Notes
I met with Rob for the first time in months.
We did 30 minutes easy @ 8'47" pace, then I took off and did 30 minutes at MP (which ended up ranging from 7'21" to 7'15"). I ended that split with 4.14 miles in 30' even, which averaged 7'14". I felt great at marathon pace and I played with my pace to see how my breathing felt at 7'21" as well as what it felt like at 7'15". It was a good experiment. I feel more in tune with my body and with my pace. Plus, it was my first time to ever train at Marathon Pace so I learned a lot.
After my pace, I reconnected with Rob and we came in from AP & Bolanz easy, which was 8'29" pace. I finished up with an addition mile on the towpath to bring myself up to 12 miles total.
This was a stress-free run. We laughed a lot and talked about running, training, and the marathon. This was the easiest 12 miles I have done in a long time. I did not GU (which was likely not smart) and I did not really drink much (also not smart). But the weather was so perfect compared to what we've been running in the past 6 weeks.
One more "hard" week of training left and then we taper a little bit. Less than a month to Chicago. As long as everything holds up health-wise (and I've never felt better), it should be a memorable experience.