Taper Time

After back-to-back 50+ mile weeks, I'm excited to step back a bit. Especially after this weekend--8 miles on the IAT Saturday followed by 18 on Sunday destroyed my legs. I'm not sure how you trail guys run 50 MILES on the IAT...but I can see why you do. It's pretty addicting, as I've mentioned.
Speaking of addiction, how lucky am I to have a wife who is such an enabler understanding person? Last night we ran 8 miles on some local trails with Bonnie (an over-energetic yellow lab) as part of her (Ellie, not Bonnie) training for Grandma's Marathon. It's neat for me to see her mindset change, from a half marathon being an overwhelming task, to now: a 13 mile run is a relatively easy training run! This weekend she runs 17 miles, so she's a bit nervous.
This morning was my first tough workout of the taper: 5 miles at 6:30 pace. I was about 30 seconds off my goal at the 4 mile work, but somehow finished the last mile at a 6 minute clip, getting home in 32:27. That's a 6:29 pace, and according to McMillan, the equivalent of a 3:10:53 Marathon. That time would leave me 6 seconds to spare and STILL qualify for Boston. Gotta love the extra 59 seconds they grant you. Oh so generous.
Speaking of Boston, check out the race reports for Nitmos (aka Beardsley's Prag), Reid, and "The Dude." Great runners, fantastic writers. They're worth the time to read.
Congrats, fellas, and everyone else out there who got to turn left on Boylston.