Taper week

Monday before the Saturday race: I am ready to get it all overwith. Nerves are starting to kick in, second-guessing my training, regretting the wine that I drank over the weekend... I guess it's too late to go back on anything now and just be confident in what I've done so far. I KNOW I'm in a better place this year than last year, so hopefully that removes the concern that I will end up walking at some point during the race. IF I don't have to walk at all, that alone should shave 10 minutes off my time.

I would love to qualify, don't get me wrong. After I finished my last LONG run (21 miles), I realized that qualifying would be great, but it's not a realistic goal. Last year I walked all of Mile 18 and interval walk-jogged the rest of the way through 26.2. The more REALISTIC goal for me is to try and RUN the entire way. Hopefully that will put me somewhere around 3:45... and IF I can find the strength in the last 1/3 of the race to push myself, that should be just enough effort to get me to 3:40. We will see...