San Diego Rock 'n Roll Marathon Recap

Well folks, like I said in my super short post on Sunday, I ran a marathon. It wasn't exactly what I expected or how I planned, but I did it. My final time was 5 hours, 44 minutes.

My Finisher's Medal

When we got to San Diego on Saturday, we headed over to the expo to pick up my shirt, swag bag and race packet. I was really excited about the shirt... these ones were pretty awesome:

Awesome Shirts!

After that, we headed over to our hotel to check in. The girls at the front desk were all excited when they found out who I was (ok, it's really much less celebrity like than it sounds). My parents, sister and brother-in-law had sent me an edible arrangement! It was such a great idea because real flowers would have probably messed with my allergies and this was FANTASTIC after the race!

My "Flowers"

Here's what I look like at 4am the morning of a race... absolutely petrified.

Pre-race Picture

The run started at 6:15am, but by the time my corral crossed the starting line, it was around 6:45am. I could not have asked for more perfect weather - it was cloudy (hello June gloom!) and cool, with a slight breeze once we got near the water. The first 9 miles felt fantastic - I was running my pace, I felt good and I was really enjoying the scenery.

Then, at mile 9, disaster struck. We were running on the freeway (they close down a chunk of the 163 for the race) when my stomach really started to bother me. Like the "you need to stop at this nice blue porta potty on the side of the 163" bother me. From mile 9 all the way through mile 26, I was in serious pain. I visited many of the conveniently placed porta potties along the route. At mile 15, I called Mike. I told him I was sick and didn't know what to do. He told me to keep putting one foot in front of the other. That's exactly what I did for the next 17 miles. I am so proud of myself for continuing on when I know a lot of people would have stopped. And I love Mike so much for telling me to keep going, even though he could hear how badly I was hurting and knew (from personal experience) how long 17 miles can be.

Now, on a lighter note, here are some of the funny signs I saw along the way:

"Run faster mommy, I'm tired of holding this sign" (held by a cute little boy)

"This sounded like a good idea 6 months ago"

"Don't stop - people are watching you"

"Tomorrow you'll think this was fun"



Believe it or not, I'm really glad I had this experience. This was honestly my worst fear going into the run and it actually happened. But I survived, I kept running and I didn't give up. Yes, my time wasn't what I was aiming for, but I feel like I overcame a lot more than just a time goal. This whole process has been quite a journey and has tought me a lot about what I can handle both physically and mentally. I'd like to send a great big thank you out to everyone who called, texted, facebooked or emailed me encouragement... I read each and every one and appreciate it!

Finally, something I've been waiting to do for a long time... cross this one off the bucket list (and apparently start thinking of some other things to add to it!):

• Own a horse
• Buy a house - completed 2007
• Run a marathon - completed 2012
• Get married - completed 2011

I Ran A Marathon Today

Holy crap, that was hard. Like really, really hard. I ran into some tummy troubles at mile 9 and became well aquatinted with the blue porta potties for the rest of the race. It hurt, it was awful and I wanted to quit more than anything. But I didn't and I finished. I'm so proud of myself! More when we get home and I have some great pictures!

Reflections On Running

I can't believe the marathon is finally almost here. Back in December when I signed up, it almost didn't feel like it would ever get here... June was so far away. Well, it's here. Today I ran my final training run and this coming Sunday I'll be running a marathon.

Because I'm a bit of a nerd, I've kept track of all of my mileage. Since the first training run back in December, I've run a total of 496 miles. To put that into perspective, it's 502 miles from Sacramento to San Diego. That's right, I've run the distance I'll have to travel to my marathon.

I've spent the last few days teetering back and forth between being extremely excited and completely scared to death. Then I think about the journey that this has been and I'm so happy that I'm doing it. I've put blood, sweat and tears (literally on all three of those - my foot bled through my sock this morning) into this. Running has been a place for me to think, free therapy, and a place for some good laughs (my goat pacer anyone?). I've also learned a lot about my body (red sauce + running = bad) along with the fact that it's ok to crap in bushes (still haven't had to do it, but I carry TP in my pack!).

I think of all of the runs I've done - the runs in the cold, in the hot, in the rain. I think of the sore joints, the pulled muscles, the stomach cramps and the blisters. I think of the crazy hills. All of that is going to make running in San Diego like running in paradise. I'm so proud of all of the work I've put in and I'm going to do my best to get past my famous nerves and to really enjoy myself. I want to take in the sights, listen to the bands and just run. In fact, that's been my little mantra lately... just run. And keep running.

