I only run on days that end in a "y."

6 easy around the trail at lunchtime.  8:10's - 7:50's.

Dress rehearsal day - nice and cold - 34 degrees.  I ran 3 easy miles and then 3 @ MGP.  Legs did not feel particularly good, still have that nagging hamstring, fortunately it does not bother me while running, only after.  

MGP: 6:58, 6:53, 6:55.   

Unless something miraculous happens on race day I don't feel a sub 3 is in the cards.  I have not been feeling it lately.

OK - pretty much last run of significance before Sunday.  Met up with the group @ the annex.  I ran with 2 other guys that are heading up to Dallas to run the half.  (BTW- have I said I am done with Texas marathons!!?  Looks like 50 degrees and rain for the Dallas people.  I think I am going to get a t-shirt made saying I am done with Texas marathons so I don't sound like a broken record! LOL.)  By contrast, CIM looks like it will be dry, low humidity, no wind, and 38 degrees at the start!  Now, if only some clouds would blow in - but you can't have it all.

Back to today, we ran the 5 mile loop on the trail with 13 x 1 minute fast / 1 minute recovery focusing on turnover.  Took it easy the first couple a MGP pace, then down to 10k pace with a couple at the end at 5k pace and the last one @ 5:22 pace.  It felt good and the legs felt pretty strong.

Then ran a cool down mile at the end. 

I spoke to the coach afterwards about pacing.  He is firmly in the negative split camp - saving energy for the end as the last few miles are super flat and it's a straight line to the finish.  He said I should aim for a 1:31 at the half.  He said if I feel like crap during the first 10 miles it is going to be a great race.  I thought this was odd and counter intuitive but he should know.

Before we left to Sacramento I had found a school with a track that was close to the hotel.  There were 5 other runners from my running group that also wanted to do the Aussie carb load plan.  We drove to the nearby track and did 1.5 miles warm up.  The track was hard packed dirt with crushed granite so it was not the best running surface.  It was a track though so I was not complaining too much.  I then ran 1000m in 3:30.  Followed this with a bottle of Gatorade Pro Prime with 82g carbs and half a bagel.  Went back to the hotel for the free breakfast and shoved some more carbs down.  I kept a fairly accurate total - over 800g carbs for entire day.