Rewind!! Training for 5k first!

I'm writing this on Sunday, July 11, but it will post for the 12th. I can deal with that.

I had an interesting session today on the treadmill and encountered a few 'problems':

* My ponytail kept bouncing like mad --I had to redo it (while running) about 3 times. Eventually, I was able to get it tight enough and concentrate on my mission.

* My warm-up was horrible --I attempted a pace of 3.7 for the first .2 miles and after just over 3 minutes and 30 seconds, I sped up to 5.0 mph. BAD CHOICE.

* I speed-walked at about 3.7 mph (possibly 4.0 mph) until I hit .5-miles and then pushed for 5.0 mph. Better, but I wasn't happy.

* The run wasn't as refreshing as I wanted it to be . . . at first.

I wrote down some stats as I was running.

At 38 minutes and 39 seconds I hit the 3.2 mile marker; not impressed by this because I had a super crappy warm-up. Therefore, I hit it hard between the 2-mile and 3-mile marker. What did I do? I ran at 5.5 mph because I was frustrated. I'm not going into detail of what thoughts were charging through my brain.
--> Positive Thoughts: I already beat my own time by 1 minute and 21 seconds. As you'll recall from my run on July 9 and the underlying reason I'm doing this for myself is in that post.

At 44 minutes and 39 seconds, I hit the 3.7-mile market. Decent.
--> Positive Thought: Because I didn't officially begin running until .5 miles into the run, I didn't hit the 5k mark until this point. You can't 'win' every time, but what counts is that I made it work and I pulled through.

At 47 minutes and 52 seconds, I did something I don't recall doing by myself... EVER. I hit the 4-mile marker.
--> Positive Thoughts: SUCCESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! HOLY CRAP DID I JUST DO THAT????!?!??!??!!!! A little heavy on the punctuation marks for you? Tough. :-D

My stats:
Calories burned: 489
Total distance: 4.29 miles (again, this includes a .5-mile warm-up and a 5-minute cool down beginning at 4.0 miles)
Time(s): ran 5k in 38:39 minutes (remember, this includes a .5-mile warm-up) but ran "official" 5k in 44:39 minutes.
Official work-out time: 52:56 minutes