8 miles

This is going to be short and to the point. Week 8, and my 8 mile run is done. Really didn't feel like doing it today, but once I put on the shoes and hit the pavement, all seemed right. Even if I didn't get 8 in today, it would have been ok. But I did it. 1 hour, 9 minutes and 10 seconds. 8:32 average per mile. A little ticked I can't see it all graphed out on MapMyRun (those idots just can't get their crap together sometimes). Anyway, it was good. Three quarters of the way done with my 12 week personal support goal running thing. I know the route I'm doing next week for 9 miles. Should be a good time!!

Humidity

The title says it all. Ran in the Middleton Good Neighbor Fest 5k this morning. The humidity level was somewhere in the mid to upper 90% range. Hazy, foggy. I was feeling really good going into the run, but that feeling was zapped just after the first mile. I don't think I've run in humidity like this before. Humidity and heat are two different beasts. All the water that I put in my body this morning and last night, just seemed to seep out of every pore. There was just no relief from that sticky feeling, and that started playing mind games with me.

There were times I really had to will myself to keep going, to not stop and walk, to not show weakness. I may have slowed up, but I still finished with a respectable time of 23:39 and a 7:39/mi average pace. Really, not bad. I was so disappointed when I finished, I felt like I did terrible. 58th out of 266, 10 of 26 in my division. But no, it wasn't bad. That was really good. There were a lot of really strong runners out there today. And 23:39, that's close to 3 minutes faster than I was a year ago. THREE MINUTES!!! Every month, week, race, I get a little stronger. I think I may go back to music for races, just to get that little extra mental kick.

Coming up this week I've got my week 8, 8 mile run. Should be interesting. Good news is, after Monday it's supposed to cool down. Bad news, it's supposed to rain much of the week. I guess if worse comes to worse, I'll be doing another treadmill run.

Brought the wall up to date with the exception of today's. Wow, what a year!!

Where no munky has gone before

I did my 7 mile run yesterday. It was pretty amazing. I hadn't planned on doing it then as the weather wasn't supposed to be too good. But as the day went on, things looked good. When I got home, it was still sunny out, a few clouds, and humid. I decided to go for it. I was going to run at a pace that felt good. It wasn't all about the time, it was more about the distance. Sure, I still wanted to have a decent time, but it was more important to get the full 7 miles in. Off I went. I'd set out on the trail for 3.5 miles, then turn back. Things felt great! Even after a day of work, I still had the energy. But it was more than energy, it was motivation. I had set a goal, and I was going to make it. I have yet to fail on a goal I've set. Sometimes it might take longer to reach, but I always make it.

It took me just a little over an hour to finish. Yes, I did slow a couple of times. Not because of being tired or hurting. I lost focus. After I had made the turn, there as no reason for me to look again at my watch, but I did. Once I gained my focus back, I picked up the pace and finished strong. Next week is 8 miles. Maybe in need to get the soundtrack to 8 Mile listen to.

Going off the map....sort of

Well, next week is week 7 of my 12 week goal. 7 miles. That's one more mile that I am used to running on my longest runs. I've gone over 6 a few times, but only by accident or if the race route was slightly longer than. I will now be more than halfway through my goal, a goal I set into motion over a month ago, and will carry though on until the end.

A lot of what I do has to do with setting goals and not giving up until the end. I'm not perfect. Have I given up in the past? Sure. Who hasn't. But I've found that goals set in a public forum such as this, tend to stick. It all goes back to the accountability thing. I have no idea how many people actually follow this blog, I can tell that pages have been "viewed". But knowing that, by putting my goals out here, it makes me feel like I owe it to all of you (and myself) to carry through on them. Ever since I started this a year ago, I haven't slowed. I've picked up the pace. I can't believe that a year ago I was getting ready for my first 5k race. A race that I thought might just be a one time thing to help make a difference after learning that a friend had thyroid cancer. Boy was I wrong.

In the last year, I've run over 300 miles (20 of those were this week alone). I've run in almost a dozen races, including two out of state (one of those races was even run for about a block with a really great friend, thanks Brad, I really needed that pick right then). I've had my own small cheering sections of one or two people, thanks Shelly and mom and dad. It's been amazing. Sometimes I wonder why I keep doing it when I could spend the time after work or on the weekends out on my bike cruising the back roads, or sleeping in an other hour on weekdays. I guess it's something that I just really enjoy doing. It keeps me active, helps me focus, and sometimes I can use it to help out a good cause. I love the competition when it's there. I love to see how much I can improve.

After my run today, I was going over what races I still had this year, and became a little sad at seeing how quickly this year is coming to an end. Where has it all gone? Next week I have the Middleton Good Neighbor Festival 5k, followed by the Carbone Race for Research two weeks later. October will bring the Haunted Hustle 5k, going to try and maintain my division win from last year. Instead of the 5k, I will be doing the 10k in the Berbee Derby on Thanksgiving day. December, I'm not sure what is happening then. Last year I was running in Littleton Colorado. As much as I'd love to make it back there, I don't know if that will happen this year. So there's the rest of the year as it stands right now. Still plenty busy, and lots of opertunities to fit more races in.

Going the distance

Ok, I might not be going for speed (all of the time), but I've definitely gone the distance. Yesterday was my week 6, 6 mile run. Today was the Tuesday group run, that turned into two runs totaling 6.66 miles. In the last four days, I've run 19.3. And in the last week, 24.3. And the funny thing is, I'm feeling great! A little sore here and there, but good. It was a hard push on the second run today, but, showed the people at the front of our small group what I was made of when I blew past a few of them at the end. Next week is my 7 mile run, should be good.

And just a reminder, we're a month out now for Carbone's Race for Research. I'm still collecting donations through my participant page. Thank you all for any support that you have given me with my running over the last year. I really am amazed how far I've come, and how I continue to improve.

Video update time

Thank you.