Just More Running

I officially have 3 8-mile-long runs under my belt. Is it 3 or 4? I think three. Anyhoooo....
Last week I faithfully completed every single day of training. It was a great feeling of accomplishment. Hoping to get 100 miles in this month. If I hadn't been sick the first week, I'd be on easy street. As it stands now, I'm exactly on track if I don't miss a single day of training between now and the end of the month. yikes.
This week we are ramping up a bit. I have a 10 mile long-run on Saturday, which is also the same day as a race. So, I'll do 2 miles to warm up, then 5 miles of racing, and then 3 miles of running.
Today we experimented with a Jeff Galloway-style run. 6 miles. We did short periods of walking. With each running section our time increased dramatically. We started out at about a 10 minute mile pace. By the last 1.5 mile section we were running an 8:30 and it was painless. Fantastic! We still averaged a 10 minute pace overall, but this was much more fun and interesting. We are thinking of revising our training to incorporate this type of running more.
Strides are still my way favorite day of running. oh weeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! Just stepping out and ripping (in as much as I "rip") down the road.... so fun.