went out to try my 3 mile today, which actually turned into 3 one milers, because by the end of the first mile I was already way too slow for my goal time. So I rested about 90 seconds, and ran another mile, coming up a bit faster but still over 7 minutes. I was leaving and really pissed off, then a couple miles away got really angry, turned the car around and went back. Got down there, ran much harder, trying to make myself uncomfortable (my coach used to say "if you're not puking, you're not trying"), and dropped my time by 30 seconds right then and there. and that was with a piece of gravel finding its way into my shoe and sanding the skin off of one of my toes.
running calculator says that puts me in at over 21 minutes, but it's a big improvement, because my last 3 mile time was like 22:30 or something like that. so the improved ffluid skeleton is working, I guess!