I ran 8 miles today

I really thought, "can I do this?" I was scared when I left the parking lot this morning, especially after listening to Coach Allen talking about where we would be going. I started off slow, maybe too slow but I didn't want to burn out you know. So the path was nice but my knee, even in my new shoes, was killing me. I wouldn't leave the house this morning without stretching out my muscles with trusty foam roller (that the children think is a wonderful toy). I made it about two miles and really started feeling better. By mile three I could hardly tell that my knee even hurt and I actually ended stronger on the last four miles than I thought I would. I finished 8 miles in 1 hour 28 minutes which is exactly 88 minutes and 11 minutes a mile. Although 11 minute miles aren't very good I am still proud of myself. I did it and I think I can do it at a bit faster pace next Saturday at our 9 mile run. We have speed work on Tuesday and I hopefully can kick it into high gear on Tuesday at the speed work out and maybe do some more interval training while running on Monday and Thursday this week to increase my speed and stamina.


I really didn't want too many people to know that I was doing this mostly because I'm scared to death of failing. But I really wanted FFP to be supportive and my closest friends. Everyone else is gravy. The more support I have the better right? I don't know. This is kinda scary and I'm not so afraid of not completing it as not finishing strong enough, or fast enough. Other people have expectations that are different than yours. My wish is to come in at 2 hours and 15 minutes. I shouldn't care that others don't think that's fast enough but I do. I care because that's how I'm made but if less people know the less are disappointed in me and that's how I work. Now I really need to work on positive self talk. I did it today while running, telling myself I'm strong and I can finish strong. I have found that running with a group is so much better than running by myself. I actually stay motivated. Those along runs are really hard. I'm not sure what to do about them.