Sunday was a 4 mile day according to the schedule I am following. I decided to try it doing negative splits. On the path I run, I always run out and back. I wanted to run the back 2 miles faster than I ran the front two miles.

I did great! Some weird results, which I'll get to in a minute.

First of all -- nothing hurt! And after it was all done I felt great. I *really* think taking the first mile easy made all the difference. I intentionally took the front side slow. Mostly just walking fast.

The first mile I did in 15:43. Which I was fine with for a walking pace. It made me think that come the half-marathon, even if I just walk the entire thing, I will be able to make the 16 minute cut off.

But then the second mile. I walked the *exact* *same* *pace.* Remember, I'm walking here. I wasn't winded. I was barely sweating. I did that mile in 18:03!

Two minutes and twenty seconds slower than my first mile at the same pace. The only thing I can think of is that either the first mile is a short mile, or the second mile is measure long. Cause I was truly moving at the same pace.

A friend has one of those cool GPS-based watches that tell you how far you went -- I might ask her if I can borrow it and see what's what on the trail.

On the way back, I tried to run as quickly as I could.

I did the third mile (which is the same geographical mile as the 2nd mile) in 15:12. Again, which makes me think that is a long mile.

I did the last mile in 12:03. Really trying to push it at the end. I didn't run the full two miles. I would run as much as I could, stop to walk and let my heart rate calm down a bit, then run more.

Again, at the end I felt great. Not as tiring as just going out and run / walking the 4 miles. But, assuming I actually covered 4 miles, I was happy with my times and it was much more of a confidence booster!