BFFF weekend recap + 9 mile run

I had such a blast this weekend, it's always good to catch up with the BFFF. I got into town early Friday evening and we set out to get OJ to pair with her champagne for mimosas "getting ready" drinks. The mimosas were followed by some pinot noir and some other libations at various bars in town. And I got to run into a bunch of people from my high school days that I hadn't seen forever. It was so nice to catch up. :) 

Saturday one of Sheana's boyfriend's friend's had a boat and took us out to enjoy our first sunny day in June. Thanks to my sunscreen application in the necessary areas and just a smidge of tanning oil on my lower legs (they won't tan otherwise, grrrr) I left with a nice brown tan and no pink/red to speak of. Success. Saturday night we had a delicious BBQ at her boyfriend's house with all of his roommates and some random friends. It was nummy and entertaining. Because we were drained from being in the sun all day, we called it a night eeeeeeeeeearly. Unfortunately for me and my very light sleeping tendencies, I couldn't sleep in a houseful of LOUD BOYS. I was kind of concerned for my 9 miler that was to come on Sunday since I was crabby pants and didn't see sleep happening anytime soon. :(

Sunday I went home home to my parents house (conveniently it's on the way from the BFFF's to my home) to see the madre and the dog, Kerby. Of course Igboo (the cat) was MIA as usual, so I didn't get to say hi. :( The cat is always scared of me for the first 12 hours I'm home, and then remembers that we're BFF, and won't leave my side. I set my mom to work hemming some dress pants, and taking in a dress that I got in April that is now too big. whoops. While she was working on that, I went to visit another BFF and see her lil baby. He's pretty stinkin' cute and it was really nice to catch up with her too. :)

It was a fairly cool day 77, with a light breeze, so I wanted to get back home asap so I could run before it decided to get any warmer. Plus Taylor was getting back from Chi-town and I wanted to be done running and showering by the time he got back. My training plan had me doing 7 miles, but to be honest, I'm BORED with the Higdon Intermediate 5k plan. This is my third time doing it since January, and I'm snoozing. My 1/2 training starts immediately after my race June 27th, and the long runs start at 9 miles, so I figured I'd do one Sunday to gauge my progress.

I bought my very first ClifShot (mocha) to try during my run and was nervous/excited to see if it would upset my stomach/help with my run. Since it was pretty stinkin' warm out still (and I was running 2 miles farther out on the trail then I usually do, and wasn't sure of the water situation) I made sure to drink water at almost every fountain I saw (roughly 1.5 miles). This was probably more often than necessary, but waiting 3 miles seemed like too much.

My first mile beeped in at 8:58. HA! What were my crazy legs thinking?

Second mile: 9:05. Oh lordy. My long runs are supposed to be done around 9:48 pace, my goal HM pace is slightly under 9 mm.

Mile 3: 8:58. In the middle of this mile I took my ClifShot. Because I was wearing it in my inside "key" pocket in my tempo shorts, it was EXTRA hot. It was like a super thick melted chocolate gooiness. But it was actually pretty good. I washed it down with a swig of water, and was on my way. When I did my last 8 miler, I started to fade around Mile 4, so I thought this would kick in (hopefully) prior to me slowing down.

Mile 4: 8:49 Whoa!

Mile 5: 8:46 I always start to speed up after my "halfway home" point, so this wasn't too surprising, but I was still concerned about crashing and burning. :(

Mile 6: 8:45 I FINALLY found a bathroom along the trail, as I had been holding it since .25 miles into the run. Sweet, sweet relief. :)

Mile 7: 8:43 The consistency is kind of freaking me out now.

Mile 8: 8:28 Finally around 7.5 miles into the run, I started to feel like I was "working." But I figured, heck, I can tough it out for 1.5 miles. All mental from here. Of course after the time came in for that mile I knew why I felt like I was struggling!

Mile 9: 7:47!!! Seriously now, that's crazy sauce. That's my 5k pace! After running 8 solid/quick miles before.

Total time: 1:18:23 for a pace of 8:43.

Now I know this was not a "smart" training run, but it was SUCH a confidence booster. My speed has improved immensely over the last 5 months, but I felt like I was still struggling with any distances over 5 miles maintaining a strong pace. After this run, I'm pretty confident that I can break 2 hours in the 1/2 in September, and run under 9 mm miles for the duration. And I can also put more confidence in the training schedule without having to test it on another long run. But dang it, that was FUN! :)

When I got home I took a glass of ice water out into the grass to enjoy some stretching in the breeze. The shower after was a-ma-zing. And I was done just in time for Taylor to get back into town. I missed that boy. :) We shared stories of our weekend over seafood alfredo at Olive Garden (had to replace those 816 calories somehow!) and spent the rest of the night snuggling and watching Revolutionary Road. Overall it was such a great weekend! And now I know the key to a good long run is minimal sleep the night before and burning hatred for loud 20-somethings from midnight-7am. :)

Also, don't go here and don't register to win the sweet (I mean crappy) giveaway because it's lame carpet samples and not a $75 gift certificate for SHOES.