So, this being 2 weeks before my Marathon, I decided to run this half marathon today to make the 'last long run' a bit more interesting. I wanted to do well, and beat my PR of 1:53:21, yet not 'push' too hard. The weather was perfect, and I was feeling great. My goal pace was 8 minute/mile but I decided to just run it at a comfortable pace and see how I was feeling. Halfway through, I was a minute ahead of pace so I just kept running easy and figured I would PR and still be still close to my 1:45:00 goal. At 18K I was still a half minute ahead, and although consciously, I didn't try to speed up, I got caught in the moment and ran the last 3.1K in under 14 minutes, and came in at 1:43:18, a ten minute PR! And I feel great now, better than I ever have after a long race. To make things even better, even on mother's day, my lovely wife and our youngest were there to cheer me though the finish. I am really glad I decided to do this race. Hopefully the marathon go this well! Only14 more days to taper for the big day - bring it on I say! Mmmm, now it's nap time. C ya later. Dave --- Modified because my wife definately deserved to be mentioned. She is a contributing factor to my personal successes, Mother's Day or not ----

I have read a lot about tapering lately, as far as reducing the mileage but uping the intensity, except of course for the last couple of runs. Any thoughts?

The more i read about tapering the more confused i get. So i just decided to cut down on the mileage abit and throw in a few marathon pace runs this time. Not sure if its a good idea or not. Did you do a little taper for your HM daddyo?