Perfect Run

Saturday, April 12th is a day that I will remember for a long time.  It was a perfect run.   Completing this run, would have been my longest run to date (at the time).  I was definitely worried about completing this run since my run the weekend before was a bust.  The night before I had a difficult time sleeping.  I was definitely nervous (even though I was really trying not to be!) and kept waking up in the middle of the night, tossing and turning.

I picked my friend up and we headed to Eagle Creek to complete our long run.  When we got there we first drove around and planned the route we would run.  After that, we parked and began to warm up.

Before we began our run, I told my friend that I was not even going to worry about my pace.  I just wanted to complete eight miles.  She agreed since eight miles would be the longest distance she had ever tried running.  We prayed before starting and then off we went.  As soon as we got around the first bend, we were greeted with this beautiful view:

During our run, we encountered many other runners, bicyclists, and walkers.  I did my best to greet all of them.  We also had several people say encouraging things to us.  I loved it!

All during the run, I felt pretty good.  I did have to go to the restroom during mile 4 and luckily, there was a restroom there for me to use.  I stopped my GPS during that time because I did not want it going while I was in the restroom.  However, my friend stopped for the restroom two times, and I kept my GPS going during those times.

I followed a lot of advice from friends.  I took a small water bottle with me during my run.  I ate a little bit more food for breakfast in the morning than I did the week before.  I turned the voice off on my RunKeeper app so that I could not hear my pace and distance and get discouraged.  I only heard my intervals.  I bought some energy beans and started taking them as needed around mile four.

As our run continued, I could tell I was getting tired.  I really slowed down during the last mile.  You know what helped?  Having someone right there with me.  That is what I noticed about this perfect run.  I had a friend that I could encourage and that encouraged me.  I know that is a huge reason why I was able to keep going even after being so tired.

When we were finished with the run, I was shocked!  Our pace was awesome!  Here is the overview of our run:

Here were the splits:

Mile 4 is where I turned off the app while taking a restroom break.

I still am thinking about this perfect run.  All of my other runs since this one have not even compared to it.  Am I ever going to have another amazing run like this?  I certainly hope so!  

Things have been VERY busy between school and training for the Mini.  I am officially less than a week out from the Mini-Marathon.  I have other posts that are swirling around in my head and I am hoping I can get them written soon.  Thanks for the encouraging words and prayers in between the posts!  You guys rock!