Anyways, sorry for the sort of rambling post. I'm nervous, but I'm ready. It's been a great journey. One more day of work and then I get to spend three days in my home away from home!

Peak Week - Check!

Well faithful followers, I survived peak week. It was tough and my body is definitely tired, but it feels so good to have it done!

This morning I ran 20 miles. Yup, you read that right. It actually felt pretty good. I'm constantly amazed at how much my body can withstand. Aside from some achy knees and nasty feet, I feel pretty good! Nothing a little Advil and rest can't fix!

The run was really nice - it was still cool when I started (6am!) and didn't get too hot. The best part was when I was paced by a goat. Yup, a goat. He ran alongside (in his fenced pen) for about 1/2 a mile - both times I ran by him. I like to think he was helping me, not that he was territorial and trying to kill me. I should have stopped to get a picture, but really wanted to get the run over with.

Here's me after the run, looking all kinds of beautiful:

Flattering Self Portrait

It's all downhill from here!

Peak Week

Well folks, for those of you following along, I've run a grand total of 402 miles in preparation for my first (and last) marathon. This week is peak week... I'm running a total of 40 miles, culminating with my long run that will be 20 miles (the longest I'll run until the race). It's all downhill after this. To make it even more challenging, Mother Nature has turned up the thermostat. Most of my runs have to be after work since they're too long to squish in before, which means I'm running in 80+ degree heat. Nothing like a little hard work to make you appreciate the AC in your car! Fingers crossed that I can survive this week!

Mama's Got Her New Shoes On

My brand new shoes came yesterday... it's time to start breaking them in. These will be the ones that I actually run the race in! They're the same style and brand that I've been running in, but now they have them in this fun pink & grey color!

Brand New Shoes!

The Critters of Clinton Road: The Story of My 18 Mile Run

Today was a day that for some reason was sort of stuck in my head... 18 miles sounded like so far. I woke up before my alarm (5:45am) ready to run. I parked at the gym and did a loop through downtown Jackson, then headed out to Clinton Road, a long, hilly road.

I love this road - it's beautiful, through the country and just makes me feel good about running. About four miles into the run, I came across three baby cows who seriously looked like they were there to cheer me on. I had to stop and get a picture because they were so darned cute!

The Three Musketeers

A little farther down the road, I found this little cow. I was trying to get a picture of her looking at me because she had really cute eyes. Then I noticed who was hanging out in the background... the dreaded turkey. I swear, those suckers are stalking me.

Sweet Cow, Scary Turkey

Then I just ran for a while. The weather was absolutely beautiful. I hit one of the big hills around mile 10 and owned it. On the way back, I saw these really pretty horses:

Horses!

One day, I will own a horse. I swear it.

I started to feel tired around miles 14-15, took a Gu and felt better. It definitely wasn't easy, but today was one of the first times that I actually felt that the marathon was within reach. I had it in my head that 18 miles was really hard, and once I was able to do it, it makes me feel like I can do anything!

Sweaty!

The final stats: 18 miles, 3 hours and 5 minutes, 1400 feet of elevation gain.

Back In The Saddle

After a much needed mental and physical break this week, I dove back into running with a twelve miler this morning. I decided to keep it close to home and run around Lake Tabeaud up here.

This is where I started:

Lake Tabeaud

I think it's sort of funny that all of my runs are centered around water... anyway, the loop around the lake is about three miles, so I ran four of them today. My GPS was all weird, so I don't have my exact mileage. Part of the way through the run, you go past this pretty river/creek that feeds into the lake. I had to stop and take a picture:

The River

The color of the water was so pretty - it was this emerald green. I also saw a bunch of banana slugs... totally random and near the end of my run, so I was too tired to actually stop to get a picture.

It's not a good run unless there's a sweaty self portrait at the end! Gotta love what my hair is doing... I swear, sometimes I look like Kramer by the time I'm done!

Sweet Sixteen

Today I ran sixteen miles.

It was like I was running through an episode of National Geographic's "Life on the American River". There were all sorts of cool critters out today: deer, butterflies, several different types of rabbits, vultures and the dreaded turkey. I focused today on just running again and that seems to be a very effective technique for me on these longer distances.

