That was a surprise

I was certainly surprised yesterday to find that my legs were sore from Saturday's 12 mile long run. My legs hadn't been sore or tired in months. I stretched a few times through the day and forgot about it. Then I set out for a 40 minute run this evening only to discover that they were not up for a hard run. Talk about a surprise. The first mile was sore and stiff. The muscle tiredness never really did go away, though the stiffness and soreness did. There are two things about this episode that make me curious. One, is this a good thing? Does the soreness mean that I'm still gaining muscle? Two, did my massive (and unusual) caffeine intake, coupled with overall fatigue, make it worse? In other words, was this going to happen regardless or did I invoke it by mistreating my body?

The run itself was more or less a good one, despite the muscle crabbiness. My schedule said 40 minutes and I wanted to do 20, so I compromised at 32. After 20 or so I got more into the swing of things, so that near the end I felt like running the full 40 would have been fine. On a side note, we've had very favorable weather recently. Today was bright with a high around 82 I think. It had dipped below 80 by the time I left for my run, which certainly sweetened the deal.

I'm getting so excited about race day! Meg and I have been talking about food and wondering what sorts of crazy things we'll see along the race route. Also, yesterday I found out that my parents are coming to Chicago for the race! I'm so excited to get to share this experience with them!