For the past weeks, I have had my heart set on running 8 miles and this week was no exception.  Since we missed the Striders this week, Tiffany, Amanda and I arranged to meet for a Sunday run, like old times.

Then, I overslept and it caused me to be a little late meeting Tiffany and Amanda.  When I finally caught up with them, they had already ran 3 miles. 

The muggy air this morning was heavy, sticky and thick.  I couldn’t move any faster than 11:00 mm but Amanda seemed to be grateful that I couldn’t run my usual 9:00-9:30 mm pace. 

As I whined about shared my struggles, Tiffany mentioned an article in Runner’s World this month which stated that your pace typically slows down tremendously during the hotter months.  Every five-degree rise in temperature above 60° F can slow your pace up to 20 to 30 seconds per mile (“Running Tips for Beginners: Beat the Heat”, Runner’s World).  I honestly didn’t mind the slower pace as long as I could finish my long awaited 8 miles.

Although it was a struggle every step of the way, I finally reached my goal this week. 

8 miles

Time 1:28:37

Pace 11:04

Next week, I plan to try 8 again and hopefully it will be less challenging and less muggy.

One another note, the Faces of Courage Triathlon is two weeks away.  This week, I plan to rev up the tri training with a 3 mile followed by a 10 mile bike ride and on another day, I will run 3 miles and swim 16 laps.  That sounds overly ambitious, doesn’t it? Hopefully, I can drag my ass out of bed wake up at decent time in the morning to squeeze in all this training.