- It is time to remind everyone that the roads do NOT belong to you.  As runners, you have a responsibility to be aware of your surroundings, and that includes traffic.  I know the tendancy is to focus 10 feet in front of your feet when embracing St Stephans hill (and the others) but you can not be oblivious to cars ahead and behind you.  Expecting them to slow down for you because you are tired reflects poorly on you AND every other runner that motorist will come across.   If we are to keep the good will most of the locals toward our using Rt 450 and the other roads, we have to do our part and respect their right to be there as well.

- Pay attention how your body adapts to the changing conditions- and log it!   For many of you, this will be your first Fall of endurance running so you want to add to your base of knowledge so you will be better prepared NEXT Fall.  For me, I will know the season is changing to Fall because my resting heart rate goes up  2 to 3 beats.  Most of you will start to notice a slight drop in resting HR because the cooler nights are a little more restful.  I (and a lot of others) experience the same resting but it is offset by the increase in HR due to the 'blooming' of ragweed, molds, and other Fall allergens that affects asthma.  I've learned that I have to take a little more time warming up the lungs on a cool mornng, and be extra careful about carrying my inhaler.  For you, it may be more about not mistaking the cooler weather, thus less dehydration, for a 'sudden' increase in fitness - which you then tend to go out and blast through a couple of workouts and wonder why you get injured or catch a cold.  The key is to STICK TO THE PLAN.

- The AHS Track Intervals are moving into a new phase.  You are in the middle of the Yasso 800's.  You should have a pretty good feel for what that pace is.  The 1200's we have thrown in will give you a wider 'range' of paces to draw on when the time comes.  It is important, not only in marathon training, for you to know that you are a 4 (or 5) speed 'vehicle' and not just a 2 speed 'vehicle'  (Marathon pace and Stop).   You have heard the announcers describing a race where a runner (whatever) "went into another gear".  You need to know not only that you HAVE other 'gears', but that you can change (shift) gears without blowing up or getting hurt.  Now , marathon 'gear shifting' is not  like 5k 'gear shifting'.  In a marathon you may take MILES to shift gears.  With 30,000 of our closest friends running with us at MCM there will likely be a lot of shifting gears.   You want to keep it to a minimum, but you need to know you can do it when called for.   

- A trick I use occasionally is to use my tempo run to test my 'gears'.  I will start off with the obligatory slow warm up until my legs feel fluid, then alternate picking up the pace and seeing how close I can come to a 9 min/mile pace (for example), hold that for 5 min (whatever time, but not long), then try to adjust to a 10 min/mile pace and see how close I can come by feel (before looking at my GPS watch pace readout).  Then go back and forth between my natural (i.e. slowing, as the years go by) range between 8 min/mile and 11 min/mile.   If I have a Ultra coming up, I may make the range between 10 and 14 min/mile. 

Every run is different.   Every runner is different.