Gotta love the taper

This morning's run started my taper for Chicago. These next three weeks are unarguably the best three weeks of the entire training program. I love knowing that I don't have any real long runs left until the actual race day.
This morning was a five mile run on the treadmill before heading into work. I felt really good. The new shoes make all the difference. I still had pain in my right baby toe (the one that has a new callus and a blister on the tip from Saturday's run). It was definitely less painful this morning in the new shoes than it was in the old shoes yesterday.
I'm really looking forward to the rest of this week's runs. I've got another five miler tomorrow, four on Wednesday and then the Kansas City 1/2 marathon on Saturday. Supposedly this race is fairly flat, and it's all pavement...unlike last month's Lewis and Clark 1/2, which was run partially on gravel.
I'm hoping to be able to shave those last six minutes off of my time from Lewis and Clark to reassure myself that I can finish Chicago in under four hours. I'll admit, I'm getting myself a little worked up about finishing in under four hours....alright, I'm downright anxious about meeting this goal, and I'll be more than a little disappointed if I don't meet it.
Oh well, I've still got three more weeks to get myself into a real state of anxiety, so I might as well check that at the door for the time being.