Long slowish hill (repeat) run/Distance confidence Run

Since the Cape Cod Marathon fiasco, my confidence in running long has been totally shot. I hope to get some confidence back over the next three weeks so I can...well Ill hold off on mentioning it for now. I actually had goals/objectives for today's run (I was inspired by The Running Laminator to setup goals for runs). So here they are in no particular order
1) Run for 90 minutes
2) Make the course nice and hilly
3) Strong finish

Not knowing how well I'd hold up for that length of time, I created this crazy route where, after a warmup, I ran up Whitney Ave and starting with the hill on Edwards and ending with the hill on Armory, I would run up then down each hill thats off of Whitney. Then using the downhill and Whitney Ave portion to the next hill as the recovery. At first this felt good as the hills were a decent distance apart, but as I moved north up Whitney they got closer and closer together. After I finished the last hill, I ran all the way back down Whitney to Trumbull and then back up Orange to home. Last full mile split time was 8:12 (see below) which to me after the hills and being the end of an 11 mile training run was a nice strong pace.

I'm not one to really ever run with my iPod - but today I needed a little extra motivation from something (didn't sleep very well last night and this morning was rough). Ipod came out with me for a run for the first time in a long time. Pantera was a good motivator for the hills today. One week until the WPLR 5k in New Haven - no goals to announce on this but overall I'd be happy with a strong run race from start to finish and finish around 22 minutes.


Total Distance: 11.18 miles
Total Time: 1:38:36
Average Pace: 8:49

Splits
8:52
8:31
9:01
8:59
9:19
9:15
9:21
8:52
8:28
8:28
8:12
1:12 (for .18 miles @ 6.51 pace)

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/25734426

Had a 30+ mile week this week - which is a good start to get my base back for....no wait I said I wouldn't mention it yet.