TITLE: Rain, Not Pain
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: April 30, 2006  1:58 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
After four weeks of 21.5 miles each -- pure coincidence
-- as I recovered from bothersome bugs and
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2006-04.html#e2006-04-07T14_23_13.htm">
   painful hamstrings</A>,
I finally have had a real week of running.  I ran
8.5  miles last Sunday, then put in 23 miles Monday
through Friday.  I ran easily, with a couple of speedy
miles here and there, but mostly I was just happy to be
on the road again.

This morning, I got together with an old friend, a
teammate from my
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/personal/chicago-marathon/">
   first marathon in Chicago</A>
who used to lead the superb children's theater program at
the aforementioned
<A HREF="http://www.cedarnet.org/wcpbhct/">
   local playhouse</A>.
He has since moved to Little Rock but was back in town for
a short weekend.  Both of us wanted to take it easy for our
legs, so we headed out for a moderate 11.5 miler
along the trails he used to run.  What made the run toughest
was the fact that it rained all morning, and we occasionally
ran into a stiff headwind.  But we ended with much the same
feeling I had after Friday: feeling good, and happy to run
without pain or other impediment.  I can now get ready for
an end-of-June half-marathon and a few 5Ks in the meantime,
and he can taper into the
<A HREF=" http://www.olathe.org/sports/marathon/">
   Olathe Marathon</A>,
three weeks hence.  Good luck, Greg!

I'm pleased to have a 34.5 mile week under my belt.
I now hope that the last few weeks' relative rest have
prepared my body for a fun summer of training.
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