Slacking Off...Even in the midst of my taper!

So somehow, I've made it to the taper stage of my Goofy Challenge training.  Hallelujah!  Unfortunately, I seem to be using it as an excuse to completely slack off of running.  Last week, I ran a total of 7 miles.  Seven!  And it was difficult to even do those!  I mean, granted...it was Christmas week, and we did have 2 feet of snow on the ground/sidewalks that didn't melt for a week...but I still felt lazy.  And ate a ton of food.  I know they say you are supposed to gain a little weight during the taper, but I'm at a whopping 4 llbs!  Must be all that chocolate cake and Chick-fil-A I've been putting away...

I've also had a bit of a stuffy nose/head, which has made me lazy.  At least, that was my excuse for skipping 12 miles on Sunday.  I ran 6 with my training partner in the cold, windy dark last night instead.  It actually wasn't too bad.  We're going to attempt to get 6 more in Thursday after work.  Except, it is supposed to rain/snow again.  Lovely.  This weekend is scheduled for 4 miles on Saturday, and 8 on Sunday.  I'm going to up it to 5 and 9 to try and make up for some of my recent laziness.

The bonus to this 5 week taper is I think my body is starting to heal from a lot of the little nagging injuries I was ignoring during the high mileage portion of training...a crunchy ankle, tight hip, and achy achilles/calf.  All of those have pretty much gone away, and I feel ready to take on a half marathon followed by a full marathon.  Mileage-wise, I have 24 more miles to run before the races.

If I ever say I want to do something like this again, someone please dissuade me!  I know I will be so happy to have finished, but it has really taken a toll on me!  Back-to-back weekend runs allow no time for sleeping in, or the weekend AM coffee-in-hand-couch-lounging.  I can't wait for the "mandatory" 2 week break that I'm supposed to take once we are done with the races!  I know some people run/exercise after a few days, but I will not be one of them.  If the experts say I need to take two weeks off, I'm going to listen to them.  Who am I, the Lazy Runner, to question the running experts?