First Run Back

Today's pain threshold was reasonably high; either that or I just didn't hurt that much. My feet feel fine (except my little toes are still sore as usual), my ankles were a bit stiff today, my knees ached only a little, my quads were screaming less and my glutes were only midly uncomfortable. Even my back is quickly healing. I find that if I sit too long, it takes a few seconds to stand up straight, and sometimes it's a bit sore to do that.

All in all, I'm feeling pretty good. In fact, I felt good enough for a short recovery run. I was looking back in my Runner's Log for 2005, and was slightly disturbed by my poor record-keeping skills around the marathons. I think that it took me two weeks to go for a run after San Diego, and Marine Corps took a week. For Marine Corps, I could just go back into my blog archive but I'm too lazy for that.

My recovery run was only 2 miles, due to the lack of time (I decided I wanted to go for a jog at 5:15pm, which was too late to put in more than 2 miles). I donned my running gear, happily put on my Aasics (I need to get new ones soon so that I can let these get dirty) and hit the pavement around my house. One block is a bit over 1/4 a mile, so I went up and down a few blocks to get in the 2 miles.

I decided to go nice and easy for many reasons. #1 - I'm not suicidal. #2 - I realize my muscles are already delicate and I didn't want to strain them so quickly. #3 - It's freakin' hot outside and #4 - I still hurt a bit.

Surprisingly, I didn't hurt while I jogged - the soreness popped out while I was on my walk breaks (I jogged 4 minutes, walked a minute). I know that my time doesn't matter, but it's a habit now.

Mile 1 - 14:16
Mile 2 - 14:44

I wasn't hurting, but my legs are still sore (duh). This week will be filled with tiny slow runs to get me back to where I was safely.

I've also decided to look into one of Sean Wade's running programs for the summer. I'm going to need something to do during the summer, I'll get to meet new runners and he does a lot with hill work which is something I want.

Time to set a new goal. Now that this race is done, my new goal is.... to get my half-marathon time down to 2.5 hours. Considering I was at 2:47 hours Saturday, 2.5 hours is extremely possible. Plus, my next half-marathon isn't until Labor Day, so I have plenty of time to work towards that goal.

Cheers and good running to all!