Slowly Getting Faster (5 Miles)

This morning I got out of bed, ate a Think Thin Brownie Crunch Bar, and mentally prepared for 5 miles. It's slowly getting easier!

Source

I was a little nervous because I was going to be focusing on my speed, trying to get those elusive negative splits, and worried that it would be hard to transition from my slow pace on Saturday. Fortunately, it wasn't that bad - but it was still challenging!

I am also happy to report that I didn't have any tendon pain in either of my legs - rolling with tennis balls, wearing sneakers to rehearsal instead of character shoes, and resting on Friday probably attributed to that! For those of you who don't know what character shoes are, these are my fabulous La Ducas:

As pretty as they are, that's a 3 inch heel..

I've worn them to almost every rehearsal, save for the music rehearsals (no dancing required) and the longer rehearsals on Sundays, which are for 4 hours instead of 3. The musical is coming along, and we have just under 3 weeks till we open. Eep!

Back to running.

I'm happy that the last mile was the fastest!

I realize that I'm getting faster, and I'm really proud of that. I was a little worried when I heard the first mile was so slow, but I'm slowly realizing that I just need a warm up mile to really get going. It's now my natural tendency to speed up significantly after that first mile, which works great for marathons!

Hopefully I can keep up this speed as we go into Week 8 of marathon training. I can't believe I'm already halfway there!

I've already logged almost 350 miles in my sturdy Nike Pegasus shoes - it's time for some new ones! Any recommendations?

Can anyone recommend a good foam roller?