My communing with nature was interrupted around mile twelve by a cyclist. No, he wasn't the first one I saw (there were lots of runners, walkers and cyclists out there today taking advantage of the nicer weather). It was the fact that he was wearing a cape that caught my eye. Yup, a cape. Like a black and red Dracula cape. I wish I would have been able to get a picture of it.

My nice run was followed by an equally nice sandwich and nap. Now we're getting ready to head over to celebrate Nancy's birthday (Mike's mom). Not a bad Saturday!

Running In The Rain

This is what 8 miles in the rain looks like:

Megan, how's that for fun crazy hair? :)

Fifteen

Today I ran the farthest distance I've ever run in my life. Not a bad little accomplishment is it? Today's total distance was fifteen miles... 2 more than a half marathon.

I went into this run with two things in mind:

1. It's ok to poo in the bushes.
2. I wasn't going to look at my time.

Ok, I know both of those sound odd when coming from someone training for a marathon. If you've read the last couple posts, you know that I had a really rough week of running. I got all my miles in (total of 29!) but I hit some sort of plateau and they were terrible, painful miles, interwoven with tummy troubles.

Enter the first point. I was told by someone I work with and respect a lot as a runner that she has tummy issues all the time. In fact, she has to pull over at times when there isn't a bathroom and, well, poo in the bushes. I've been working on what I eat before I run (no fiber, no more red sauce, etc) but sometimes your tummy just doesn't want to be there. I even packed a couple squares in a plastic bag in my run pack, just in case.

Now onto the second point. I really pushed myself last weekend to run fast. I think that might have contributed to some of my issues after my long runs. So, today I decided not to look at my run tracker at all (ok, I snuck a peek around 13 miles to see what my half marathon time would have been) and to just focus on running. Like just running at a pace that felt good. I ended up running the 15 miles in 2:38, which is a little slower than the pace I've been running at over the last few weeks, but it felt good and was a great confidence building race. I think I'm going to stick with that for the next few ones... just to get back into focusing on the running.

Then I came home, took the best shower of my life and napped for two hours. Not a bad day. I'm sore, but it's more of the joints-are-sore-from-pounding than the muscle sore.

Happy Saturday people!

Plateau

This has been a really rough running week for me. I ran 10 miles on Saturday at a much better pace than I've been able to sustain for that sort of distance in a long time (9:26 min/min). I finished, headed to Kati & Nate's for her birthday festivities and promptly made good use of their guest bathroom - the dreaded tummy troubles. I spent most of the rest of the day with a really upset stomach (without going into gory detail). I had an ok run on Tuesday (3 miles) and then another tummy rumbler (7 miles) on Wednesday. Finally, today I had a solid 4 mile run that felt good and didn't make me sick.

It's been mentally hard for me to get through this... especially with much longer miles looming ahead of me (15 miles this Saturday!). I've been told by several people that a lot of people training for marathons hit a plateau - a time when you just don't feel like running, every step hurts and you just plain feel yucky. I fell asleep on the sofa last night sometime between 7:30 and 8pm. I'm tired and I'm sore and that definitely doesn't motivate me to get up to run.

I had a great chat with my mom the other day about this... here's what is keeping me going. If a marathon was easy, everyone would be doing them. The whole accomplishment is to do something that is difficult, that shows the control you have over your body and that most other people don't do. It's said that ~500,000 people in the United States finished a marathon in 2011... that's less that one percent of the population.

That said, I did a little researching into the history of the marathon. Basically, way back in 490 BC, Greece was battling Persia and won. A messenger named Pheidippides was sent to Athens to announce the victory at Marathon - he ran for two days, declared "We have won" and dropped dead. Totally inspiring, especially considering what I've detailed above, isn't it?

Fortunately, I have some great friends at work who are avid runners and gave me some great advice. Apparently fiber before a run is not a runners friend. And, my favorite, just find a bush to poo in. I guess my wonky tummy is a more common thing than I thought.

I intend to spend a good part of this evening doing some research on foods to eat (and avoid). Fingers crossed that today's run was the turn in my plateau and that things start looking up again!

