Lost my driving wheel?

With QMH's recent benching (well, couching is more accurate), I have trained almost entirely by myself for the coming Tom King Half Marathon. Running alone is pretty typical for me, but for every one of my four half marathons I have done most of my long distance training-up with her. Her situation is that in late January, completely out of the blue, she became A Person With A Bad Back. Without warning and without any history of troubles, she ended up in the ER with exploding pain in her right leg. Pain medication keeps her more or less comfortable, but for close to seven weeks now, no treatment has had much effect on the underlying spinal disruption.

Losing my training partner has triggered an unanticipated worry. Way back when we were bicycle tourists, I used to say that QMH was the leader, no matter which of us happened to be riding in front. When she was the lead cyclist, I followed her pace whether or not I felt it was too slow. On my turns as leader, she never failed to tell me when I was holding her back or pulling away.

When it comes to long runs, I fear I don't pace myself. I worry that in the adrenaline rush of the real thing, with Kid Kate running away from me, I'll spend my stamina prematurely. This has happened on recent training runs. Several times in the past two weeks I have found myself either winded or leg-tired early in a four or six mile run. Once last week, I wound up walking close to three miles when my feet and ankles began complaining insistently.

So, it's a real concern, running without my leader by my side. I hope to regulate my pace and my mood with music.