Sharon Woods is always beautiful. The shade really helped.

Today I went to Sharon Woods for an 8-mile long-distance training walk. As I’ve mentioned before, my training is a little bit off right now, so 8 miles is a pretty good stepping stone for getting back on track.

In addition, I have some serious concerns about the shoes I will wear for the Air Force Half Marathon next month, so decided to wear my new New Balance Ionix 3090s. These shoes are extremely light and I’m worried they might be too light for a half.

Leaves of three, let them be? I think this is poison ivy.

It was a little warm today so my plan was to take it very easy. Despite this plan, I was very surprised that my first mile was 15:14 and my second mile was 15:18! Ugh! (Another sign I need to improve my training?) And those miles didn’t feel easy, either.

Luckily, my pace did pick up. I was able to get down to 14:17 without working very hard — my peak heart rate was only 138.

Though my pace was much slower than I expected, it felt great. Eight miles was not as difficult as I expected — even though it was warm! I’m confident doing 10 miles next week will be OK and finishing the half marathon at a good pace will not be a problem.

After the 2-mile mark, there is a water fountain.

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