Only 2 weeks left until the real deal. I actually am really excited about it. I have spoken to enough people that have run the half and full in Nashville. They have really pumped me up. I now have confidence that I can complete the run. But, it always does matter what the weather conditions are like. Hopefully, it is cloudy with a little drizzle about 60 degrees. But, the weather last week has been hot. So I have to assume that it will be 80 + degrees and plan appropriately.
Today was a busy, busy day! I started out heading into the office around 7 o'clock or so. It is that time of year. By the way, today was our last Saturday or busy season!! I am so glad! I am ready to enjoy a full weekend. Around 10:30, Heather and the kids picked me up for Michael's baseball game. Michael played catcher. He hit 2 triples as well. He did great! Then back home. Time to cut the yard. We have a large yard and it was time to cut the yard. I have a push mower that I use, but it takes a lot of energy to push the mower. I am curious how far I walk when pushing. I bet it is about 2 miles. It seems like a long way. Played with the kids outside, gave the kids baths and put the boys to bed. It was about 9:00 and it was time to do some running. I got ready and stretched. Time to go.
Today I was scheduled to run 8 miles. With my car still at the office, I planned on running to the office and getting my car to bring it back home. The issue is that the office was only 5 miles away so I needed to make up 3 miles somewhere by going around different areas. I ran a bit in the neighborhood. I purchased 2 more songs for my running playlist. Steven Curtis Champon "Live out Loud" and "Dive". I really like these songs. They are upbeat with a great tune and they have a great message to them. I notice when I run, I listen to the words a lot more. Some songs have a great beat, but the words don't really carry a great message.
Then I headed to the Murfreesboro Airport. Ran to the airport and over past the hangers, etc. A guy was just getting back from flying. What a hobby! That would be fun to learn to fly. Maybe someday, I can do that as well, but it is kind of expensive, time consuming when I have young kids at home.
At around mile 2 and 3, I started to get hungry and a bit tired. I hadn't eaten great today. I forgot to eat breakfast, ate 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch and a few slices of pizza for dinner. I did eat 2 bananas before heading out. Bananas really give me some energy. So I was banking on the bananas. But, after a about 1/2 a mile of feeling tired and hungry, I then got my second wind. I wonder if the bananas kicked in.
Then I headed to the Murfreesboro Square. Turned left on Broad Street. I was running past a telephone pole and scrape. I felt a scrape on my arm! Did I cut it bad? What was it that scrapped my arm? I didn't go back and check. The scrape wasn't too bad at all. As I kept running it started burning a bit from the sweat getting into the cut. It was not bad enough to stop running, but I knew I probably needed to take care of it when I got back home.
I decided to make sure to run Church street up to the square. Church street to the square is a large hill. I focused on keeping pace or even increasing my pace on the hill. I was able to get up the hill pretty good.
I ran through the historical district in Murfreesboro down college street. The houses here are very pretty. I love the antibellium type houses. College street has a great sidewalk to run down. Once the NIKE PLUS told me that I had 1 mile left I turned around and headed back to the office. I knew I was about a mile from the office. I really felt good around mile 7.
One of my goals for this run was to try to run a race pace so that I don't get used to running too fast so that on race day I don't run to fast at the beginning and use up all my energy so that the last part of the race, I don't have energy. With my IPOD PLUS I can push a button on my IPOD and the nice lady will let me know what my current time and pace is. I used this function to try to keep at race pace. I hit the button about 3 times and was running a 9:30 pace. I bit faster than the race pace, but that was ok.
The last mile felt good, plus I was running down the hill I had gone up on Church Street. But, the last bit from the Broad street to the office was a hill. I tried to run hard up the hill to finish off the 8 miles. When I was done, I felt good.
I remember when I was running 8 miles back when I was starting my training up and it was difficult to do. My legs would get really heavy at the end, but now it is not as tough. I feel confident I can run the race and finish.
Once I finished, I headed up to my office on the 3rd floor, but the stairs. Got some water and checked out my arm. I need to put something on my arm. I need to take care of it, but it doesn't look like the scrape when too deep into the arm. Just a small scrape.
8.00 miles - 1 hour and 13 minutes - 9:13 minute mile pace - 1250 calories
Ended up running a bit faster than I was hopping for. Does this mean my race pace is 9:30 or so now? I would finish the marathon around 4:05 - 4:15. That would be cool to finish it in that time, but I am not counting on it. If during the race I notice that I am that close to breaking 4 hours, I would like to think that I would run a bit harder to see if I can break the 4 hour mark.
My goal is still 4:30. All my long runs (greater than 15 miles or so), I have run between 10:00 and 10:30 minute mile pace.
