It was cold and wet Monday morning, so I postponed my training walk until nearly noon. I was scheduled to do 8 miles and just could not do that much mileage in my neighborhood. I finally went to Antrim Park which has a 1.2-mile loop and did six laps for a total of 7.2 miles. Because I had not walked hard since the Parkersburg Half Marathon, I felt comfortable with that distance.

I started slow, walking the first lap in 17:32 for a 14:36 per mile pace. Each lap was progressively faster ending with a 16:19 lap, or 13:35 per mile pace! I’m pretty excited about that. I averaged 14:09 per mile, which is not fast enough to break a 3-hour half marathon, but 13:35 is.

Considering that I finished feeling strong and I was not breathing overly hard, I think I should be able to maintain that pace to achieve my goal. And with any luck, I will be able to do it at the Columbus Marathon Half in October.

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