I will be running my first marathon in 3 weeks in Sacramanto. I have followed some of the workouts from the experts on Letsrun, and i think I am ready to run under 2:50. My question is this. I have talked to several people on how to taper for a marathon. And everyone tells me something different. I have been told to taper for as much as three weeks, and for as little as five days. I ran in college 10 years ago and i was never a guy who needed too much rest time before big races. How should I handle this taper period and how long should i taper?