it's bound to get easier someday

Distance: 2.11 miles
Time: 27'54"
Average: 13'10" per mile

I have completed 17 runs for a total of 36.47 miles. My average pace is 13'00" per mile.

For a change, my average pace stayed the same. That's a vast improvement over the recent slowing trend. So, Yay for that. I guess.

I started my route in reverse. On the one hand, it was smarter, because when I got to the circle I'm slightly afraid of, I ran almost the whole circle instead of just the first two-thirds of it, as the scary part is, in reverse, the final two-thirds instead of the first two-thirds. But, I just didn't have enough oomph to get all the way back to the corner.

Then I was faced with the long straight away. For some reason, in reverse, the long straight away seems insurmountable. So, I went back to the start of the scary circle, turned around, did another tour of the cul-du-sac (there are two cul-du-scas in my 'hood) and then ran the scary two-thirds of the circle again before getting back to my half of the neighborhood, where I had to make up distance since I drastically changed my route.

I might do the scary circle in reverse, but not the whole route. That long straight away is much less cumbersome heading away from home than toward home. I don't know why that is.