The final long run, looming for 13 days, is over. I met up with Spence for the first 10 on the Blvd. Spence is a solid runner, like a metronome, hovering around an 8:45 pace. We did the first 10 in just under 90 minutes. I dropped him at his house and met my sister for the last 10. These were downhill and flat miles on 1500 S., Legacy and Pages. She saw me drinking a 5 hour energy and got nervous, but we ran pretty easy for the second 10 in 83 minutes, including a failed pit stop at Maverick. (clock was running) So we picked it up a bit, but can attribute most of that to the downhill. I'll take a negative split anywhere I can find one. The whole run was 8:36 pace, which is 40 seconds behind recommended. I'm not sweating it much; they are miles in the bank. I thought long and hard about aborting this run, but I'm glad I completed it. I feel 70% today than I have after any of the others I attempted this cycle. Maybe it's the slower pace, fueling or something else. In any case, it's nice to have 20's in the rear view mirror. I'm beginning to hold the opinion that it's pointless to run 20 miles unless it's in a marathon. Thus ends my peak week. Ahhhhh. The taper. This isn't much of a taper compared to previous plans. We'll see how all this work pays off. My sister talked me into backing off and running the winter series half easy next week. Save it for Boston, she says. I'll save it for Boston. The winter series will be there next year. I'll go all out for that 1:25 another time. Following the run, I had an easy ice bath with SNOW from the back yard and a much needed shower. The offending clothes are already in the washer. It's so nice to be done at noon and feel like I may be able to accomplish something besides lying around the house and moaning about my sore feet and legs. Enough. | 