Awesome Runnin' Weekend -- Day 2 6/5

Confidence, cooler temperatures, shorter shorts and no sleeves, Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" still streaming through my head, who knows what led to it, but I had an awesome run.  I ran the same eight mile Umstead course that I ran last week, but this time I shaved off four minutes without really trying!

Last week the first four miles were kind of a struggle, but this time not so much.  I just tried to run at a comfortable pace and didn't give the distance much thought after the first mile.  Last week, I was clearly intimidated by the idea of running eight mile and was reluctant to commit to the distance.  But, my mind was set on the distance and didn't let it effect me at all this go around.  Interestingly, my pace was fairly consistent (at least by my standards) regardless of inclines or declines until mile six, when I was being attacked by a horse fly and mile eight, which is all uphill.  As I mentioned earlier, I still had the same song stuck in my head as I ran, which thankfully is a song that I like.  I have completely stop running with my I-pod and no longer take it with me, so I always try to listen to a couple of good songs before I leave the house because I dread the day that I get anything Gaga related stuck in my head just before a run.

Luckily the flies and the heat weren't bad until the return portion of the run.  I ended up going to war with one for the most part of the sixth mile that I'm sure caused me to waste a lot of energy and mess up my stride.  The damn thing bit my back, through my shirt, on my right shoulder blade.  I finally got away from it when I was able to hit it hard enough to drive it into the ground.  But, I didn't kill it unfortunately!  I saw the damn thing bounce off the ground and fly off in the opposite direction.  Meh.

The last mile was the one part of this run that still filled me with dread.  The hill that makes up most of that mile is just looms over the whole last half of the run and was really the only thing that I could think of after dispensing of Mr. Evil fly from Hell!  By this time, I was totally soaked through with sweat, so the small breeze that was blowing in my face actually cooled me down more than it slowed me and was a welcome relief from the sun and heat.  Every time I reach a portion of shade, it seemed to shrink just as I reach it, making think that the sun and trees were just playing with my mind.  By the time I reached the end of my run, my shoes were again filled with sweat and squishing as I walked, which caused me to go out and by water bottle for runners!  The run as a whole was just rock-on and leaves me pretty optimistic about my race this weekend.  Which I am sure means that the wheels will come off during the race, but at least for the moment . . . I am cautiously optimistic that the hills of the Komen course won't crush me. 

I did 8.00 miles in 1:24:14.12 for a pace 10:31. 

1 10:25.38
2 10:43.28
3 10:44.14
4 10:03.43
5 10:10.83
6 9:54
7 10:09.28
8 12:02.26