I had to make it up on route 17 and some back roads. I use my ipod to tell me my distance. I used the walk/run method with a ratio of 4/1.
For breakfast I had my oatmeal and skim milk about 1.5 hours before my run and some tea. It took me a while to wake up and get out there. But mentally I was ready. I wore my water belt with two bottles filled up this time. It did feel heavy but I got used to it. I also wore my calf sleeves again and they were fine. I didn’t even notice I was wearing them. At around 42 minutes I ate my vanilla bean gu and had some water during a walk break. I think it did help because I still had another 45 minutes to run after that and I had the endurance. Around mile 7.3 my legs were feeling heavy but I was close to the home stretch. I think I have to do another week of 8 miles so that my legs will get used to the distance. I also think I should have brought my stingers with me and chewed on a few to give me a little sugar blast for the last mile or 2.
I had my ovaltine and a cold bath when I came home and wore my compression socks for the rest of the day. I am wearing the compressions socks this morning as well just to help get me going. I am pleased with my distance and look forward to my next long run. While I was running and listening to a podcast from Jeff Galloway he said “you can run a marathon”. I definitely feel that is true. I CAN run a marathon. Of course I have to train for it; but I do believe this is something that I will do in my near and not too far off future.