cloud 9

I'm on cloud 9, y'all.  I just had the best run EVER!  As I whined in my past couple of posts, my September mileage has royally SUCKED with this past week being no exception.  I had little hope for today's 9 miler.  I don't know what happened to this once glass-half-full girl.  Apparently you take me out of my comfort zone and stick me in my running shoes and I lose all confidence.

I still didn't get the 7 or 8 hours of sleep I had hoped for, though I did at least turn my ringer off early on in the evening so as to not be disturbed.  I'm just terrible about getting proper sleep.  BAD KIM!  I did get about 6 1/2 hours.  For breakfast I ate a hard boiled egg, a whole wheat English muffin with reduced fat cream cheese, and a banana.  I brought along some Clif's Shot Bloks with me in case I needed a pick me up, and I headed out the door.

I wasn't sure where we were headed on this run as it was our first time hitting 9.  When they described the plan, I expressed concern over getting lost since I'm so much slower than everyone and since I have a penchant for getting lost.  A lot of my running mates have been on this team in the past, so they know the route.  Everyone was supposed to run a warm-up lap at the park before heading out, so my coach suggested that I run that warm-up lap later and go ahead and head out of the park so that by the time the rest of the group catches up with me, they will be able to guide me through the tricky areas.  It was the perfect plan and it worked!  I only got a little lost after they passed me, but I figured it out and made it work!  ha!

Here's the best part of it all...I ran the entire 9 miles without walk breaks!  I stopped once at mile 6.25 for a bathroom stop and then I had a couple of water stops, but they were quick sips and go...NO WALKING!  I averaged 13:29 - not great, but below the 13:45 marathon pace cap.

My last lap was a timed one, as always.  One of my teammates was still hanging around and offered to run it with me.  I warned her how much slower I was and she said no worries...she would use it as a cool down, so we talked...or rather I tried to talk while she talked normally for my last remaining 1.27 miles.  I actually managed to take 12 seconds off my time from last week.  Not bad for having added 2 miles since last week, either!

Confidence temporarily restored!  Cloud 9 feels pretty darn good!  I hope this weather sticks around as I suspect it had a lot to do with my success.  It's yet another reason why I need to make the transition to morning weekday runs.