I can’t believe I 8 the whole thing
Oh that Nancy — she’s at it again, making us run. Inspired by her trip to China, she once again held a virtual 8 on the 8th race on — you guessed it — 8/8/08 to coincide with the opening of the Beijing Olympics.
Originally scheduled to run nine miles with seven at marathon race pace, I decided to up it to 10 with 8 @ MRP. However, given my late start I cut it back to 15K in order to make our dinner appointment with a friend. But I’m no slacker — I ran my heart out for those eight miles.
My goal was to run a 1-mile warm up, then run two miles @ 9:10 pace (MRP for a 4-hour marathon, my BQ time), the next two miles @ 9:00, the next @ 8:50 and the final two @ 8:40. If I felt good I could run faster, but I wouldn’t allow myself to run slower.
The first of the MRP miles was downhill, so I managed to run it in 8:42. The next one was at 8:49, followed by an 8:48. Fearing I wouldn’t be able to keep up that pace, I purposefully slowed for the 4th mile, running it in 8:57 (still faster than my goal). The next two miles were at 8:48 and 8:49 respectively, but by now I was beginning to tire and questioned my ability to run the final two MRP miles at 8:40. However, I must have channeled my inner Deena, as I managed to run them at 8:20 and 8:15.
Final time: 1:09:27.
Thank you Nancy for another fun race!
August 10th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
I see you’re still smoking the ground you run on, Betsy. Rock on!
August 11th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Way to knock out those 8! I think Nancy’s a bit sadistic getting everyone to run these races.
August 12th, 2008 at 6:19 am
girlfriend, you are fast.
August 12th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Holy crap. Look who’s smoking the course. You are getting so fast!!! WOOO HOOOO
Thanks so much for joining us. Loved it!
August 13th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Hey woman, just want you to know I’m living this next half week vicariously through you, imagining the big day arriving this weekend…yikes! Hope you’re not tearing your hair out in taper madness. From the looks of your workouts, you’re going to kick some serious booty Sunday. Eat, Drink and Slaughter!! 🙂
August 13th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Dang woman. Nothins’ gonna hold you down!
Nice job.