Half Training, Day 2: Merrily we plod along

Let me tell you, today was definitely a day where I had to drag myself out of the house to run. Despite the good news that I might possibly have a short-term job between France trip #1 and France trip #2 (the long haul), the beginning of my run was pretty ick seeing as I had to postpone it due to a walking cellphone fight with my dad... Don't you love those? Anyway, by the end of that, I was pretty ready to pound out some frustration on the pavement, or, well, the middle school track:

When I'm home, I always loving running up at the middle school because, like I've probably mentioned before, that was the last time I "ran" in my life since I was on the middle school track team. I remember being so proud of myself for being able to run an 11-minute mile as a 13/14 year old and then looking over at my coaches and seeing their disappointment. I was just happy with myself because I hadn't stopped once! Anyway, running on this track makes me remember that girl and feel really proud to be doing what I'm doing. I wasn't really overweight then, but I know that if someone had told my eighth-grade self that someday I'd be training to RUN a half marathon, I would not have believed them at all.

Anyway, once I finally got started, the run went pretty well. The first 2 miles (1 warm up, 1 of the "tempo" bit) were really easy, but the last few were a bit more of a struggle. I stopped and walked for 30 seconds right as I hit 3 miles and then again after mile 4 for a minute walk and a quick water-fountain break at the park. My pace splits looked like this:

Mile 1: Average Pace of 12:37
Miles 2-4: AP of 12:08
Mile 5: AP of 13:27
I'm surprised at how fast Mile 1 was (I was trying to keep it at a 13-minute + pace to start slow and not tire out), and slightly disappointed that I didn't hit the goal of an 11:39 pace for the tempo part. But, most importantly, I did it and kept it up for an hour... 20 minutes more than I've been doing lately. That in itself made this run a success in my book. Plus, Week 2 of training is the exact same as Week 1, so I can always shoot for some improvement then!

Here are some quick post-run photos and the overall map of my run... I bet anyone who drove past me on the main street thought I was crazy taking photos of myself with my cell phone, but whatever!
Yeah, I was going for an upbeat "YAY!" photo and got distracted... though this probably sums up my life at the immediate end of my run...
Quick shot of my running buddy after our date together today. See! 5 whole miles!
See? Much better. Side note: I don't think I've EVER been this sweaty after a run. Seriously, my entire top looked like it was just supposed to be darker pink. Epic.

Anyway, I'm just glad I finished the run. It's giving me more confidence that I can successfully complete Sunday's 6-miler. It is nice being home and finding some fun places to run and friends to catch up with! Also, it's nice being able to come home from a run and immediately put on a swim suit and jump in the pool. That helps! On tap for today: getting graduation announcements out and going out for happy hour with some friends from high school! :)