Tempo Run - 8 miles

Yesterday was my scheduled tempo run, and it was raining pretty hard. I didn't mind too much, but the problem was I brought the wrong shirt with me to work. It was one of those "muscle shirts", without arms, and I didn't really want my arms to be exposed to the elements. So I went to the gym with the idea that I'd do 8 miles on the treadmill.

I was able to watch a rerun of Lost while there, but 8 miles? That was a bit too much. I managed 4.

Usually when things like that happen, I'm not able to "make good", and just have to deal. This time I got lucky. The weather was GORGEOUS for a good run today! So I was able to do the 8-mile tempo run today instead. By doing the full 8 miles today, I'll have an extra 4 miles in for the week.



Splits
Mile 1: 8:46.69
Mile 2: 8:51.45
Mile 3: 9:21.45
Mile 4: 9:37.15
Mile 5: 9:55.93
Mile 6: 9:47.40
Mile 7: 10:05.22
Mile 8: 9:45.71

1:16:13, 9:31/mi average pace, 1058 calories burned

Tomorrow's my last long run before the taper: 20 miles. I was out caching water tonight when the cops pulled up.

What is it with cops and fitness, anyway? Don't they have to maintain a certain level of fitness in order to keep their jobs? At the end of my 18-miler a few weeks ago, I ran into some cops who, when I said I was on mile 18, said, "That's IN.. SANE." Tonight while putting out the last bottle of water, the cops drove up and asked what I was doing. They just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing anything shady, so I explained to them what I was doing and why. The response? "You wouldn't catch me doing anything like that, good luck."

Anyway, it will be the longest I've run to date. I made all the preparations I needed, bought some gels for the occasion. This time I'm going to use AccelGel. I mixed up a bottle of Cytomax in the Ultimate Direction bottle, which I'll sip along the way. For water, I have my caches (I set out 5 20-ounce bottles at the same intervals as the water stops during the marathon).

Finally, I'm running out the bike path I've run before. I would have run from my house, but by running the path, when I get to mile 7 a long hill begins, with the greatest incline closer to mile 10. That will give me some hill training for the big day.