With the Baltimore Half Marathon on Saturday, this week is another mini-taper week, or cutback week, in my training schedule.

I have two short and easy runs scheduled to help shake out the last bits of tightness from Saturday's 17 miler and get my legs ready to go for the race.

I've talked all about the benefits of cutback weeks before, but I just can't say enough how much weeks like this are totally mentally refreshing.

During weeks like these, I feel like I don't have to plan my life around running. I can spend time doing and thinking about other things because I don't have to stress about where I'll find the time to fit in a super long run. It's easy to find enough time for a 4 or 5 miler.

It's great to have a nice easy week of running before things ramp back up and I push through the toughest couple of weeks of marathon training.

What's on the horizon after Baltimore:

• Two more weeks of hard marathon training
• Two more long runs (18 and 20 miles)
• Two weeks of taper
• The Philly Marathon