Eight! I did it, and other useless information about the number!

One of the goals I have been thinking about - is the "8 minute mile" for longer runs.  I remember in highschool running our 5 mile course (from Seton Catholic Central down to the traffic circle and back) and doing it in under 40 minutes - much closer to 30.  I was thinking how nice it would be to be able to do that IN 40 minutes (well, under would be nice too - but need to set goals to reach goals.).  This is just something that has been rolling around in my mind when I look at my times overall. I see that I do a run in 8:45, and think "8 minute miles would be nice..."  But I know I have some improvement to get there..  But I am getting ahead of myself..

[caption id="attachment_1197" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Evolution of the Number 8 -- This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license."][/caption]

Yesterday, my legs - and specifically my calves - were quite tired from my 7 mile run.  I headed out last night thinking of doing a 3 mile run, nice and slow. I thought that might be a good move for my legs - let them rest up since all I am doing lately is abusing them (3 days of running, 4 days off do NOT a runner's legs make..)  Into the balmy 54 degree weather I went (Shorts and long sleeve T-shirt in February!!! I love this winter) and felt AWESOME!!!! Even my sore/tired calves were crying "MORE! MORE!!!"  So before I had hit the 1/2 mile marker, I had decided 5 miles was my distance of the day.

(Slight segue here - I got a new phone over the weekend and have not reset my Cardiotrainer settings from default.  This means I get my time reminders right now.  Back to your regularly scheduled blog posting now..)

The feet were flying and it all felt GREAT!!!  I was concerned that I was starting to fast, but since I wasn't worried about it I had no issues slowing down to a crawl-like jog if it was needed.. I have no one to impress right?  I was moving at a good clip as my wife headed home for work - so she got a BIG hearty wave as she went by!  (its silly, but I like seeing people I know as I run.. the waving brings a variety into the trip) At the 2.5 mile marker, my Cardiotrainer popped out with "19 minutes 40 seconds." - I was thinking how cool it was that at least the first half was at an 8 minute mile pace.  I kept going, and noticed that my calves were REALLY tired - so I was simply pleased at my time for the first half of the run while not being concerned at all about the second half.

As I hit uphills, I heard my old cross country coach's voice in my head - "Don't Slow Down!!!! If you have to rest, burst over the top and rest while you let gravity do the work going down hill!!" - and kept my speed going up the hills.  I had been mostly ignoring what ever my Cardiotrainer said (and my tired calves.. I ignored what they were saying too..) and just kept at a pace that felt good.  As I was almost home - my Cardio trainer popped out with "four point five miles, 36 minutes 12 seconds."  Some quick math in my head (hey! that's not 40 minutes...and I'm almost home!) let me know that I could reach that 8 minute mile today for the ENTIRE run!  So I headed in with a good strong finish. and finished my five mile run at EXACTLY 40 minutes.  That is - with an average of 8 Minutes/Mile!!! WOO HOO!!!!!  The breakdown was:
Mile 1: 8:00
Mile 2: 7:59
Mile 3: 7:55
Mile 4: 8:13 <-- Messed up my negative splits.. :(
Mile 5: 7:45

The actual run was a hair over 5 miles is why it doesn't break down evenly.

In the spirit of this "Un-expected Victory" - Lets look at the number 8.

• The year 8 A.D. (not 4 A.D.) was the first leap year in the first century, to correct the past mistakes, having leap years for every 3 years (since the year 45 B.C. to 9 B.C.) instead of 4 years as decreed by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. (from http://sites.google.com/site/numeropedia/number8)


• 8 is a lucky number in China, because it sounds like the word for Wealth.


• The Beijing Olympics started at 8:08 pm on the 8th day of the 8th month in the year ending in 8! http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jamesreynolds/2008/07/lucky_number.html


• The atomic number of Oxygen is "8" http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question19325.html

Eight is also a big number in most religions:

• There are eight of Beatitudes.


• In Revelation the Anti-Christ is the eighth king.


• In Islam, It is the number of Angels carrying The Holy Throne of Allah in heavens.


• The Eight Immortals are Chinese demigods.


• In Wicca, there are eight Sabbats, festivals, seasons, or spokes in the Wheel of the Year.


• In Hinduism, it is the number of wealth, abundance. The Goddess Lakshmi has eight forms. There are eight nidhi, or seats of wealth. There are also eight Guardians of the directions.


• In Taoism and Chinese cosmology, the eight trigrams of the Ba gua. "Ba gua" literally means "eight symbols".


• In Scientology, it is commonly used such as in the books Technique 88, Scientology 8-80, Scientology 8-8008,and The Eight Dynamics,and the highest level of scientology is OT8.


• In Ancient Egyptian mythology, the Ogdoad represents the eight primordial deities of creation

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(Spell check wasn't working today so I apologize for any mis-spelled words!)