Week 8: Breaking Barriers

Day 56: rest
Day 55: 47 mins - 6.0 miles
Day 54: 35 mins - 4.45 miles
Day 53: 40 mins - 5.17 miles
Day 52: rest
Day 51: 30 mins - 3.15 miles (still feeling awkward from yesterday's run, the ice pack is my new best friend...trying to give my body lots of TLC!)
Day 50: 90 mins - 10.70 miles

10.70 miles without walking...a new personal best!!! But, I unfortunately had to skip the team practice again. My best friend came to visit me so I needed to be efficient with time. Driving 45 mins each direction to Tacoma didnt seem like the best use of my time. Although, I apparently missed an incredible run over the Tacoma Narrows bridge :( maybe we'll do it again sometime! Instead, I recruited a friend and former college distance runner to accompany me on a 10 mile route I mapped out. The route I mapped out for us to run started at my house in Silverdale and ended at a waterfront coffee shop in downtown Poulsbo, WA. My best friend met us there for a post-run breakfast and coffee.

The run itself was pretty good. We started running at 7:30am and took the first 5 miles fairly easy. I had no idea what to expect on a run this long. After 6 miles, we stopped for a water break and a 'Gu experience' which i had strategically planted along side the road earlier that morning before my running partner got to my house. The last 4 miles of the run were ran at a grueling pace, about 7:40 per mile. I felt really good until I hit about 8 miles....then it got tough. At that point I was really happy to have a running partner who could keep me motivated. I was nervous we weren't going to make it to the coffee shop within the estimated time, so kept pushing the pace to make up for lost time from the slow start. The last part of the run was uphill and I was dying!! When we got to the "goal line" (the coffee shop) I was surprised that I still had 2 minutes of running time left! I did a little victory dance for meeting my goal and running 10 miles, then kept going to get the full 90 minutes. Never before in my ENTIRE life I have I EVER ran more than 8.5 miles and today I ran 10 MILES! I ran so long, that for the first time in my running life, my running playlist on my ipod started repeating....hmm. I am going to need to add more motivational music to keep up with my training. The rest of the day, i felt kinda cruddy, but it was totally worth it. I'm just wondering...if i feel this cruddy after 10 miles, how will I feel after 26.2???