Amazingly, my legs didn't hurt

I certainly expected achy legs last night. Even Advil does not usually prevent the night-time leg aches that follow a long run, punctuated by sporadic pains in my ankle or achilles tendon. But it was a surprisingly pain-free night, considering the 20.10 miles. I did spend 20 minutes or so with an ice pack on my ankle and calf while I was watching TV. Hard to imagine that made much of a difference though!

And my legs felt unusually good this morning too, even heading out for an 8-mile run. My calf didn't hurt even at the beginning, and my legs didn't even feel heavy...though they didn't feel fast either. It took a surge in the final mile to bring my total pace under 10 minutes average.

I suspect one of the reasons my legs survived the night as well as they did was my slow pace yesterday. Certainly faster runs and races are hard on the legs...it stands to reason that slow runs are gentle on the legs. Or gentler, anyway.

This week is a stepped back week in terms of distance. My long run is supposed to be 14 miles. My plan was (and still is) to do it on Friday morning so that it won't be such an impact on the weekend (we're going to a conference at the Sun Mountain Lodge). I'll still run there but something less than 14.

However, I just remember today that I'm covering court on Friday morning. That means I need to be done in time to get to work at 9:00. Yikes! Out the door at 5 a.m.? Ugh. And I was so happy that it was light at 6:15 today. Back to the darkness!

Congratulations to Annie who finished the Boston Marathon today in 4:02:11!