Notes
I decided to toss the marathon plan out the window for this weekend and run a mile race. I ended up doing pretty well, coming in at 5:20, which is was I was hoping for when I started. I suspect that I could have run about 5 seconds faster if the course didn't have so many tight turns, and if it didn't finish through a field of wet grass. Also, another big positive is that my Achilles both felt fine at the end, not overly sore or anything, so I'm feeling pretty confident about the marathon workouts I've got coming up.
One thing to note is that I was never passed by anyone, but I did pass a ton of people starting at about the half mile mark. This race was a lot of fun, I love running short and fast races.