Back at it!

SO. Today was the first official day I motivated myself to pound out an 8-miler since my 1/2 marathon....and before you think 'Oh! That's great CheetahGirl!' let me remind you that the said 1/2.. was in February. 'Bad CheetahGirl!' I was even more surprised (and slightly proud) that I finished at a steady 8 minute per mile pace, considering I took Friday and Saturday off due to a frenzy of studying for finals...ugh. It'll all be over on Tuesday. YAY!

Let's talk endorphins. I love endorphins. LOVE ENDORPHINS. They always seem to come at the most random times during a run... today was around mile 4, which let me know I could do 4 more, but the weird one was at mile 7.5. I had started to feel fatigued and had to talk to myself to go another 1/2 mile, when all of a sudden I felt great. My knees no longer ached, and there was no struggle to breathe deeply. I like to call this when I stabilize. It's probably my favorite feeling. I get this rush that says 'pshh! you've run __ miles. You are awesome. 864712 more miles? Piece of cake! Watch this!' I actually involutarily smile when this occurs, which causes non-runners to give me the 'I think something is seriously wrong with that girl' look. So, taking advantage of these amazing hormones, I picked up the pace and finsihed the last 1/2 mile strong. Could I have run more? The answer is always yes, but because it was the farthest I've gone in so long I decided to play it safe.

All in all, a good day. Bring on the week! ;-) Happy running!