Possible marathon training first long run (3 miles)

As I had told myself earlier, I was going to do three miles tonight, as planned on the marathon training plan that I have printed out.  We've been experiencing what I would describe as perfect running conditions....upper 50s or so, clear skies, with very gentle wind (being in East-Central Illinois, wind is always a factor), and my body basically telling me, "Let's run! We need this!"  I gave a few thoughts for my buddy that I run for, and tried to picture a conversation we would have about me possibly doing the full marathon.

I decided to take things slow, not only to get in the mileage, but to also enjoy the weather, which ended up being a REALLY nice idea.  Instead of getting the 3 miles, I ended up doing 5 after a short break, and realizing I still had lots of energy left, and wanted to enjoy my run more.  I probably could have squeaked out one more mile, but it was starting to get dark, and so I wanted to get going home.  I ended up running those miles at an approximately 11:30 pace, which felt very comfortable.

In terms of my pace, I'm sure that it's super slow for many of you runners out there, but considering that I may be doing my first marathon, I wanted to sure that I could cover the distance comfortably.  I figure that at this point, it's better to be slower and longer, than faster and shorter. Areas such as speed can improve at a later date, especially if I can mange to continue to do speedwork in the winter months.  I'm also still running with our local running club for "fun runs" on Tuesday nights, and my pace there varies. I've ran as fast as a 9:20 something pace and as slow as an 11:30 pace (and at the same time, I paced a friend of mine to her own personal 5k PR at the 11:30 pace...what a awesome feeling that was for the both of us!). It just all depends on what I feel like my body can handle, and sometimes who I am with.  Regardless of my pace, I'm still running faster than those who sit on the couch.

We'll see how this journey goes over these next few weeks. Now, I just need to X off the long run for today.  One day down....many more to go, but it's one less day I now have to do.