P.R. Half Marathon distance

Did a Half Marathon distance run this morning (my 3rd time running this distance), and set a new personal record of 1hr 51min 27secs. Yep - I know it's only an 8:30 / mi pace, but that's good for me at this distance. During that last 3 miles I was really trying to zone out and concentrate on my pace, and become a running zombie. When I got to the last mile split, and saw that I was going to beat my previous two times, I really pushed the final mile to my max, and was really happy with the resulting final time. Today, I became certain that my mind works against me most of the time, and I need to try to shut it off. For the entire 1st loop, I had this dread of the pain of doing the 2nd loop. That soaks up a lot of effort, and makes everything seem harder. Several times I had to talk myself out of stopping after only 1 loop. As soon as I hit my house, grabbed my water and banana for the 2nd loop, all that dread went away, and the running seemed much easier: "I'm half way there - this isn't so bad - I feel pretty good." I need to work on this mental aspect a lot. I would call it fear of pain. I saw this written on the back of a Marine's shirt at the Pendleton Sprint Tri - "Pain is the feeling of weakness leaving your body". I like that a lot. I need to tell myself that more when I'm running.

The Good stuff:
- getting more fit and faster at a distance that was only 6 months ago unthinkable for me
- running without my shirt on to stay cool in spite of the high humidity this morning (I'm not buying that story that running specific clothing keeps you cooler than having no shirt on - it hasn't been the case for me)
- taking a goo before the run, and hydrating enough beforehand (last time I just wanted to get on the road)
- running more carefully to help avoid hard impact (my knees and hips feel much better today than after the last run)
- taking the time to tighten the front laces to avoid my feet sliding forward in my shoes and giving me blisters, BUT...

The Bad stuff:
- in spite of my lacing efforts, and running care, I got blisters on the toes next to my big toe, I think it probably started happening after the final hill climb of the run.
- I thought the blisters from the last run had healed and become calouses (to offer more protection), but I guess this wasn't the case. They are big blisters on the tips now. I'll need to get this figured out. Time to go back to the running store and ask a lot of questions.