Twelve Mile Stalker

This week I jumped right back into my marathon training (last week was an "easy" week). So today, being a Saturday, was long run day. Let me start by saying this was the best 12 miles I've run in a long time. I still have a bit of the achy knee thing going, but not nearly as bad as it's been in prior weeks. I ran on a road that Mike and I normally bike, but for some reason had forgotten how hilly it was - today's 12 miles included 640 feet of climbing.

But on to the more important part of the run. I firmly believe I was stalked by turkey for the entire 12 miles. Before I elaborate, let me remind those of you who followed my blog way back in 2008 (when it was on Vox - boo, they deleted their whole site and I lost the content from that time) that I have a history with the turkey. Not the eat-you-for-Thanksgiving history, but the holy-crap-you're-mean-and-scary history. Long story short, I found a turkey in my front yard making pretty little turkey sounds (think: velociraptor sounds in "Jurassic Park"). As soon as it saw me, it escalated to hissing, wing dragging and flying. Yup, until then I didn't know they could fly (like onto the roof of my house). I spent the next two years in that house terrified to walk out the front door, convinced they were waiting on the gutter to pounce on me.

Add to that Mike's horrifying story of being chased on his bike by one who proceeded to peck at his calf and I've developed a healthy "respect" for these critters.

Today, one (I'm pretty sure it has to be the same one) followed me, gobbling, for the entire 12 miles. Only, whenever I looked over my shoulder, they weren't there. Keep in mind that I was running in the country - like real country (cow pastures, horses, creeks, etc), so there was plenty of places to hide. Mike tells me that there's hundreds out there this time of year, but I'm pretty convinced it was just one... toying with me the entire time.

Maybe I need to drink more water...

Staycation Day 9: The Half Marathon

I think I'm the only person on the planet that decides to spend the last day of vacation running. And running a half marathon at that.

That's right, today was the big race day - Kati and I ran the 2012 Shamrock'n Half Marathon! The official results are not up yet, but my Garmin says 2:13:09, which might be a few seconds high since I was so excited to be done that I forgot to hit the stop button.

I am beyond proud of my sister - she's not a runner by nature (or so she says!) and this was not easy for her. It was really fun to spend time training with her and then running today. That said, I've officially dubbed her a "real" runner since at one point in the race she said "I sort of wish there was a hill so we could run downhill". Yeah, only real runners actually wish for hills. She seriously did really well and we didn't walk a single step! I'm sort of sad that when I do next weekend's long run, it will be alone! :(

They changed the course around a lot from when I ran it (way back in 2009). There was this awful hill back then that they've taken out and a big chunk of today's race was out on the bike trail. There were pluses and minuses to both. The old course was great for spectators to be able to see you at a bunch of different places (the new course, not so much). The new course didn't have the hill, but we were able to run on the trail (similar to where we trained).

Here's an action shot from somewhere around mile 9-10. My parents, Mike, and Nate were there (in Old Town) to take some pictures and cheer us on. I'm in the pink and Kati's in the purple.

Running Our Hearts Out

Here's us just before the finish line - we rounded the corner into the stadium and both of us felt like rock star athletes! They have great music playing and you're running out on the field. It's a really fun finish!

Making A Dash For The Finish

After the race, we ran into one of our coworkers, Irene, who was also running her first half. Why is it that everyone else always looks all cute after races and I look like my face is about to explode and have Kramer hair?

Kati, Irene And I

Finally, the only reason I run - the medals. They were actually really cute this year - with a pot of gold and a little leprechaun.

2012 Shamrock'n Half Marathon Bib & Medal

In sadder news, my feet took a pounding today. I'm not sure what was different in my stride today (13.1 miles vs. last week's 12) but I ended up with a great blister on and under my scar. Awesome. My favorite place to get a blister.

Ouch.

I'm sore and tired, but am so happy that Kati and I ran today. We had a lot of fun together and it was really cool to be able to share this experience with her! Now it's off to the sofa to spend my last few hours of vacation relaxing!

Staycation Days 1 & 2

Well, yesterday marked the first day of my vacation and the first day of my first every "staycation". I am taking an EMT refresh course in order to recertify (you have to recert every 2 years). The class consists of 3 Saturdays of reviewing the different disease processes and working on hands on skills. That basically took up most of my Saturday.

