Long Run Plus Speed Work

I am following my half-marathon training plan and yesterday called for a seven mile run with three one mile repeats at a 9 minute per mile pace. Yeah, right. I haven't run at a 9 minute pace since the spring. I ran the 7 miles and gave a hard effort on three of those miles with a half mile easy jog in between. All of these long runs and easy runs at 11 minute per mile pace are making it very hard to run at a faster pace. Oh, well. My main goal for this first half marathon is to finish. I would love to do it in under 2.5 hours, but that would be icing on the cake. We'll see how tomorrow's Race for the Cure 5K goes. I am running with my sister at her pace, but I have no idea what her pace will be. I'll keep you posted...