I just learned square stitch! This is my first piece and it took like 5 hours?! Is that normal??

I actually timed it (once I got the hang of it -- the silver looks janky cuz that's where I started unfortunately. And the thread ran out halfway through). My fastest row was 12 minutes. I couldn't do any faster than that.

A row of 16 delicas with square stitch -- 12 minutes per row, 16 rows. So now that I'm practiced this piece would take over 3 hours with no break if I did it again at max speed.

What can you guys do?? Is that normal??

Thanks very much!