TITLE: How to Tell You Have Recovered Enough From Running a Marathon
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: November 01, 2007  4:50 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
You are leaving a meeting and spontaneously break into a
a jog.

The weather was beautiful, if a bit nippy.  I was in a
hurry to get back to my office and prepare for class.
And my legs did the rest, without a thought.  When I
realized what was happening, I was a bit surprised, and
happy.

I also ran an easy three miles this morning.  Thursday
after a Sunday marathon is a common day for me to go for
my first post-
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2007-10.html#e2007-10-28T19_03_25.htm">
   marathon</A>
run.  Actually, I felt like running yesterday, which would
not have been unheard of, but I slept in a bit.  In
retrospect, though, I'm glad I waited.  By this morning,
all the residual stiffness from Sunday was gone.  I enjoyed
today's run more than I would have enjoyed one yesterday,
and my body feels better for waiting.

We all have reason to celebrate a "new year" many times in any
twelve-month cycle: a calendar new year, an academic new year,
a religious new year.  Now that I've run a marathon each of
the last five Octobers, I celebrate a new "new year" each fall,
the first run after that race, as I ease into a winter of
runs that are, for the most part, not tied to any particular
training plan, running just for fun, for the sake of running.
It is a cause for some celebration, no matter how much I enjoy
getting ready for a big run.

Happy New Year!
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