YEAH BABY! It's about time I had a good run. Exactly two weeks before the marathon--time for the final tempo. Goal was 10 easy with 10 at MP. Met up with Eddy bright and early at 5:30 after two nutri-grain bars, a cup of coffee, and a few swallows of water. We were off into the dark for 10 easy miles of chatting. I grabbed a swallow of water at mile 3.5 and a gu with a little water at 7.5. Splits for 10 easy were 9:04(not awake yet), 8:46, 8:32, 8:23, 8:25, 8:09, 8:07, 7:53, 7:58, 8:04. Took a quick swallow of water at the turnaround and then dropped the hammer. I felt great, breathing was easy, energy levels were great, temps were wonderfully cool. The only problem was that my legs were stiff and never really loosened up. I figured whatever pace I could hold on unresponsive legs would be easy in a marathon after a taper so I kept plugging away. Took a gu while running in the 3rd mile of the tempo. Splits were 6:50, 7:01, 7:09(water stop and didn't stop my watch, took me a second to get the lid off the bottle), 6:59, 7:01, 7:05, 6:59, 7:15, 7:13, 6:55, last .04 in 16 seconds. Total time for 10.04 1:10:43/7:02 pace. That would be freaking awesome if that is my marathon pace but I'm just going to feel it out in two weeks when the day comes. I don't believe it will be a particularly fast course with all the turns but I will give it my best shot. The pace definitely felt manageable and not overwhelming so I am encouraged. We ran into Raquel afterwards and she is only running the half, so she won't be blowing the field away in the marathon. This honestly puts me in contention for a top 3 finish if I go sub 3:10 unless a bunch of people I don't know about show up from out of state. I hope I have my mojo on race day and can put up a fight. | 