8 MILES (what happened to 7?)

I completed 8 miles today! IT. WAS. AWFUL.

I am so damn tired right now I can't even begin to explain it. Work is kicking my ass and the emotional exhaustion is taking a toll on my body. This last week I missed both of my short runs and all of my cross training (14 hour days at the office will do that to you). I hadn't run since my 7 miler last Sunday. That's right, I ran 7 miles last Sunday, but you didn't know about it because I didn't have time to update the blog. Such a travesty!

Those 7 miles last Sunday were blissful. I ran alone, which isn't my first choice, but I made it through okay. The first 2  miles were tough as usual but I got in a groove and before I knew it I was done.

7 miler stats:  7.00 miles / 1:34:52 / 13'33" per mile

The last time I ran 7 miles my average was 15'22"...............so much progress =)

And then there was today! Riverside literally kicked my tail. Sandy ran with me, thank God, because I don't think I would've made it 100 yards by myself. Not running for a whole week has a tendency to make your body say "WTF are you doing?" when you pick it back up again and try to run 8 miles. There was A LOT of walking today, and my average pace suffered because of it, but I finished! We got 2 miles in and I started telling Sandy every quarter mile or so "I'm not going to make it.......I can't do this.......I'm too tired.......my legs aren't working". I'm sure I was a real peach to run with today (sorry Sandy). Her response each and every time was "you've got this!". Every time she would say it I wanted to scream NO I DON'T! But she was right in the end. I kept pushing and eventually we finished. I have never felt that much physical exhaustion during a run. I have had to push through mental walls in the past and I've even had to push through not wanting to run at all. But today was different; today I had all the mental toughness in the world and I wanted to run, but my body was just not cooperating.

8 miler stats:  8.00 miles / 1:57:15 / 14'39" per mile

I haven't averaged over 14 minutes per mile in a long time so that is a tough pill to swallow, but you do what you have to do to finish, and today that meant frequent walking breaks.

Sandy was telling me about a grumpy cat pic she saw recently that made me laugh histerically and it also reminds me of us on our long runs. See if you can guess which on is me..............