Wayne, Kevin and I ran the 10 miles from Trefoil to the mouth of the canyon. After my poor performance Thursday morning I was curious and a little nervous about how I would do today. We started out at a comfortable pace. It felt like a good pace at which to start the marathon next week. Our first 4 miles down South Fork were 8:26, 8:23, 8:11, and 8:00. After we all made a bathroom stop at Vivian Park (yes, the flush toilets are finally! open), I was feeling pretty good and we gradually picked up the pace a little. At Nunns Park I had been more focused on my conversation with Kevin than running. Wayne said he felt the wind at his back and started pulling ahead of us. I decided to focus in and run strong the last 3 miles. I pulled ahead of Wayne and Kevin and stayed there. It felt good. They are both a little under the weather, but I enjoyed being in front anyway. My mile splits for the last six miles were 8:00, 8:11, 8:01, 7:42, 7:36, 7:28, and 7:24. I averaged 7:56/mi for the 10 miles and finished feeling great. This was a great relief after how horrible I felt Thursday morning. Today's run gave me confidence for the marathon next week, and helped me solidify my plans. I think I'll start out at the same easy-ish effort as at the start of the run today. Instead of picking up the pace after 4-6 miles like today and averaging 8:00/mi, I plan to stick to the easier effort pace and hope to average 8:30-ish/mi for the first 20 miles. I fully expect to be struggling the last 6.2 miles down University Ave, maybe sooner. I don't have the long runs in to feel confident of running strong to the end. I ran a strong 16 miler not too long ago, so with tapering and race day magic I suspect I can make 20 miles okay if I don't go out too fast, but those later miles will be iffy. All I can do now is try to go into the marathon well tapered, healed, rested, hydrated, and fueled and see what I can do. I'm finally starting to get excited about this next adventure. | 