WEEKLY SUMMARY (Dec. 30 - Jan. 5): 49 miles (95% E and 5% I paces)
  Sunday: 6.5 miles at 7:22/mi. on a treadmill in Atlanta
  Monday: 7 miles at 7:27/mi. in Raleigh
  Tuesday: 2.5 E, 3 x (1200m I averaging 4:17 + 800 E), 1.75 E back in DC
  Wednesday: 5.5 miles at 7:21/mi.
  Thursday: 7 miles at 7:16/mi.
  Friday: 15 miles at 7:20/mi.
  Saturday: off

This week I did the two main runs that I wanted to do: the interval workout on Tuesday and the longish run on Friday. Plus, I was all set to increase my weekly mileage slightly until I was unable to fit in a run on Saturday, which was no big deal in any case since I was surprisingly worn out by my 15-miler the day before and had a race the next day. Tuesday's interval workout was encouraging and gave me the confidence I needed to set a 5k PR the following Sunday (see below). 1200m in 4:17 is around 5:44/mi. pace, which is just under 18 minute 5k pace. It was my first successful interval workout in a long time, my third attempt since the MCM, and my second one in a week. But this time the weather was right, I was back home running on a (familiar) track, and things just clicked. I need to keep doing this workout every 2-3 weeks, increasing next time to 4 intervals, and gradually increasing the pace when I'm ready. My other main run of the week, the 15-miler on Friday, was less encouraging. I should be able to run my easy pace for that distance with little difficulty, but I haven't been doing it so it did in fact become somewhat difficult after 10 miles or so. It didn't help that all the drinking fountains I normally use had just been turned off for the winter and I wasn't carrying any water. This run put me in a mood to give up on the marathon in March and to focus instead on running a good half-marathon and a good 10-miler three weeks later. But I don't give up that easily. At the end of next week I want to try another run about the same distance but this time speeding up to marathon pace for the last 6 miles or so. My recent 13-miler ending with 4 miles at marathon pace felt really good, so that seems to be the next step. In fact, my entire marathon-specific training plan for the RnR USA marathon consists in doing that run and a couple more, slightly longer ones with the additional miles all at marathon pace, culminating (I hope) in a 20-miler with the last 10 miles at marathon pace. As I've been writing lately, I don't want to get all caught up in marathon training but want that to be only one element in a more balanced training routine. Anyway, next week, in addition to the marathon pace run, I plan to do a track workout - probably 400m repetitions.