I left off last week with a little tease about running the Hungry Mother 25K, but didn’t mention that it snowed the entire afternoon after the race. Our drive back across Walker Mountain the following morning on our way home from our race weekend getaway gave us gorgeous views of what looked like trees covered in frosting – a comment I made to my mom when I was four years old…

 

I woke up Monday morning quite sore from running those mountains and even reverted to walking down the stairs backwards a few times. 😉 DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) was rearing its ugly head and I loved it! There’s nothing like some good old fashioned muscle soreness to remind you that you’ve worked hard!

Not only did the race leave me sore, but very tired. I definitely take longer to recover than when I was younger, so I focused on stretching, yoga, strength training, and held off on running until Thursday.

Our oldest son Joseph was visiting for a few days and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Evenings were spent watching The Office reruns and eating pizza, homemade chicken parm, and other family favorites. Our younger son Daniel stopped by a couple of times this week as well, so I got to see my little buddy Pablo.

 

Thursday morning’s run was slow and steady (10:27 pace) and I kept it local. I’m planning to start joining my speedy friends again for Thursday morning tempo runs (tempo for me, regular pace for them). That’s another thing about getting older – my pace slows at the blink of an eye, and I have to work extra hard to get it back. Just a year ago, I was able to easily hang with them while chatting away during our run, but now I simply try to hang on for dear life!

The rest of Thursday was incredibly busy from the time my feet hit the floor at 4:30 AM until I fell into bed that night. In addition to running and working, I uncovered our deck furniture and brought out the chair pillows, little side tables, decorations, etc. We were expecting great weather for the weekend and would be entertaining on Friday evening, and I wanted to be ready. Spring has been a long time coming and I intended to enjoy being able to entertain outside!

 

As I’ve mention before, my very good Cruiser friend Beth is moving to North Carolina and I made a picture collage of our many years of running together. Unfortunately, it wasn’t delivered until about two hours after I had planned to present it to her at our Annual Cruisers’ Bunny Hop! Friday evening’s dinner gave us one more chance to spend time together before she and her husband move next week. Expect to see a race recap from a North Carolina race sometime in the future!

 

After margaritas, Key West chicken, a medley of roasted veggies (asparagus, red onion, mushrooms, and red peppers), and wine, I chose to sleep in on Saturday morning before heading out for a solo run. Forgetting that the weather would be much warmer than I’m used to, I got a bit warm running in 68° to 73° temperatures during my seven-mile run, and wished I’d headed out earlier.

About two miles into my run, I saw my friend Maureen and turned with her. After about a half mile on the W&OD Trail together, we turned onto the parkway where I tried to capture a picture of us running past the many flowering cherry trees. Mostly I got houses and cars, but at least I tried!

 

I’d forgotten my water bottle and Maureen’s was nearing empty, so we sneaked into a medical building that had one car parked out front and the doors unlocked. I remembered that there’s a water fountain on the third floor behind my podiatrists office and we lucked out, finding a strong flow of cold water!

 

Eventually I turned and headed back home, running seven miles instead of my planned five miles. Once home, Bill and I went for a two-mile walk and I was shocked at how my legs didn’t want to move!

 

Next up, I trying to decide what my best approach should be toward training for my first race at altitude. Any tips are welcome!

 

In case you skipped checking in on my blog this past week, here’s what you missed… Nothing! I worked on my race recap during what little time I had to work on my blog, and finished it up with some marathon writing yesterday into last night. I’m so happy with how it turned out and can’t wait to publish it on Tuesday!

Looking ahead to this coming week, I’ll have a tribute to the Boston Marathon tomorrow and my Hungry Mother 25K race recap on Tuesday.

 

In addition to what I mentioned above, here’s a complete run-down of my workouts (completed mostly in our home gym) from this past week…

 

  • Questions:
  • Have you had a chance to entertain or eat outside yet this year?
  • Do you have outdoor water fountains where you run?
  • Did you race this weekend? 

 

Have a great week!

 

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.

 

*********************************************************************

 

I’m linking up with Holly at HoHo Runs and Wendy from Taking The Long Way Home for their Weekly Wrap. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!