Taper Madness

This morning, I headed out onto the same loop I ran last night, but did the loop in the opposite direction. You know, just because :-) It was bright and sunny and warm! Yeehaw! Of course, next thing you know, I'll be complaining about the summer heat, but this morning I reveled in it and enjoyed sweating for a few miles :-)

I had intended to run a bit more this morning, but it is what it is, and I guess the taper is just going to be a bit more extreme than intended this week. I'd say that means I'll be going into the race well-rested, but that would be a dream! With Sam's cough, she has been up a lot the past few nights, so sleep has been a bit interrupted. Ah well, it is what it is. Overall, I'm still feeling pretty good about the race on Sunday, but we'll see how it goes!

My "A" goal for the race is still to beat Ryan's time from last year, which was 2:13:59 or 8:38 pace. I *feel* like I should be able to do this, but Pineland has a way of being sneaky on race day, so I've decided to set two secondary goals, with which I will also be happy. My "B" goal is 9:00 pace, or 2:19:30. And last but not least, beating my previous time on this course of 2:26 will feel good too. However, I am fully planning on stretching myself a bit out there on the course so that I can take the family Pineland Farms 25k record :-)

And with that, here's a photo from last year's Pineland weekend - wow, Sam has changed! Still cute, though :-)

Ryan and Sam watching the races. Jamie Gemmeti photo.