WAITING, WAITING,WAITING

     I agree with the essence of Jim's post, below.  You would think that finally beginning to taper off on training would be great but it kinda sucks. While my decrepit body is beginning to feel relatively normal, my mind, such as it is, has been freying at the edges.  I'm imagining all sorts of terrible possiblities including blizzards, broken bones, abject failure of will, or most likely, hours and hours of pure discomfort. The compulsion to squeeze in just few more long, hard runs is strong.

     In my rational mind I know that tapering is the right thing to do, as proven by generations of runners who have had their best races after periods of reduced training and sometimes, because of injury, illness, or lack of bail money, total inactivity.  All the science shows it's even more important to taper the older you get--which, in the case of Jim and I, means we should have started years ago. The problem is  that the neurotic side of most runners' subconcious nags and nags that taking a few days off or even just cutting back a little will cause you to get totally out of shape in just a few hours. Another problem is that while the amout of exercise you're getting goes way down, your appetite stays just about the same which, as we all know, leads to just one thing: