A Moment of Sanity

I ran this morning for the first time since the marathon last Saturday. That's right - I took six, count 'em SIX, days off running! I realized while running Leavenworth that I hadn't fully recovered from Baker Lake. I was sore, I was tired, and my legs were heavy. My enthusiasm carried me a long way, in fact, I guess it carried me to the finish, but then I was spent. I decided that it was time for a break. Despite sleeping in every morning (except Pilates mornings) I found myself crawling into bed by 9:00 each night (that's better than I do when I'm getting up at 4:30!). I managed at least eight to nine hours of sleep every night. Eric took the break along with me - which was good, because he came down with a cold. I was hoping I'd be able to fend it off, but no luck - I've got a sore throat and congested chest. So far it's mild, hopefully my mega-doses of vitamin C will keep it that way. I also got a massage - I had Lorri work over the sore spots - both hips and my shoulder. She does amazing work - I'm pretty sure I should go see her every week!

It's funny, but after taking a few days off, I feel kind of clunky when I run. It's hard to find my rhythm and flow. We ran 5.5 this morning and I never did feel like I was moving smoothly. I hope that feeling comes back tomorrow morning. I plan to run this week, but not push it with speed or distance. The focus now is on being well rested for Marine Corp, just two weeks from tomorrow. I'm really excited about spending a week in DC, hanging out with Steve and Lorri, and visiting all the sights. The next two weeks at work are going to be intense, making that week off all the sweeter.

Eric and I've been working hard today - we are getting new carpets in the living room and the boy's old rooms. We elected to pull the old carpet our selves, as Eric wanted time to screw the floors down to eliminate squeaks. We've been packing boxes all day, moving everything to the garage. The two bedrooms are empty now, and he's pulled the rugs. We'll get Steve over tomorrow to help with the living room furniture - I'm not quite up to moving bookcases and the piano. We'll post some pictures of it when we are done - Eric painted last summer and we got some new furniture, the new rug is the final step. We really debated - the carpet we are replacing is the original one - 19 years old, so it's worn and yucky, but...we have old pets - an 11 year old lab and a 12 year old cat - and we all know what that means. We finally decided to just go for it and deal with whatever our lovely animals throw our way.

Okay, that's probably enough of Saturday night ramblings for you. Have a great week running in the beautiful fall weather!