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Another 10k at whatever pace was comfortable slow at the beginning and then progressively faster.

A few more running days and in one week the marathon.

Rest day. Walking around Rome as a tourist guide all day, it was not the best way to rest my legs.

Short run just to move my legs and keep my brain entertained.

It's about time to look back at the training cycle leading to the upcoming maraton and try to evaluate in an "unbiased" way positive and negative aspects.

Positive things: this is my first fall marathon ever (I am keeping my fingers crossed), I am unjured and since april all my training was uninterrupted. It is the first fall marathon because it was always hard to train throughout the summer months, last year I tried and I signed up for Florence, but three days before the race I fell sick with high fever, but my training was not as consistent as this year. This year I also maintained high mileage and good speed in july and august. I have doubts and questions in my brain right now (as a side effect of not running much), but I will have a second chance at the end of november at the Florence marathon, for this reason I am not too worried about this race.

Negative things: I wish I had more slow/base miles in may and june, but I was afraid to crash and burn as I did during the last three years failing all the attempts to run a fall marathon, so I kept the mileage more manageable. I feel I lack some endurance (I wish I had 200 more miles on my board). Racing was really bad, I didn't race much because  I felt always tired and the two races at the end of august and the half in september were really sub par due to the heat. I wish I had a couple of good (in terms of feeling at the end) races to better evaluate my training. Other than these two points I don't have many regrets.

I am going to write down my three goals just to keep my mind focused: #1 to finish in 3:15:00 maintaining a constant pace of 4:37/km, #2 to finish in 3:19:59 this would open the door of the first corral at the Florence and Rome marathon, #3 to finish under 3:24:21 and beat my most recent PR done in Rome. The most important thing for me is still to finish, if uninjured would be even better. I get a very special mental reward even when I don't reach my goals, I am progressively slowing down, but I am still able to fight until the end, until the finish line. Being able to do this kind of activity is a blessing and I will try to enjoy it while I can.

4 miles 36 minutes.  The weather forecast looks promising cooler temperatures and cloudy sky, the only open question about the weather is the strength of the wind. I am almost there, no real pain or problem, the only concern is my lack of excitement and anticipation, but there is not much I can do about it.