Finally!  The time has arrived and I am ready.  More than ready, actually.  It is time to taper.

In reality, this should have been my first week of taper but, if you recall, my long run got pushed back to this week instead of last week.  I did get my long run in.  Whew!  It wasn’t as long as planned, but it is long enough.  Why?  Well, funny story, really.

I had a water stop on my front porch.  I could come into the house if I wanted, but if I go into the house, the AC makes going back into the heat and humidity pretty awful.  I elect to stay outdoors for the duration of my running.

I needed a new sock.  I was developing a ugly blister on one of my toes, so as I got close to the house, I decided to stop off and grab a fresh sock.  As soon as I opened the door, my Garmin started downloading!  I have more problems with Garmin Connect!  Usually, it won’t download at all and now today, as soon as I step foot into the house, it starts to download!?!  Very strange.  But seeing as I had run quite a ways and my Garmin was doing its thing, I decided that I had gone far enough.

So, now it is time to taper.  Race day is 16 days off.  I began training for this race the beginning of March.  That seems like such a long time ago!!!

This has probably been one of the most difficult races I have even trained for.  I have never been so weary in all my life.  Sometimes just walking from one room to the next is almost more than I can do but I put on my running clothes and pound out 10-15 miles.  The thought of running just 5-8 milers is very, very appealing right now!

I realize that in about 4-5 days I will be going bonkers from not doing much running.  Then y’all will get to listen to me grumble about that!  HA!  Just a heads up on that!!!   🙂

I think I will spend the first couple of days of my taper sleeping.  Doesn’t that sound wonderful!?!  If I can muffle Peter, my Rooster, so he doesn’t wake me up at 4:00 am, I might be able to sleep in until 6:00 am!  No more having to get up uber early so I can fit in all my miles!  Cool Beans on that!

So, the next couple of weeks, I will have the life of Riley.  Low miles.  I might actually get caught up on my housework!  MFH (My Favorite Husband) would like that, I’m sure.

After that…race day.  I know I won’t get ANY sleep the night before the race.  I never do.  The race will take me around 8 hours to run.  I’m slow.  BUT tenacious!  Then, I will stagger back to the car for the drive home.  The next week will be recovery then BAM!  I will hop right into the middle of training for the Chicago Marathon.  That race is in October.

16 days….It’s getting close!  Ready or not, here I come!!!