Going 'Green'

The 13 miler Tom and I had planned for this morning ended up turning into a 9 miler because he caught a pretty bad cold. Lucky for me, though, Stacey was willing to join me. There's a very good chance I wouldn't have done anything if it had been just me. Since Stacey was in Arizona coaching our TNT team at the P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Marathon last weekend, she did a fair bit of running and was still recovering, so we shortened it a bit and just did 9. Looking at the big picture, this was probably a good idea considering my shin splints which, by the way, have been feeling much better. It took us both a few miles to warm up and get in the zone, but we finished strong and averaged 11:00 min/mi. The route we ran was a little impromptu but it ended up being incredible. We found ourselves running on a narrow little road winding through the lemon groves and avocado orchards, with the Santa Ynez Mountains in the background and a bright blue sky above us. After our week of nonstop rain, everything just seemed really fresh and green. Just looking back at the pictures puts a huge smile on my face : )

After our run I made a quick stop at the local Farmer's Market then went home and took a long, much needed nap. I have back to back races the next couple weekends, a 4 miler and a half. I'm excited for both, but mostly just to be racing again!

p.s. My ice burn looks much, much better! It's still pretty tender, but no permanent damage : )