10/25 mgp long run

Today's run was meant to help me determine whether I'd go out at 3:15 pace or 3:10 pace in SA in three weeks. Unfortunately, I don't think I have my answer. My goal was to run right on 3:10 pace (7:15 a mile) and see how that felt. If things felt good, then my plan was to go out at that pace for SA. I ran with the "3:10 train", but somehow we turned into something closer to the 3:06 train. I'm waiting for some splits from Bruce to see what they really were. Every mile was about 5-10 seconds fast, with the exception of mile 5 on the loop (uphill). We did a 5 mile loops x 3 with about a two minute rest between each set. The rest was a nice time for lactic acid to build up before we started running again. After looking back on the run I'd say it was kind of up and down. Sometimes things felt pretty easy, other times I felt myself fading. I'm not sure where this leaves me as far as the marathon. Yes, the run was a bit harder then I'd like for it to have felt, but there was more than one factor affecting how I felt. First, I ran back to back quality workouts on Thursday and Friday. Second, I've only had 10 hours of sleep combined in the past two days. Next, I went to bed at 1am and had a few more drinks than I should have...and lastly, we were running faster than 3:10. So in a way I think all of those sounds like excuses, but when I think about it, those are all things to consider when figuring out my goal. Hopefully some office hours on Tuesday will help me decide...