Tapering always messes with my head. In mid to late August I yearn for it, and then when it gets here my body and mind yell out, why are we slacking/what's going on here?!!

The short runs are feeling tough and labored. It could be due adjusting to a regular working schedule again? Last night I ran 5.6 miles at 8:20 pace but it felt like a medium-high effort. On a lot of my recent runs, the first mile while seemingly tough is taking 9-9:20. Dang!

Recent "phantom" tapering pains include a sore knee (which wasn't sore for 5+ months of high mileage training), and a sore left foot (brought on by a new pair of shoes).

The weather forecast for the marathon is always changing, but if we go by the recent trend all through September, it'll probably be warmer than average. Not brutally warmer though. Weather.com says high 65/low 50 but I wouldn't be surprised if it gets closer to 70. While not ideal (or even average...why can't it just be average?), that's not a marathon wrecker in my mind.

As I predicted, my free time during the week has literally shrunk down to a couple hours a day. Working is for suckers! And for those that want to buy things.