Nightly Encounter

First things first, my back is much better. In fact, I’m amazed how quickly it came round. Tuesday I was in agony, Wednesday was just painful, and by Thursday the feeling had shrunk to mere discomfort, which still remains to date. I took some painkillers on Wednesday night right before bed time, to ensure a full night of sleep. I avoid medicine and doctors as much as I possibly can, but after a night of agony on Tuesday the little white pills were the lesser evil. Luckily, it worked; I slept through the entire night until the alarm clock went off at 6:30, telling me it was time for my 7-mile run. For a second I contemplated staying in bed and sleeping some more, but then I got up, just like I always do.

The run went very well. I had gotten bored with the recovery pace day after day, and let the legs turn over a little bit quicker, but still kept the going at the easy level. In all honesty I was surprised how easy sub-8 pace felt, less than 2 weeks after the marathon.

I’m slowly building up my mileage, and after two runs of seven miles I opted for 8 today. I went back to recovery pace again, just to be extra cautious. It’s very dark in the morning now (at least until the daylight saving time ends) and I had my headlamp with me. However, I prefer to turn off the light as long as there are no cars around me, and as long as I can make out the road, of course. Just before the turnaround point suddenly a huge scary shadowy figure appeared right in front of me and gave me quite a fright. I turned on the light, and the menacing creature morphed into a young man with a friendly face. Amazing the way your mind works in the dark. He even said “morning, lovely”, which is a chatty as the Irish get at that time of night. The rest of the run was uneventful. I had expected the heart rate to be a bit lower, but overall it’s still going the right way. I can’t call myself recovered just yet, even though I can’t feel any effects from the marathon any more.

18 Oct

7 miles, 54:45, 7:50 pace, HR 150

19 Oct

8 miles, 1:05:53, 8:14 pace, HR 146