8 miles is my sweet spot

I did my longest run of the year so far yesterday. I ran 8 miles and walked another 1.25 after (I always walk at least a mile after running). I averaged right at 10-minute miles. I felt pretty good.

The irony is... I'd felt terrible all week. My right foot has been killing me. I was barely able to limp through my mid-week runs, I've been massaging it, using liberal amounts of hemp oil, soaking it in ice, and Friday night I wrote a long-ass (unpublished) post complaining to God about it (I was going to run until my foot fell off). I was pretty sure I was going to have to stop running for a while.

Then, I went out Sunday morning and it felt... fine. No pain. No issues whatsoever. I wasn't really even sure how far I was going to go. My schedule only called for a 5k this week, but we may be gone next weekend so I was hoping to do the 5k then, which meant it should be a 7-miler this week, but I've been adding a mile to each run which would mean 8... (yeah, my training in 2020 is pretty much like everything else in 2020 - going with the flow).

Anyway, I could include a lot of boring "running thoughts" here, but suffice it to say, once I got going... I just kept going. At 7 miles I was like, "No way am I stopping now." It wasn't until that moment that I remembered how good my 8-mile runs were last year.

When I got home (after stretching, legs up the wall, soaking the foot in an ice tub, and a shower), I looked into my archives and discovered I'd run 18 miles on this weekend last year. Well, good for me. But I also saw a couple posts detailing my love of the Wednesday 8 mile runs.

So, I don't know what it is about 8 miles. I guess that's just what my body is built for. Sure, I'm a little sore. But it's a "feel good" sore. Even my lungs feel good. Which is odd, because my lungs have been a worry to me this summer. I honestly don't know if I've already had covid or what, but I've never had as much trouble breathing as I have this year. And the joint pain. Today, though, was good. Thank you 8 miles.

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Romans 15:13 

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."