Woke up this morning feeling cold and tired. Made sure to get good and warmed up inside before running outside. Did the usual bike, rower, treadmill warm up. This makes the overall run seem like a big production but it helps get me going and has helped me knee tremendously, so as long as I have the time I'll try and stick with it. Headed outside, started run with a little bit over 2 easy miles which actually felt somewhat easy. I then ran a 4 mile tempo run. After reading some tin man articles I thought I'd try 4 X 1 with 1 minute breaks. I was thinking that the breaks might make it seem easier. They did not, I didn't feel like moving again after the 1 minute recovery - but I had to, so I did. He also suggested 5K place + 1 min for the pace, which these are not (although maybe someday!) So here is what I did: 6:55, 6:55, 7:05, 6:41 The third mile was slower partly due to maneuvering around school buses and garbage trucks at one point. The last mile always seems to be faster and feels easier. Then I cooled down with another 2.5 miles to get back to the parking lot. Average pace: 7:49 I can't believe the marathon is less than 2 weeks away now. I'm feeling the least injured and most ready than I have ever been this close to a marathon. I have a half marathon on Sunday which I am going to run. I had signed up for this one before I had signed up for the marathon and originally planned on racing it. But 1 week is probably not enough recovery time for an all out marathon. I'm thinking of shooting for planned MP + 15 seconds. Brooks | 