I had a really nice/ easy medium long run early this morning. I saw a runner up ahead about 3 miles into the run out on the south end of marshall, so I decided to catch up rather than trail behind him a minute indefinitely. We were running a similar pace so I just picked it up a little for a while going down cherryvale and caught up to him after 5 or 6 minutes. It ended up being Nick Pedatella, which was a nice surprise, and we were heading the same way for the next 7 or 8 miles. So it was nice to have some company for an hour or so. After Nick turned off for home I also turned for home the other way and ran the last 3.5 or so at a quicker pace..6:30-40 ish. It was a nice last long run before the marathon next week and everything is still just feeling remarkably good. I have really enjoyed this marathon training block, and have noticed significant aerobic fitness gains. I'm kind of bummed its coming to a close actually! Not sure exactly what I'll focus on next....I think I would like to see how low I can get my 5K and 10K times this winter. I think I may just do that with a focus on shorter faster intervals for the first couple months to start out another longer marathon training block for a spring marathon. But I will wait to be the judge on another marathon until I actually do it next week. I have loved the training! Will I love the actual event is yet to be seen. Although while I have been loving the long tempo and marathon pace runs, I do kind of miss the lung/heart burning short/fast stuff lately also. And I'm pretty curious to see how the increased aerobic fitness will benefit me as I train again for the shorter distances. I'm guessing it's going to come in handy. 15 miles for the morning in about 1:50. | 