Gaining ground

Violating every rule of logic and experience, I went out today for my long run, started out too fast and ended up working way too hard to post another 12 miles in my log.
Oh, I ran the distance in a reasonably good time, but that wasn't supposed to be the point. It was supposed to be a long, SLOW run. But, my legs felt fresh and I was in kind of a hurry, and it was cold heading into the wind, so I took off faster than I should have and just kept on pushing it. After mile 7 I began silently chastising myself for my stupid pace, but by then I'd also decided I wasn't going to back off unless or until I just completely wore out. Besides, it was too dang cold going against the wind (I was looping, so I was going into the wind half the time), and I didn't want that to last any longer than necessary.
I finished 12.1 miles averaging 8:41 per mile, but I had to note in the log that it wasn't a particularly high quality run. I was leg-tired the last 3 or 4 miles and didn't finish feeling strong. If I had gone out 30 seconds per mile slower for the first 6 miles, I could have finished much stronger and probably with an even better time.
The best thing: there was no foot pain again, and I'm starting to gain some confidence that it will stay that way.