9:00am, sunny and 72 degrees! This is perfection. Splits for 6 miles were: 8:48, 9:01, 9:09, 9:14, 9:27, 9:54, with .89 miles at the end of walking at 15:18. These are more or less perfect easy miles. I wore the Vroom shoes (Lunaracers). The run was about 1/2 street and 1/2 trail, with a short section of more technical trail, so I could see how the Vrooms did on more rocky, rooted terrain. I loved them everywhere; now that I've got somewhat used to them, it is easy to go slowly in them. I felt like this run was truly effortless, and should become the template for all of my runs. I was talking with my chiropractor/coach/personal motivator yesterday about what muscles are required for just lifting the foot off the ground for each step, in Chi running form. He said just think about the foot, not the muscles. While I ran, I just observed what my body did, and sure enough, its just the foot. The leg feels pretty relaxed with each step. I want to have this feeling for the first 10 miles or so of the marathon. I came home and did my core work, arm weights, hip strengtheners, and stretches, and found that all this stuff takes me over an hour! It has really added up over the last few weeks, but I didn't realize how much time I was spending on the support stuff. It is all important; there is not anything that I would cut out, so I guess I'll just have to carve out the time each day. Sometimes I do it in two pieces. | 