June 14, 2011 Our first 8 Miler!!!

Sunday, 6/12/11.  T and I's first 8 miler EVER.
 (Happy Birthday T!)

Let me just say that the most miles we had gone prior to this was 5 consecutive miles.  That's a HUGE leap!  And believe you and me, my lungs noticed!! 

If you have ever wondered what someone smells like after running 8 miles, here's a clue.  The next time you are in your car driving at in the country, roll your window down and inhale deaply as you pass the road kill.

Anyway, here it layed out mile by mile....

 Miles 1-3:  Okay, starting out our shins hurt really bad.  We stopped to stretch before we had a full mile in.  That seemed to help us both.  By the third mile, we were both in a good strong stride and feeling good. I tried to decrease my water intake to avoid water logging.  We both matched, wearing our new moisture wicking tanks and bottoms.  We both had our fuel/water lumbar bags on us.  We are officially training with everything that we plan to have on us the day of our mini marathon!!!  Let the pain begin!

Miles 4&5:  DOGS.   The cutest dogs that you ever seen were "attacking" us as T put it.

T started to speed up so quickly that I had to jog to catch up with her!  Guess she doesn't care for dogs.
The sun was on our backs and there was a nice cool breeze.  The running was starting to get a bit difficult, making me slow down to what I call "baby jogs".  You know, where your feet move up and down but your not really moving any faster than a walk.  lol  Thus, I call us the JIGGLE JOGGERS.  :D  I love to refer to this term when people ask if we "run" the entire thing.  I simply respond, "Oh no, fat girls don't run...we jiggle jog!".  I truely ran out of steam around mile 4.5.  I ate one blok to mentally trick me into thinking I had enough fuel to keep going.  It seemed to help.

Mile 6:   I truely wanted to cry.  I couldn't believe how much stamina T still had to walk fast AND jog fast.  For me, you have to slow down on one of the two to catch your breath.  She quickly put distance between us and then would patiently wait for me to catch up.  T and I have been training side by side for 8 solid weeks now.  I was so aggrivated that she was able to do these miles with more ease than I was.  I really had lost my rhythm for my breathing.  It became more difficult to concentrate on keeping a steady breathing rhythm.  I had an uncontrolable desire to just SIT DOWN!!!!!  My body kept telling, "are you freakin' crazy?!  What are you thinking?!"

Mile 7:  Holy goodness!  We could see the end in site!  My "emerald city" was in clear view. 


But as the mile progressed, I realized how far away it really was. It felt like this mile took us forever!  I had dried salt marks on my pants from all of the sweat.

Mile 8:  We decided to push it just to get it over with.  Oh good gracious!!!  Everything hurt.  I undoubtably had a blister on my middle toe.  I could feel the rashes that had formed from my new tank and 2 sports bras that I have to wear.  I had absolutely NO desire to run anymore.  T thought I had found some motivation to keep going, because I was actually keeping up with her.  I told her, "no, I just got tired of you having to wait on me".  Right there, ladies and gentlemen, is why EVERYONE needs a partner.  She motivated me the entire 8 miles.  I felt so bad since I didn't have the breath to motivate her at all during our entire 8 mile treck.  We completed our 8 miles in 2 hours and 5 minutes.  Not bad if you ask me!!! 

It's now Tuesday, 2 days after and T and I are still completely soar.  We have iced our legs and shins to the point of numbness.  We have both taken tylenol to help relieve the pain.  We did a 1 mile recovery walk yesterday since neither of us were up for doing the entire 3 miles our training schedule had planned for us.  So, since we must muster on with our schedule....I am taking some advice that a friend gave me and I am going to tape my shins.  I'm really crossing my fingers that this will help. 

Friday night is our 5K at Timber Ridge.  I'm really hoping that we can do a 13 minute mile.  More pictures and details to follow....

What is your trick for shin splints???