Running Partner...Paying Off

Well, with my new found determination to get out and run I decided to put out an email to a few people in the running club that I belong to and see if anyone was interested in meeting up for some early AM runs.
I got two responses, but after I replied with what time I wanted to run - 6:15ish - I only got one reply from my reply.
And a running partner I now have. Promptly at 6:20 in the morning on Thursday, I met Matt at the end of my apartment complex and went for a really early, cold morning run through Troy. Of course, I carried my keys with me, just in case, since I really didn't know this guy ...and Bruce had his phone next to the bed and my plotted route in case I didn't return in an appropriate amount of time. Appropriate amount of time....I chose the route we ran on and I usually run it in about 30 minutes...Took Matt and I a bit over 28. Dear God, despite my telling him what my pace is he runs just a tad bit above that to keep me working. I didn't know whether to thank him or try and strangle him. It was a really great run, in all honesty, and I was so happy when we got back to my street and I knew I was done. And I said thank you and started running towards my apartment, and as he continued down the hill I heard him say, "see you tomorrow morning."
What?! Oh, I was soooo not planning on doing this everyday! But I'm a wuss and couldn't admit to that, so...yup, I got up and did again on Friday.

And for the last week I've been getting up at 5:30 so I can go for a run around Troy at 6:20 with Matt. Not everyday, just a few days during the week. It's been really nice, actually, to get up. He is a good runner and while he does keep the pace a bit faster than I would like, I think it is paying off for me. I went and did speedwork and ran my fastest mile yet - 8:38! I pushed for it, but I didn't even hit my top threshold to get it, so that got me psyched.

This past Saturday, I did my last long run before the Half - 12 miles around Troy. It was a weird run. Bruce didn't join as he had a meeting, so I had to run with my camelback around my waist - it really was very obnoxious for the first 2 miles. It was drizzling and the first three miles were just awful (not becuase of the weather, it was just awful). I really thought I would just stop and give up. Around mile 4 I started to get into it more. The weather continued to drizzle, and it was a bit chill, but it wasn't bad for running. Around mile 5 my hip started to bother me (I think I pulled it on a morning run last week) and I decided that I would cut the run a bit short, in lieu of injuring myself, and head home once I got back to Hoosick St. I walked a lot, on and off and at what I thought was mile 6 I looked down and saw that I was actually at mile 8....I have no idea where 2 miles went, but it made me motivated to keep moving. I walked and ran until I got to Hoosick. I realized that it was about 3 miles to my house and was happy that I wasn't going to end up cutting my run short afterall.
I ran the rest of the way home, enjoying the whole time - even the part where I fell into a fence. It jumped out in front of me, I swear. It wasn't there...then it was there, and I was falling into it. I noticed some of the people in cars driving up the street notice my stumble and smirk a bit - I am sure I did look quite funny being attacked by a fence. Injury free, I continued on.
Despite my walking more often than I usually do I managed to pull out a steady 11:00 minute mile and finish the 12 miles in about 2:12. Although I tried to remove most of the hills from my route, I still can't figure out how to use mapmyrun.com properly and ended up adding in a couple nice hills (note the sarcasm on "nice") instead. But I figure Kerri has told me that there is only 1 hill on the run and it is a short one, the rest of the course is flat...so doing all this hill work will (hopefully) make the actual Half "easier" than these training runs.

I can't believe it's only a couple weeks away....I'm starting to get really excited. I'm definitely looking forward to the run itself, but I'm getting really excited to go down and see Kerri and do this with her. It's been fun "training" with her from afar. Regardless of our actual time or how we finish I know we'll be having a lot of fun celebrating our success! :)