Afterward

Didn't I mention? After the run, and the food, and a quick shop in the bookstore, I was so tired I could barely maintain consciousness in the car.

I don't think it was the running. After I finished the run I didn't feel wiped out at all. And my tiredness, though physical, was not achy. But I'd had a low grade headache all day, although it went away during the times I was running, and at Third Place Books I took some Tylenol to try to get rid of it. Maybe the Tylenol kicking in contributed to my drowsiness?

Or perhaps it was some kind of jet lag. Personally I find it hard to believe I would get jet lag from traveling westward, since the time difference is all in my favor this way... but I did have a long day Saturday, from getting up at 6:30 a.m. Central time, to finally arriving at my house at 11:00 p.m. Pacific time.

And of course there was the cloudy weather yesterday, which sometimes makes me drowsy.

But for whatever reason, I was lethargic in the car, practically comatose in the bath later, and finally laid down for a nap. Although at that point, I did not sleep after all. I rested though, and by early evening felt much better.

Although I still don't believe my exhaustion was caused by running, this does illustrate John Bingham's point in Marathoning for Mortals, that your long runs are going to pretty much consume a full weekend day, with getting ready to run in the morning, the actual run, and then the recovery later in the day. I got out of bed to run in the morning, and went back to bed afterward. This Sunday was an extreme example, but I'll admit I'm usually not up for housework after a long run!