Deal or No Deal?

Linear Trail: Temperature 70 degrees. Splits 9:19; 9:08; 9:03; 9:06; 9:13; :49; 46:38 total for 5.1 miles; 9:09 per mile pace.

Yesterday's goal: Run between 45 and 50 minutes at a pace of 9:40 per mile. Ran for 46:38 at a pace of 9:09 per mile. (5.1 miles) DEAL!

A "suck it up and run" day. As much as I didn't feel like running, my two best excuses not to run weren't valid. NO DEAL! I wanted to pretend I needed another day to recover from my "monumental" run this past Sunday. DEAL! However, I had to tell myself to suck it up and deal with it since I'm training for the marathon. My other possible excuse, the weather, decided to cooperate. The rain stopped, Doppler radar (Yes, I check doppler radar sometimes before a run) showed that the rain was in our state, but not in this area. Plus it wasn't humid. Matter of fact, it was 70 "cooler than normal" beautiful degrees. DEAL! I cut a deal with myself. Since it had been the first day of working summer school, and I had gotten 2 hours less sleep, and because I was pretend tired at that point, I could buy and consume a 16 oz. Monster Lo Carb energy drink before my run. DEAL! Plus, I could run the linear trail at a 9:40 per mile pace instead of the scheduled 8:40 per mile pace. Psychological area taken care of, I stopped, drank, and drove to the trail.
Overall, a good run. I felt great, running was pretty much effortless, and although my splits went up the last two miles, I attribute it to telling myself to slow down. I really didn't want to run too fast, as weird as that may sound. I always have the fear of getting injured in the back of my mind. Previous injuries the past 3 years have made me more aware of how fast, how far, and how much to run on a daily and weekly basis. So, common sense along with the ability to "tweak" my marathon training schedule as needed is the key.
Autism Speaks fund raising update: So far I have raised about $600. I need to raise half ($1300) by August 17th. I have some local fundraisers planned, but raising another $700 in 46 days scares me! I guess if I break it down to needing to raise an average of just over $15 a day until August 17th it doesn't seem so bad. If anyone is able to contribute, please click on the link on the right.
P.S. "Deal or No Deal" is moving its show to Connecticut. They had auditions last Saturday at a local fair. The auditions lasted a whole 2 minutes, and consisted of paying $2 to park, $12 to enter the fair and get a numbered bracelet, filling out a 2 page questionnaire, waiting on line, spending 30 seconds talking about myself, and finally explaining what I would do if I won the half million top price on the daytime show. I'm still hopeful I am selected, just like everyone else. Hey, if I get on the show and win two grand or more, my fundraising worries will be gone!