Today was a  pretty busy day. I started off with a solo 12 mile run since my sister is home sick. I headed down to the Mokelume River to do my run since it was close to home and gave me a little more recovery time between "appointments" today. I actually felt pretty good for most of the run - the last mile felt really looooong. I headed home to torture myself with use the foam roller. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of foam rolling, here's the definition in a nutshell:

"It is accomplished by rolling the foam roller under each muscle group until a tender area is found, and maintaining pressure on the tender area for 30–60 seconds."

Yeah, that basically reads: "it's meant to hurt". On the upside, I think it is actually helping. I took a quick shower and nap after that and then headed out for the second part of my day. I headed down to Sacramento to participate in the C.E.R.T. We work a lot of larger distance events (the airshow, half marathons, etc) and have found that having EMTs on bikes has been really helpful. We had to do an agility course (cones, circles at low speeds, curb jumps, etc) and a 3 mile ride in under 18 minutes. All in all, it was a good little exercise, but I just had a really hard time getting into it because I was pooped from the run.

I decided to treat myself to some delicious frozen yogurt on the way home from the bike trials - we have a Big Spoon in Jackson now, and it was pretty yummy! Apparently when I run I have the appetite of a four year old because I couldn't get enough chocolate chips, sprinkles and hot fudge. Ok, maybe that's all the time.

Big Spoon. Yum.

Tonight we're just hanging out - Mike is getting over the stomach flu (yuck!) so we're doing mellow dinners (pancakes for me, grilled cheese for him) and catching up on some shows we have taped on the DVR. I tried the foam roller again this afternoon and discovered that it hurts even more now than it did this morning. That's good, right?

Tomorrow is a very important part of my staycation. I have dubbed it lazy Monday because I have ever intention of not leaving the house. I figure I need one of those on my staycation, and it might as well be at the beginning!

Raindrops Falling On My Head

I've officially been training for a couple months now. This last week has been a really rough one. No, the mileage is not getting to me, in fact, it's been one of the lowest mileage weeks of the few months. My hips have been sore. I've been making good use of the foam roller and a bunch of my friends have shared with me some great hip stretches. I've just sort of lost my motivation and excitement about it. I'm hoping that the half marathon next weekend will bring back some of that lost motivation - otherwise it's going to be a long three months to San Diego.

This morning I woke up with a little bit of a headache and the rain pounding on my roof, so in a rare moment of weakness, I stayed snuggled in bed. I took a couple extra rest days last week as well to help with my hip (they really did help!). I felt a little guilty, so I packed by running stuff to take to work with the intention of doing my five mile run at lunch time.

It was pouring down rain at lunch.

I ran anyway.

I'm really proud of myself. I am noticing that the less I do on the treadmill, the better my hips feel... there's something about that very repetitive step that just kills me, especially when I get up to longer distances. I really did feel great to run in the rain today. There was something almost childish about it - like it was forbidden and everyone thought I was crazy. The thing I really liked was that I stayed cool (did I mention that this has been a very cold weather storm) and most of the run felt really great. I was completely drenched when I came back to the office and got a lot of weird looks, but it was totally worth it!

Maybe my running mojo is coming back already!

Double Digits

Well, today I headed out bright and early to do my first double digit run. That's right, folks, today was 10 miles. It was a solo run because my sister was off enjoying the wonders of Vegas. For a self-proclaimed "hate-running-with-people" runner, I have to say, running alone today sucked. I did make friends with a very nice fellow runner lady around mile 4, who ran with me until my mile 5 turn around. I also saw an old friend from high school (Hi April!) who was having her own fun 8 miler with the Fleet Feet Training Team.

Today's run felt really good at the beginning, which is odd because that's usually when I feel the worst. Miles 1-6 felt great and then I hit some sort of wall around mile 6.5. My tummy started acting up and for a minute I wondered if I was even going to get back to the car. I blame my new Cytomax. As I mentioned a couple posts ago, I've converted to Cytomax as my training drink. I committed the other day and bought the big jug of powder at REI... and followed the directions precisely this morning to mix it - 2 scoops to 1 water bottle full of water. Not right. Not even a little. It went from being this wonderful nectar as I ran last week to tasting like I was sucking down pure Tang powder. I think this might have had something to do with today's tummy troubles. Note to self #1: dilute Cytomax next week.

This Is What Ten Miles Looks Like

I seriously wonder what I need to do to make sure I don't turn so red when I run. I felt fine, but people always look at me like "Are you ok?". I made the mistake of climbing right in the car without doing a ton of stretching because I was eager to get home to my boys... I felt perfectly fine until I tried to actually get out of the car when I got home. Note to self #2: more stretching.

