let the taper begin.

okay gang, i rounded out last week with a 21 mile cruise along the lake. that puts me at 41 miles on the week and officially marks the beginning of my taper. coach b had me take miles 10-15 of the run at m.p. (i ended up taking them about 30 sec. faster) and boy did that do wonders for my confidence. i'm feeling good - physically AND mentally.

my mileage is dropping now in the run-up to the big day. i cross-trained tuesday, put in an easy 6 today, and have a hard progression run ahead of me tomorrow. so there you have it!

in honor of this milestone, then, i have decided to include a photo of my long-suffering and oh-so-reliable legs. send them your good karma! they've had a long road and it's not over yet. actually, it's nowhere near over! i can't help thinking back to the poster that hung above my bed for years as a kid: a vintage, first-edition, nike "there is no finish line." maybe i knew myself better at age eight than i would have guessed.