The taper

Tuesday, Jan 5:
Speedwork on a treadmill.  The weather outside wasn't even that bad; I just didn't feel like running on the track alone in the dark (nothing fun about that, really).  I took one of the usual segments out of my workout to make it a bit more taper-worthy (to back down the volume a bit, at least).
1 mi easy, 2000m @ 6:45, 1mi @ 6:26, 800 @ 6:00, 1 mi easy (Total ~6 mi)


Thursday, Jan 7:
Tempo run.  I backed the mileage at 1/2 marathon pace recommended by my plan (6), and opted for 4 (since I wanted to really enforce the taper this week).  I ran at a deserted Memorial Park in frigid temperatures in the rain, and I didn't struggle too much to hit my pace.  These actually felt pretty good.
2 mi WU, 4 mi @ 6:45, 1 mi CD

Saturday, Jan 9:
Easy long run.  Some of my usual crew showed up for this one, even though it was 28 degrees at the start (in Houston!), but it was a smaller group than usual.  On the other hand, since I had no real pace goal for this run, I was able to actually run and chat with my friends, rather than just starting with them and meeting them at water stops, as I've done much of this training season.  It was a nice change of pace.
13.4 mi @ 8:48

Tuesday, Jan 12:
Easy run at base pace.  6 mi @ 8:07 pace.  Again, a nice run, because I got to run with Augie instead of doing my own thing.  I need to appreciate these runs more, since if I expect to improve, I probably will have to do more and more running at my own pace.

Thursday, Jan 14:
I was scheduled for a speed workout on Wednesday, but skipped it to go to a dinner with other marathoners from my company.  It was a good choice; I had a good time.  Thursday I wanted to remind myself what it feels like to run fast (after all of these "easy" runs), so I went to the park (in the rain and the cold and the dark), and did the following:
1 mi WU,  3 mi @ 7:00, .75 mi CD
This was a good run for visualizing the race, and the 3 miles definitely gave my confidence a needed boost.

That's all I plan to do before the marathon on Sunday, unless I go for a quick 1 mile run on Saturday, TBD.