Sore Legs and a Recovery Run

Oh my. I'd forgotten just how sore a girl could be after a trail run with lots of climbing. I spent Monday and Tuesday easing myself in and out of chairs and walking like I'd recently had both hips replaced. I really wanted to run on Tuesday morning, but for once, common sense took over. My quads, hips and feet were so sore I figured I'd end up injuring myself. Add to that a work day that was starting at 7:00 am and ending at 9:00 pm and I decided a little rest and a day off running was in order.

I was still sore enough to feel it every time I moved in my sleep last night, but I was determined to run this morning. I told Rick I wanted to give it a shot, so he rolled in at the usual time. We decided to skip the hills and just go for a nice easy recovery run. Unless we drop down to the valley (which means coming back up), there really aren't any hill-free runs to be had around here - but we can go for gentle rollers and skip the big stuff. Neither of us had a route in mind, so we just headed out and decided to decide whenever we hit an intersection. We wandered over by the Y, then made a decision that took us uphill - not too bad. At this point I was feeling great - it actually hurt more to take walk breaks than to run. Then we came to the big hill by the college - heading down. Oh my. That hurt. We crossed the street and climbed again, then took a left. Chatting away, running along, not giving anything much thought...oops, another steep downhill. I had to slow down and take baby steps down the hill - trying to walk was equally bad. Finally got to the bottom of that one. One more downhill to get home - another painful experience. But I'm telling you - I felt great on the flats and the climbs! Anyway, we finished up with 6.15 miles at an average pace of 11:36. I'm not really sure that qualifies as a recovery run but I'm glad I did it anyway.

A couple of runs tomorrow and a 10 miler on Saturday will give me a 40ish mile week. After that it's officially taper time, counting down to Portland. I haven't really figured out what that means - maybe the hill run without the extra two miles, and then a bunch of five mile runs. I'm starting to get excited though - Portland marks a full year of marathons - an anniversary run of sorts.

Oh, and speaking of anniversaries...Eric and I celebrate 28 years of marriage on Saturday! I think that probably warrants dinner out...