All in all, it was a great training run because I was able to push myself past some obstacles and I was able to do it alone. My final time was 1 hour, 35 minutes, which equates to 9 minute 30 second miles. Now I'm off to have some lunch and maybe take my second nap of the day.

Milestone

Today was a pretty decent milestone for my short running career. I hit the 100 mile mark in my training. It doesn't mean that much, but to me it was one of those mental things that just sounded good to say in my head when I was on the trail.

Kati and I ran our 9 mile long run this morning on the American River Trail. It was absolutely beautiful and we couldn't have asked for better weather. It was a little chilly when we first started running, but warmed up nicely after the first couple miles.

I'm really proud of my sister... today was not only the farthest run she's ever done, but she did the entire thing without walking and at a 10 minute/mile pace. She's going to rock the Shamrock!

In other running news, I've been working on trying different drinks while I run. Apparently for a marathon, plain old water (which I love) just doesn't cut it... you have to get electrolytes and other nutrients back into your system. I'm not a big Gatorade fan as it's super sweet and tends to contain a ton of sugar. My boss recommended Cytomax which is far less sweet and has very little sugar.

I've been taste testing the flavors (they sell little packets that you can mix into a bottle of water. I've tried the cool citrus, tropical fruit and pomegranate berry. Shockingly, my favorite flavor was the cool citrus, which is just a fancy name for lemon lime. I'm definitely not normally a fan of that, but it was very mellow and tasted more like water with lemon than anything. I don't even like my water with lemon in it, so that's saying a lot. I think I'm going to take the plunge and buy the bulk pack!

End of January

I can't believe it's already the end of January! Seriously, where is time going?!

In other news, this weekend will mark the 100th mile of my training for the marathon. It doesn't seem like that much, but it definitely adds up! This week will be 20 miles total! I've got a 5 mile run date with the treadmill tomorrow and then a 9 mile run on the trail with Kati on Saturday. In other exciting news, she got an entry into the 1/2 marathon! So excited that she gets to run her first one! Yippee!

I'll leave you with a super cute picture of Shadow - he did not want to get out of bed today!

Sleepy Puppy

It's so hard to leave for work when I've got that face staring back at me!

Rest

I am following the Hal Higdon half marathon and marathon training programs and am discovering something really interesting... the value of rest.

Here's what Hal has to say about it:

Rest: Despite my listing it at the end, rest is an important component of this or any training program. Scientists will tell you that it is during the rest period (the 24 to 72 hours between hard bouts of exercise) that the muscles actually regenerate and get stronger. Coaches also will tell you that you can't run hard unless you are well rested. And it is hard running (such as the long runs) that allows you to improve. If you're constantly fatigued, you will fail to reach your potential. This is why I include two days of rest each week for novice runners. If you need to take more rest days--because of a cold or a late night at the office or a sick child--do so. The secret to success in any training program is consistency, so as long as you are consistent with your training during the full 18 weeks of the program, you can afford--and may benefit from--extra rest.

To be honest, I've never really given rest a whole lot of thought. Sure, on those days that I'm really tired I do, but after some of these shorter runs, I've always wondered why I have to take a rest day. Now I've started trying to pay better attention to my body and I've noticed how much I really savor those days off. I've also started noticing a difference in my runs AFTER the rest days - they feel better, I feel more energized and I am not as tired. The important thing for me to remember is that rest days have to be just that - REST. No cross training, no jogging.

In other running news, I did 8 miles on the treadmill today. Various circumstances led me to this - work, an appointment for new tires and a lot of rain. Trust me, had it not been for the first two, I would have much rather run in the rain.

Too Many Laps

Yes, I did finish the last 10th of a mile. :) I do have to say, as awful as some of that felt (miles 5-6), it feels awesome to be done with it. I have a feeling that's what the marathon is going to feel like. I'm actually really proud of this run... I tend to run at an average of 10:00 per mile when I do my long runs - this one was actually at a 9:15 pace. That is one thing that's nice about the treadmill - you can force yourself to do some pacing. While 45 seconds faster doesn't seem like a lot, that adds up over time - cutting almost 7 minutes off what my normal time for 8 miles would have been!