Was it Half Marathon Weekend? Did I Miss Yet Another Memo?

I just want to take a moment to say "congratulations" to two people, Chelsea and Amanda.  Chelsea ran the NYC half-marathon today and Amanda over at 5 Miles Past Empty ran the Tobacco Road half marathon.  Both girls ran their races in under 2 hours - Yay!!  And they finished within five minutes of each other (talk about potential pacing partners!; oh the illiteration).  I went over to Chelsea's to celebrate her accomplishment and heard all about the adventure of rushing to find the start line, the chaotic organization of runners at said starting line, the 37 degree weather, some fun signs (like "run like you stole something"; I fucking love signs like that), and what not.  Aside from Amanda's post-race face seen HERE, I'm sure we'll see a full report of her experience soon.  So Congrats to both of you.  What a way to start the new season!!

Apparently I missed the memo on "Half Marathon Weekend."  My apologies (and congratulations) to all who participated.  I will attempt to be more on top of my athletic holidays next time around. 

I did however manage to run 6.02 miles today.  I know, I know - not quite 13.1, but give me a break.  It was my first long run of this training schedule.  As I've said before, it's hard for me not to set out at a 7:15 or thereabouts (really anywhere between 6:45 and 7:30) pace when I go out for my runs, but today I proudly state that I, Kurt, was able to run 5 of today's 6 miles at what I will losely define as a "conversational" pace; roughly 8:10 by my mental calculations while running (please refer to my post on the condition R.I.D. HERE before you trust my math outright).  This "conversational" pace allowed me to maintain the ability to hold a conversation outside of roughly 5 total minutes while I ran a couple hills and recovered from said hills.  But all-in-all, still much slower than my normal pace.  I maintained pace through five miles and then couldn't resist the urge to let my legs rip through the last mile.  I ended on 48:22 (8:02 pace); that made my last mile roughly 7:20.


Hope everyone had an awesome weekend!!

Questions

1.  Have you started your season's races yet?  If so, how many races have you done?  If not, when is your first?
My first race is the NERelay on June 11th and 12th, though I'm itching to get something in sooner.

2.  Does anyone else find it difficult to slow down during training?  Am I the only speed demon junky?
Training at one consistent pace is never the best option for full training.  Different speeds work different muscle abilities which all come into play in the race.  I know this, yet my body just wants to 'let it rip' when I go out to run.  Swimming is very different for me (given 8+ years of training), but running is a whole other beast. 


Stay fit.  Stay healthy.