This Sunday, January 26th, I will be running the Carlsbad Half Marathon in Carlsbad, CA.

I started training for this event in early November last year. While the first month or so went well, I started with an IT band injury in December, followed by an 8-day hiatus around Christmas, due to travel and a slight cold.

This past week was supposed to be taper city. And, I definitely followed through with a nice rest- 5 miles on Tuesday, 3 miles on Thursday, and today I just have a planned yoga session and that’s it.

But, for whatever reason, I went out every night this week. Normally, I don’t go out a whole lot during the week, but several things came up that I could not turn down- including $1 pints at a local brewery, and a friend visiting from out of town for just one day.

So while I have “rested”, I have been going to bed on average at 12:30.

Is this a smart way to taper for a race?

We shall see. The plan is to go to bed by 10:30 tonight and tomorrow night. Sunday I have to get up at 5:15 a.m. (about 2 hours earlier than I’m used to) to make it to the race on time.

The “race” may turn into “just finish”, or perhaps all this rest and relaxation will lead to a PR!