8 miles - whew!

Today my running group ran 8 miles...yikes, that felt really far!

I was good up until my running partner (remember the two x two running line) somehow hit her foot perfectly into a small hole in the road and went down fast & hard into the street. All those running behind us nearly ran into her and I stopped for a moment to help her only to hear the leaders order "KEEP RUNNING! Dave has her!",  so I resumed running trying to both run and look behind to see if she was ok. As explained, one of the leaders in the back of the running line was taking care of her and I was left to run alone til the guy behind me, who was on my heels most of the first half, ran up to run with me. He was annoying but I tuned into the music and tried to ignore him.

At mile 4.5 they had a water station and snack table for us plus lots of water to refill our water bottles and lots of different offerings of food fuel to try- they told us to experiment and see how the different items made you feel. They had potato pieces, bagel pieces, orange slices, grapes, pretzel pieces and much more. I grabbed a few grapes and refilled my water bottle which was nearly empty from the heat. We were then back running and off to finish the miles. My running partner returned here too and finished the run, bloodied knees and all.

At mile 6, my IT band near my left knee starting screaming at me..and every walk break afterwards was a blessing. I was unsure if I might need to stop before the 8 mile mark but I was determined that if I came that far I was not going to let go without a fight. Thank god for the run/walk training…today, there was no other way to have completed my longest run yet!  I was so happy when it was over, my legs hurt and I was done.

I felt great pretty quick afterwards and am thankful that next week is only another 8 mile run...now to research fixing this IT band issue! 

My weekend is not quite over yet- With a 5k run tomorrow with friends still to be done- my monthly race commitment - I am thinking I may not race it and just jog it thru....but we shall see how I feel. Wish me luck! 

My pace group with the LA Leggers taken after our 8 mile run today!