11 Mile run.... with pictures!

I felt on top of the world this weekend! My friend and I completed our first ever 11 mile run on Saturday.

Having 10 miles under our belt, this one felt achievable. I actually didn't have any nerves going out this time. Which was weird! I tend to always get a little nervous before a run. Seeing her map of our run and where we were going to be going, it looked a little tough. She managed to incorporate 3 big hills and then a nice incline for our last mile. YIKES!

But we could do this and would run this even if we had to go slower.


Quick goodbyes to my kids, fuel snack in our pockets, and then we were off. (My friend gave Kacie the map with our mile markers. Her job was to mark off a mile about every ten minutes and then she would know where we were. She loved that!)

The first mile is always hard. I tend to breathe heavier during my first mile as my body is waking up and adjusting to this activity I am putting it through. And I was tired Saturday morning.... guess I should have went to bed earlier. But chatting away with my friend helped and the next thing I know is that we are heading into mile 2.

We both had on our Garmin watches and it was funny to hear them ring at the miles at the same time. We were in perfect sync! I kept an eye on my watch for our pace. We were trying to keep it at 11 minute miles but we were consistently staying between 10:00 - 10:20. We would try to slow down but would creep right back up to that pace. So we just let our bodies decide.... we weren't struggling so why not! Hopefully this wouldn't hurt us in the end.

Our first hill was tough but we ran it at 11:10 which isn't too bad. The stretch between mile 5 and 6 was all country flat road. This was a nice relief after the hill. Although this is where I started to notice a little fatigue in my legs. But I tried to ignore it and continued on.

Miles 7 and 8 went pretty good even with the hill. We both were feeling great and still running at that consist pace. We started eating a little of our fuel to gain a little more energy during this time. Craisins are a great snack to eat while running!

Miles 9 - 11 were pretty much all up hill. It was a struggle but we made it! When we stopped and started our walk cool down I immediately went to my watch to see our stats. And I was shocked! We DID stay very consist on our run. Here are the stats:

11 Miles
Total Time: 1:56
Total Over All Pace: 10:34
Over All Max Pace: 9:03
Calories Burned = 1833

Mile 1 - 10:29
Mile 2 - 10:33
Mile 3 - 10:43
Mile 4 - 10:37
Mile 5 - 10:36
Mile 6 - 10:32
Mile 7 - 10:21
Mile 8 - 10:38
Mile 9 - 10:29
Mile 10 - 10:57
Mile 11 - 10:21

After my friend left, I took a good 20 minutes to stretch and roll out. I was sore after we stopped running. But the stretching and rolling felt great. We went for family walks before lunch and then again before dinner just to make sure that my muscles didn't tense up. This made a difference and I actually felt great on Sunday.

I am feeling really good about this half. I am starting to feel like I can do it and will remain strong during the race!