Lucho’s last words to me before the marathon last week:

I guarantee that there is going to come a moment where you do not like the race and you’ll want to slow. This moment will be a moment of choice. You’ll need to choose between slowing down and not running your best or suffering through to your best race. After you cross the finish line you want to be able to look back at the race and be happy with your decision.

So true!  Not that I felt like I had much of a decision at the time when I did slow, but how much of that really was mental, and how much was physical?   How do you work on mental toughness for intensity?  (Not for endurance/duration, which I think I’ve got down… I can always put one foot in front of the other, it’s just a question of pace!)