Sunday, April 4, 2010

Another 8

Since it was my cutback week (can you hear my legs sighing in relief from there?), I had another 8 miler for my "long run."  I putzed around forever Saturday morning, than finally rolled out of bed.  I made myself some toast with almond butter on it.  Now, before Saturday morning, I was an almond butter virgin.  Am I just weird, or does it have the after taste of marshmellows????  Maybe it was the kind that I had, but it was definitely not what I expected.  Whatever the after taste, it didn't upset my stomach like normal peanut butter does.  Phew.  2 cheers for AB!

I started off the run and felt like I was jogging by somehow flying along.  There was some wind at my back, but my legs felt springy.  Springy legs = happy Jeri.  Seriously the first 4 miles fleeeeeeeew by.  I couldn't believe how fast I had gotten to the turn around point.  As soon as I turned around I was smacked in the face with the wind.  Those last 4 miles were some of the toughest miles I've done lately.  Since my splits were so good the first half, I couldn't let up the second half, right?  I finally made it home after officially cursing the wind/damning it to hell (not sure that I have the ability to do that since I'm not God and all, but thought I would try at the very least).

I did the 8 miles in 1:12:13 for a pace of 9:02.
1. 8:57
2. 9:02
3. 9:07
4. 8:59
5. 9:07
6. 9:08
7. 9:08
8. 8:47


When I got home, I immediately checked the weather, to see what was causing me to run in place for 4 miles.  While it was 7-8 mph winds when I left (when the wind was at my back) it was 20-33 mph on my road back.  Uh yeah.  No wonder I wanted to DIE!  Oh well, I count running into the wind as strength training, so that knocks my ONE TIME of strength training off the list for 2010.  Yes!

In completely random news, both N and I were heading to our respective homes this weekend.  When we dated in high school, it seemed like we lived sooooo faaaaaar away from each other.  I refused to drive, so we only got to see each other when he'd come visit me.  Just for fun, I decided to mapquest how far away we live(d) from each other.  What do you know..... a small little half marathon jaunt.  Kind of funny that he literally felt hours away, when I now run farther than that on a standard Saturday long run.  I was half tempted to do a 13.1 to visit him Easter morning (since there's a MONSTER downhill for about 5 miles, I thought for sure I could break 1:50), but opted not to.  Some other time, perhaps. :)

And just because I love him and missed him oh so much, my puppy Kerby.  I haven't seen him since August.  Love him.


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7 comments:

Generation X (Slomohusky) said...

Your post reminded me of my old High School girlfriend. I used to run from my house to hers at times. It was almost exaclty 7 miles.

Great looking Dog.

Happy Easter!

Jamie said...

I was cursing the wind yet again too this weekend. Great job on the 8!

Glenn Jones said...

Nice way to finish up the week Jeri! One of the "advantages" of running near the ocean is we have wind just about *every* afternoon as the cooler air over the ocean tries to replace the air heating over the land. It took me a while to catch on. Now I always try to run *into* the wind on the first half of my run, and let it push me to the finish. That way I can fool myself and think that I had negative splits!

Anonymous said...

you guys dated in HS?! Yah, one of these days we'll need a back-story ;) heh

on another note - windy runs are officially the bane of my existence. it drives me CRAZY! so, thanks for damning them. nice work :)

Anonymous said...

That's funny! Why didn't you drive? I love driving...I took a road trip to fl when I was 18!

J said...

I love running to a place! Great job on the 8 miles! The wind needs to stop for real! I hate it! Hope you had a good rest of your weekend!

No Longer Using said...

awwwwwwwwwwwww your puppy is SO BEAUTIFUL. Aawww :)

congrats on your 8! fastest mile= your last= AWESOME.