Are we there y... Shut up and focus!

I'm scared. I'm scared because I have not felt good going into a marathon since February 1996. I'm scared because there will be no excuses this time around. I will either run a smart race and post a big PR or I will run a stupid race and post who knows what. Today was our 10 mile progressive pace run. Steve's instructions: "No faster than 1/2 Marathon pace unless you feel like a million bucks." I intended to comply but when Steve joined me at the start of mile 9 I had just posted a 6:23 mile 8 and was still dropping the pace. He backed me off what felt like 15-20 seconds, breathing more relaxed, open stride 6:26 mile. Huge eye opener. All he really did was get me to relax. The difference between the "effort" of 6:23 and the "ease" of 6:26 is inexplicable to me. Something to focus on at Boston. Today's splits: 8:07 7:40 7:15 6:48 7:02 6:46 6:29 6:23 6:26 6:29.