Half Marathon Training

I figured since I am into my 5th week of training I would write a little update. I am half way done with training and the big day is on May 22. This past Saturday I ran 8 miles. That sounds unbelievable to me. But honestly, it wasn't that hard. I think the way that I have been training has really paid off. I have an awesome training schedule that I have followed to a T, well minus a few things. The schedule wants me to run M-W-TH and a long run on Saturday. I've found my long runs are easier when I have two days off instead of just one, so I've been skipping the Thursday run. Throughout the training, I never go more than 6 miles during the week - and that is only one time. Usually it's 3, 4 or 5.  So that is also nice. And let me say this - I run SLOW! I am consistently running about 10 min miles. Even when I do my 3 mile run, I still average 10 min miles. But honestly, I don't push myself to go faster on my shorter runs and hopefully this will work towards my advantage on the race day so I don't start out too fast. The first 2 miles are hard because I'm not into a groove yet and then I hit a wall around 5 miles and I'm predicting I will hit another one around 9 or 10 miles.  I am also pretty proud of myself because I have ran the entire time during all of my runs. At first I wanted to stop a ton, especially when starting the 4 and 5 milers, but I didn't let myself. Once I stop, I get out of the groove and can't get back in it. So now on my really long runs, it's not even an option for me to stop.  If I can keep my training up, I would love to finish the half marathon without stopping. I'm not getting my hopes up, but it's definitely something to shoot for. We'll see how my 10 mile run goes this weekend!