Welcome

Totally normal in late summer after several hard races. Listen to your body and use some common sense and you will be fine.

Great advice by Rob. Listen to that body and get some rest. But, also realize that post-marathon fatigue can linger for awhile. Don't make any rash decisions. Just recover.

Does this mean that the morning crew is going to lose another member?

I agree with Rob generally. And I also think that you hit a nice peak with Boston this year. One thing to remember.. Des News over any other courses I have ever competed at has a more prolonged recovery period than any race I have ever run. Unless your Sasha.. I don't fully understand it but I do have the experience and other anecdotal evidence from others in the past to bear this out. (probably because of the micro damage to the fibers of the quads etc.) In addition, you had a really good performance at Boston. Just my input.. so take it for what you feel it may be worth. I bet if you stick with what you just posted earlier you will come back around just in time for TOU or St George. Like you said your body will know.

Sorry my paragraph composition is lacking..

Thanks for generally agreeing with me Steve. :)

Rob, No offense it's just with Des News there is always a little extra more fatigue involved than the usual.

Thanks guys. I definitely think there was a big leap for Boston and it's hard to have repeated big leaps. Definitely a part of it. Maybe I am taking des news for granted but I feel good enough physically. I've just felt like walking away since my vacation in June and I can't shake the feeling. I'm hoping I will be reinvigorated by cutting mileage and taking the pressure off of the fall races.

Nothing wrong with being a "9 minute guy". Just saying. ;)

First things first - you gotta enjoy what you are doing... maybe not every single run/workout, but the general day to day training. Things only fall into place if you nail that.

I agree that cutting mileage a bit can be a good thing for you right now, and it's additionally important to go easy when you need to, just like this day. I remember you saying that your easy day pace was usually 6:50-7:20, but if you need to back off, that's OK, and probably wise at this point. There's no shame in going even 9:00 pace like on this run. Also, if you're not quite ready for sub-2:30 at TOU, it's OK to scale back the goal a bit, as that would be a huge leap from your 2:34 at Boston. Even if you run your first non-PR in a focus marathon, that's also OK. Just remember that what matters is the long term. You're really improving fast, so I think that if you keep the big picture in mind and stay healthy, you'll be somewhere around Fritz and Jake's current marathon abilities within a couple years. Just remember that staying healthy is the most important thing.