9 miles

Okay, I died after mile seven.

My legs were sore and I had no energy left. None. I mustered up enough of whatever was keeping me going to run to mile 8. And then I walked some, ran some, walked some, ran some, until I was finally done.

I'm amazed, though, that in total I only walked about 5 minutes. How is that possible? I felt like I was walking sooo much. But out of 113 minutes I only walked 5 of them. That's, like, 4.5 percent. Which may be considered statistical error to some...

But wow, that last mile hit me hard. I guess I'm still recovering from my two weeks "off" for the Mississippi trip, and I need to remind myself of that. But what's going to happen in the race if 10 miles in I feel like this, and then I have another 3 miles to go? Limp to the finish line?

But then I have 6 more weeks to train. Six more weeks of mid-week runs and ab work and swimming and long runs. Really four more weeks of long runs, since two weekends will be "recovery" runs. Now 5 miles doesn't seem so far!

I can do this. I can.

But next week... I'm trying Gu after a mile, since that's when I seemed to hit the wall of zero energy. This energy drink shit (I mixed it into my water) felt like it was weighing me down the whole time, not pepping me up.

And I'll continue... To eat a Clif bar immediately after I run. I didn't get that overwhelming nausea (although I got a little bit) that I did last week. It's been about 3 hours since I finished running and, besides sore and stiff legs, I'm feel pretty good. And that's a good sign!

Distance: 9 miles
Time: 1:53
Avg. Pace: 12:30 min mile.
Minutes walked: 5 minutes.
Walked: After 30 mins, after 60 minutes, then after every mile until the last mile, when I walked briefly after every 2/10 a mile. Ouch! I'm sore.