Thanks For the Advice and Encouragement #PROOF

Today we ran 8 miles - it was the quickest 8 miles that we have run yet.  I don't know why 8 miles is a hard distance for me when 9 and 10 don't seem to be.  Perhaps because I think I should be able to go faster cause it is only 8 miles and I push harder to do that.

But we did get it done in 98.5 minutes and that is 9.5 minutes faster than the first one we did in September, and it is is 3.5 minutes faster than the one we did towards the end of March.  So, I am really happy about that.

W3 R98.5 @20/1 W4
stretch 15 minutes

It was an out-and-back route today and we did the first 4 miles in 48 minutes. So the 50.5 minute second half is not bad cause it included that hill.  I told The Captain when we were finished today and starting our cooldown walk, that I am never running up that hill again.  EVER.

My left hip started aching at about the 5 mile mark and really didn't give me a break.  We did a 20 minute/1 minute run/walk pace today in order to remember to have a drink every 20 minutes, and the ache did stop when I walked, but as soon as I started running, it started up again, too.  I was determined not to let it get me down.

I was pretty glad we only did 8 miles.  And since then I have done about 15 minutes of stretching,  have drunk lots of water, a recovery drink, and hot spicy chai, eaten a banana and a high-protein lunch, tolerated a cold shower on my legs and then enjoyed a steamy hot shower... and now my hamstings are tight and my legs feel like lead.    I think I will have an epsom salts soak before bed.

Today, for the first time, I wore one of the handful bras that I won several weeks ago, to run in. I love them but hadn't tried them out during a sweaty run.  I am so glad I finally tried it because I could barely tell it was there.... and that is the best thing I can think of to say about a bra.

Thanks so much to everyone who left me a comment on my last post where I reached out and asked for advice.  Your comments made me realize that I am not alone in feeling a bit run down at this point in my half marathon training... and that I have put in enough miles already to be able to complete the 13.1 mile run on race day.  I appreciate your encouragement so much. 

I had been feeling a bit like I was letting myself down by not feeling up to running 10 or 11 miles today, and I am grateful to know that I really haven't at all... that it is okay to scale back a bit at this point.  Big hugs and shouts of THANK YOU from me for sure.

Here we are, still sweaty from our run, checking in to say Thanks To All of You for the great advice and support you have shown during these last several weeks and months during our half marathon training.