Taper? What Taper?

My wife Alison says she has forgotten how to taper. We spend our lives training for events -- marathons, triathlons, ultras (that's her, not me) -- and in between training, we're at jobs, practicing yoga, playing hockey, rock climbing, hiking mountains with our dogs... The point here is we keep busy.

Then you hit us with a week like this. In 4 days, we run the Vermont City Marathon (Ali's 15th marathon, my 13th). And anyone who's ever run a marathon will tell you not to overdo it the week -- probably even two weeks -- prior to Race Day. Only that has been a problem. What are you supposed to do? Sit around all day?

I think Alison figured it out today; instead of running her usual 8 miles, she did 4. Good thinking. And instead of a run, bike, swim, or some combination of the above, last night we found a rocky crag in Bolton and climbed a few pitches. Nice and relaxing.

We're looking forward to a great race, but we can't wait for it to be over. We want life to get back to normal.