The taper begins!

Here we are, the final long training run is complete (20 miles) and now my runs are merely for maintenance; my mileage drops significantly from here on out.

The last few weeks have been good. My longest runs increased to yesterday's 20 miler, and on my shorter runs I have continued to keep a very good pace with a recent 10 miler being at 7m02s pace with is about 25 seconds a mile faster than needed to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

I am feeling very confident for the race. Yesterday I ran the first 20 miles of the race and although slow, which was intentional, it was good to get a feel of the course. My goal remains to qualify for the Boston Marathon, for that I need to finish in under 3h15m59s. It's a fierce goal but I am up for it.

The next 3 weeks are going to be very modest pace. I have one final long run of 12 miles which I intend to run at pace, the remainder will be slower as I now need to rest for the race.

Tomorrow I break out the race shoes, it is time to break them in; with 3 weeks to go and about 70 miles left to run the time is ripe!