Funny, I did a run today very similar to yours and yet very different. Similar in that I, too have an eye on the Manchester race in two weeks, and
today’s run was mainly to gauge whether that makes any sense.* Different in that I ran half the distance, at a way way slower pace yet not far off my race pace. You are amazing.
(*My conclusion: Full marathon would probably not be sensible, I should probably do the half like I did last year, or skip it entirely. But I do not claim to be sensible, I have wanted to do the marathon since they created this race—a decade ago?—and it thereby became my “hometown” race. I’ve done six marathons, all in roughly a decade from early 1970s to early 1980s; what I could do in my 20s and 30s is in the same ballpark as what you do in your 60s! If I am crazy enough to do my seventh in two weeks, stretch goal would be 5 hours, more likely it would involve a fair bit of walking and approach 6 hours. I imagine your aspirations would be to run a bit faster than that. Entry deadline is 9am Thurs Nov 5 at
http://millenniumrunning.com; only runners from the six New England states allowed, and pre-assigned start times will be spaced out over two hours. Strange to your average runner, right at home for an orienteer!)