"I'm pretty tired. I think I'll go home now."- Forrest Gump

Angel on the Road

(My Photoshop skills are a work in progress.)

The weather finally warmed up enough for me to run outside.  I have been looking forward to this for weeks and am so excited.  I am not a year-round runner.  My favorite running temperature ranges from around 40 degrees to 70 degrees so I put on the most miles in the Spring and Fall.  My first day out this year was Saturday.  I ran 6 miles in less than an hour.  Needless to say, I was really pleased with myself all the way up until the next morning.  It was not a pretty sight.  I was having serious issues walking down stairs and sometimes just walking, period.  My quads were SCREAMING at me and I decided I should take a rest day on Sunday.  Google, being a wealth of all kinds of knowledge, led me to the recommendation of a "recovery run" on Monday.  I figured it would either be the best medicine or it would leave me completely unable to walk.  Three very slow miles later, I felt great.  I was craving a run on Tuesday but couldn't find the time.  Wednesday morning I decided to do the same 6 mile run from earlier in the week.  After 5 miles, I decided I still had a couple more miles in me...so I kept on keepin' on.  After 7 miles, my legs seemed to have gained the ability to speak, and they weren't saying very nice things.  Apparently they didn't think the added mileage was a great idea.  By mile 7.5, my legs had convinced my brain that I was completely insane.  The great thing about running outside is that there is built in motivation.  The motivation being that unless you are up for a little hitch-hiking, you have to finish what you started.  So to make a long story longer, my grand total for the day was just shy of 8.5 miles, my longest run ever!  I already can't wait to hit the pavement tomorrow.