Cool Runnings!

Oooh, my legs are so sore today still!  All day Saturday and yesterday they were killing me - today it is more tolerable, and I am almost back to walking normally.  Nevertheless, today is a day of rest for me, and possibly tomorrow as well to give my muscles a chance to recover.  Then it is back to easy running for a few weeks.  I am already thinking about the possibilities for a January/February marathon, which would be a first for me.  Here are my two choices, with their pros/cons:

1.  Desert Classic Marathon - pros:  here in Arizona, no travel required, inexpensive entry fee, small field, not on a Sunday.  cons:  more hilly than I would like, small field.

2.  Los Angeles Marathon - pros:  on president's day, close enough to drive, have friends that live in LA that we could probably stay with, appears to be a pretty fast course, may have a large FRB contingent.  cons:  under new management, huge field (17000 runners), first two miles are uphill, LA traffic is horrible.

Right now I am undecided and will have to talk to Lybi about each, but would appreciate any comments regarding both.

AM - 2 very slow (and painful) miles with Sparky.  My calves were tight as all get out, my quads were still sore, and I was basically stumping my way around, which caused my lower back to feel sore by the end of the run.  However, I am glad that I got out.  This is the quickest I have ever started to recover from a marathon, and I take that as a good sign.  I am hopeful that tomorrow will be better because of today.

I may also have just had my mind made up for me about which marathon to run - The Arizona Desert Classic Marathon is on January 31 next year, which is the same day as London's Run, a half marathon benefitting children's cancer charities.  The story behind this run is tear-jerking, yet heart-warming to see how the family of the young girl whom the race is named after has handled her loss from cancer and has turned their loss into an event that helps others, and I am determined to run this race every year I can.  So that means that, if possible, I will be running the LA marathon, which is just over 2 weeks after London's Run.  That should give me enough time to recover, since it is only a half marathon.

Update #2:  I just got an email from MarathonFoto with a link to my photos.  Some of them don't look half bad (I just took screenshots of the large thumbnails and saved them to jpg's and cropped them - one of them is my new blog photo), and some of them look extremely dorky.  But I guess that's the way it is . . .

No running yesterday, my body was feeling pretty worn down, and I wanted to avoid getting sick after having just severely taxed myself at the St. George marathon.

PM - ran 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 10:25/mile.  He slowed down a bit after the first mile, which he ran in 10:15.  Then another 1 mile with Joseph, average pace of 11:35/mile.  He did a great job too, no whining, no crying, no complaining.  Then another 0.2 miles with Adam, which I didn't count against my total mileage.  Afterwards, I ran 3 miles with Sparky, average pace of 8:35/mile.  I was somewhat surprised I was able to run at that pace, and my calves were pretty sore, but I think that it will help to get all the toxins out of my muscles and help them to recover more quickly.  I am already looking at a few races I can tack on before doing another 1/2 marathon or marathon in January/February.  There is a 5K around here called outrun the FBI, and the cause is to help shut down internet predators.  They also offer national child fingerprint ID'ing, which sounds pretty cool, and special awards for beating the FBI agents.  It is on November 8.  Then when we are visiting my brother and his family over Thanksgiving, I would like to run in the turkey trot there - it is apparently the largest of its kind in the country (at least that is what they are touting).  That one is an 8-miler.

PM - ran 1 mile with Joey in 10:50 - he gets his "fancy food" goal.  My calves were pretty sore for this mile, probably worsened by the fact that I was running in aquasocks.  I stretched out my calves after running with Joey.  Then I ran another 1.5 miles with Sam at 10:18 pace.  Felt much better - calves were not as tight.  I also wore my running shoes for these.

I created a course for the Outrun the FBI 5K race in early November.  Although there are a lot of turns, the course is flat as a pancake, with all of about 5 feet of elevation gain/loss.  I am shooting for a goal in that race of 17:30.  I think that it is definitely attainable, but will need to get in some speedword prior to the race.

AM - 3 miles with Sparky, average pace of about 8:35/mile.  Legs are feeling better, still some tightness in my outer calves - doesn't actually feel like my gastrocs or my soleus, more like my peroneus longus, which is just in front of the soleus.  That's what was getting hammered on the downhills when my feet were slapping down on the pavement.  Makes sense, now that I think about it.

PM - 1 mile with Joey in 11:35.  His stomach was hurting him.  Another 0.33 with Adam, pace about 15:30/mile.  Then I was feeling pretty good, so I decided to do a couple more miles by myself.  It was kind of gusty out, but I decided to see what my legs could do while still feeling good.  2 miles, average pace of 7:36/mile.  Legs are definitely MUCH better than they were on Tuesday, when I could barely run at all.  I take that as an extremely positive sign.  I think that after a day of rest tomorrow, I will be able to slowly get back into a routine - maybe 30 miles next week, bumping it up to 40 the following week.