It must be wrong.

That's the only logical explanation for why I struggle in the park. According to my pedometer (which I don't trust at all), the park run loop is only 1.67 miles around. If that's true, it took me 45 minutes to run 3.4 miles. That averages out to 13+ minute miles. How is that possible? How can I feel like I'm struggling to complete under three and a half miles and be so slow doing it?

I tried mapping the run online but I can't see it clearly enough to have any sort of accuracy. I downloaded the park map, but it doesn't have a scale, just trail length distances which if I ran the trails one way and didn't interconnect them would be accurate. But I don't. This is so frustrating because I keep thinking it must be longer than it is based on how I feel, and the time spent. But the pedometer says otherwise.

Maybe the pedometer doesn't work right when I run. We reset it yesterday and it seemed to be accurate for the walk to the ice cream store and back. (Ice cream calories don't count if they're consumed while walking.)

Maybe it is accurate and I'm still weak. That would be a horrible revelation at this point. Nearly as horrible would be the realization that I struggled for weeks to be able to run 1.67 miles and the hubris to imagine I'll be able to run 26. It makes me question myself and wonder if my other measurements are accurate or if I'm somehow tricking myself. If I was struggling with 3, how did I do 10? Maybe I didn't. Is that really a possibility?

UPDATE: In order to satisfy my obsession with the length of this trail, we went back tonight and walked it. It measured an additional tenth of a mile. So after two independent pedometer readings and three laps around the park, it's "official"-- It's less than 2 miles. Yes, I'm upset.