My Virtual 8 on the 8th Race Report

So I recently discovered a whole online community of runners with blogs just like mine! I've been having fun reading through a lot of them as it's cool to hear about other races and hear from other runners that have similar interests (and challenges!) as me.

Through these blogs, I learned about this "virtual" race called 8 on the 8th (8 miles on December 8th). And well, I had to run 16 miles anyway so I figured, why not?

Doing my long runs in preparation for the Disney Marathon has been tough for me, since I'm used to running these distances with a running group. I decided to split my 16 mile run into two eight mile runs.

I'm using the first set of eight for this "race". For this course, I ran my usual 4 mile loop twice, stopping only once for a water/gatorade break. This was definitely a slow route since I go through some of the neighborhoods where it's a bit hilly as well as through downtown LG where I had to deal with the crowds and stoplights and stuff. And it also didn't help that I didn't start until 1PM in the afternoon! It was primetime then.

It was funny because when I was running down Main St, I passed a lady walking her dog. I saw her again when I passed that area during the second loop. Looks like she had done a little shopping since I last saw her. She recognized me as well, and with an amused smile, she commented, "Wow, still going?" Ha - if she only knew! I think I was at mile 5 of 16 at that point.

Anyway, I finished the 8 miles in 1:33:59, 11:43 min/mi pace. Not my typical "race" pace for this distance, but I was proud of the fact that I only stopped at the halfway point to refuel and immediately got back to work. I tackled those hills on the second go-around just as I did the first time.

It was fun reading the race reports from other bloggers... some even included playful photos for their virtual race.

Anyway, that was the first 8. The second eight was not quite as smooth. I'll post on that next time. But for now, time to finish some work before getting some much needed sleep!