Excerpt from this interview...another one with Brian Sell, who's officially on my running heroes list. "MR: Other than the 26.2K time trial, without racing, what do you use to gauge your fitness? BS: We have a core workout that’s part of every marathon segment—two times 6 miles at 5 seconds per mile faster than race pace, with a 10-minute jog between." I post it because I like the idea. It's something I'd like to try to incorporate in my routine. I do the two mile time trial the week before the race more as a test whether or not I succeeded in getting fit to goal pace; this one I'd do about 3 -4 weeks or so before the marathon. I'd consider it a mid-term exam with the purpose of giving me feedback on my training with enough time to adjust . Now, the hard part, as with all schedules and blog workout bytes, is actually lacing up my shoes and trying it. ----------------------------------- More excerpts.... These are from my daughter's teacher conference that was held tonight: "Your daughter knows every teacher and just about every student by name...she's like the mayor of the school." (I can vouch for this. When we walk into school in the morning, everyone from the janitor to the lunch lady stop and say hi to Josie. She's the Ferris Bueller of Glen Acres Elementary School.) "Josie probably could fill in for me. She's like my second teacher. She reminds kids to do their homework; she reminds me to pass out homework; she even reminded a mother picking up her son not to forget his glasses again the next day." "Your daughter put my yogurt away in the teacher's lunch room one day. The principal was there and Josie asked her to make room in the refrigerator for it. She told the principal it HAD to go in there. NO MATTER WHAT." (In the Army, we used to reward soldiers hellbent to carry out a mission--no matter what--using initiative and zeal. As a junior Lieutenant, I had to read "A Message to Garcia" which refers to this essay. I can see that it has rubbed off on my little messenger. God bless her.)