Where to begin...

Yesterday, I started my Wednesday in a Zen state of mind. A few weeks prior I purchased a yoga mat to utilize the Yoga available on demand...the mat has been sitting in the closet since then because I haven't quite gotten the motivation to actually use it. But yesterday was the day and I must say, I felt great doing it. I had to lock the Beast (Oliver) in the bathroom because otherwise he would have jumped on me or attacked me as I moved from plank to vinyasa to upward dog to downward dog. Starting the day out with a great combo of strengthening and stretching had me thinking the day has started off on the "right foot."

After work, I got my butt home, threw in a wash (I've been doing laundry as much as Zoila lately *reference "Flipping Out" on Bravo) and threw on my running "outfit." Last night was the first middle of the week run going 8 miles. I must say that its kind of crazy that when I say 8 miles, it feels like nothing. Now that I've made it running 15 miles and have 17 miles looming over me like a dark cloud, 8 miles doesn't seem so bad. I'm kinda like, "okay, this should take a little over an hour and then I'm done." Crazy!

So my route plan was similar to the 7 milers I had been doing, I just tacked on an extra mile. Starting out felt good, I made it the first few miles without any issue. THEN my RIGHT FOOT started to experience sharp shooting pains in the ball of it around mile 4ish....not good. Last night I decided to run my 8 miler in my newer pair of sneaks that I had already run a total of 12 miles in and figured they were ready for some distance (quick side note, I was convinced to buy a 1/2 size bigger but I am now thinking that was a bad idea). I am hoping that this pain I experienced is the SHOE and NOT my foot because we are just half way through the training baby and I am not giving up!

To cut to the chase, the last 4 miles were excruciating. So much so that there were times I wanted to cry or scream but I tell you the one thing I didn't do, I didn't stop! Maybe I will regret that decision later if this becomes a persisting issue but when you're running 8 miles, no matter what, you want it DONE and OVAHH. Miraculously I finished the bad boy in 72 minutes averaging about a 9 minute mile... I WILL TAKE IT! After I stretched out, ordered a healthy turkey burger, sweet potatoes and broccoli, jumped in the shower in time for my feast delivery and I was a happy girl.

What did I do at lunch today? I returned the "new sneaks" for a pair in the correct size and I'm crossing my fingers that I never experience the same pain again!