I Do Run-run, I do Run-run

The early mornings have gotten cooler and cooler (high-40's today), so much so that I wished I'd brought gloves on my 10-miler this morning. Once I go moving, though, my hands warmed up enough to stop bothering me.

With a huge mileage week and killer long run behind me, I planned to go easy this week in anticipation of the Reach the Beach relay on Friday and Saturday. I did an easy 5-mile recovery run yesterday in a lunchtime downpour. The rain felt good, though I stingily didn't use my Gore-tex running cap because I was saving it all nice and clean for the relay (rain's in the forecast). So I got pelted in the face and had to wipe my forehead constantly, but it was fine.

This morning was an odd run, because I felt some residual fatigue, but my HR was very low, in the low-130's, which is less than many of my recovery runs. I didn't push the pace, and despite a slow start at 4:30 am, I averaged a little over 9:00 pace for the full 10 miles. My hip is bothering me a tad, but it's not bad and doesn't seem to affect my stride at any pace (though I have shied away from 5K pace running, just to be safe). I may seek Active Release Therapy for the hip, since so many of my online chums have extolled its virtues. I need to get over feeling disloyal to my chiropractor, who's been very good to me over the past year-plus.

I am very much looking forward to this relay, not just because of the running itself, but because I'll end up spending 36 hours or so with people whom are similarly passionate about this sport. Talk of training, injuries, past & future races, PR's, gear, memorable running moments, and anything else that arises is infinitely interesting to me, though it strikes people like my wife as one of the more boring conversational topics around.

I'll post after I've recovered from the relay.

-ESG