DOUBLE DIGITS!!!!!

Not sure if you can read that clearly or not, but today we ran TEN MILES!!! DOUBLE DIGITS, BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our mentor's 'results' are:

Distance 10.01
Time 2:09
Average pace 12:54 min/mile
Average calories burned 1600

I finished a couple minutes behind the group, but I *did* finish! And, unlike last week, I didn't end up walking the end. In fact, I dropped behind the group a little with about 1 mile to go, so I just ran at a bit of a slower pace the entire last mile, even the 'big' hill up from the pier!!! At one point, about 7-8 miles in, I had a huge spurt of energy and was struggling NOT to pass the mentors! Then we hit a walk break, and BAM! I started dropping back.

For the first time ever, I carried water with me, and it wasn't near as cumbersome as I'd feared. I also used GU for the first time. I think both of these things really helped my performance. I think I should have had 2 gel packs though, that might have helped give an extra little boost when I started dropping back. I did have 2 packs with me, but gave one to another girl in our pace group who also hadn't ever used gel.

My knees are a little sore, well rather, just below both knees is sore, it hurts to bend or straighten them a little. Other than that I'm not feeling too badly (yet).

My feet hurt a bit too, but I think that's cause I am pretty sure I need new shoes. My shoes don't have a TON of miles on them; 84.45 miles since getting my nike+ stuff. I logged 37.5 miles on them last year...but I'm pretty sure I didn't log every run. So, I'd guess they have maybe close to 200 miles. One of our mentors said that Mizunos are great shoes, but that she's heard that they break down quicker than other shoes. As soon as my legs feel better I am going to go to Runnergy to see what they'd recommend as far as new shoes go. If I like what they say, I'll be buying new shoes. Otherwise, I'll head out to RoadRunner Sports to see what they recommend. I bought the ones I have now (Mizuno Wave Creation 7) there and really like them.

Wanna know something really crazy? I'm thinking of running a half marathon in 2 weeks! We're scheduled to do 12 miles that weekend anyway, so, as they were telling us today, why not get a medal for it?!