Progress! (And not before time...)

There's something miserably deflating about pursuing a single objective for a long, long time (in this instance at least a year) and not really feeling like you're getting anywhere. Which is kind of how I felt about my running, before I had the sense to step back and look at my progress a bit more sensibly.
It was only when I sat back at the weekend and analysed my times over various distances (using a GPS watch thingy that tracks all that stuff) that I realised that I have in fact progressed quite well. It's just been that the improvements have been coming in little increments. Another lesson learned through the medium of running: there's no such thing as a shortcut or a quick fix. All improvements are hard earned.
So after analysing my times I realised that I'm a good 2 minutes a mile quicker than I was, say, a year ago. Doesn't sound like much but over a marathon distance that's about an hour's difference. Then, pleased with myself about the progress I'd made, I decided to go out and have a right old tear-up with my Sunday run. (In running circles, Sunday is traditionally the day you go out for your 'long' run.)
I did 13 miles last Sunday, 18 the one before that and 17 the one before that. So I decided to cut it back to about 11 miles around a looped run that I've done several times before so that I could run it hard.
My intention was to hammer it as hard as I could within reason for as long as I possibly could and only slow when I literally couldn't maintain the pace. After a fairly unpleasant first 3 miles, whuich are mostly uphill, I settled into a fast but just-about-manageable pace, right to the end, even managing a final half mile sprint of sorts. I knew it was a quick loop but when I checked my time against my previous times on that loop, I felt a wee surge of satisfaction that made me realise that all the grief has been worthwhile.
The result: 11 miles in a pace that would see me around a marathon in about 3hrs and 15mins. Granted I only ran 11 miles, so there's virtually no chance of me maintaining that same pace for 26 miles but I did feel strong at the end of the 11. I still have a couple of months to go too, so I'm feeling more positive than ever.