We walked “only” 8 miles today. I love it when I can say that — “only” 8 miles.

We’ll reduce our mileage this week then the Parkersburg Half Marathon is next Saturday! Woo hoo!

Whether you are increasing your mileage working up to much longer distances, or tapering and working your way down — 8 miles is a major milestone for me.

Each time I cut back my mileage to 8 miles, I think about training for the first long-distance race I ever entered 10 years ago — half of the Columbus Marathon. Only TNT members were allowed to walk the race and we had to start an hour before the full marathon. On our first LSD, the TNT training program had us do only 2 miles. When we finally worked up to 8 miles it was so HARD! I was exhausted the entire rest of the day.

I followed that training schedule precisely and finished feeling great!

Now I’ve done enough marathons, half marathons and one 21-miler, that 8 miles really isn’t such a big deal. In fact, even at times when I feel unfit, I can still walk 8 miles.

But most of the time, when I see 8 miles on my schedule, I’m excited. I know I’ve put in the time, the effort, the sweat, the hard work, and in a week, I’ll be ready for the next race.

I’m beginning to think 8 should be my new lucky number.

(Nah! My lucky number has ALWAYS been 13 — the number of miles in a half marathon! Coincidence? Maybe not!)
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The meaning of the number 8: http://www.virtuescience.com/8.html

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