First Day of Pants

I hadn't run for more a week after finishing last weekend's 50-miler, so on Saturday I headed out for an easy neighborhood run.

I had been feeling pretty good during the week, so I was somewhat surprised at how absolutely terrible this run felt. Everything ached - every muscle group in my legs was sore, and I felt like I had gained about 30 pounds (10, I could believe - but 30 seemed high even for a binger like me.)

The run was only 4 miles, but it felt like 40. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. After all, running 50 miles must take its toll on the body somehow, right? I misread my lack of resting soreness as a sign that I was ready to run again.

A full recovery will probably take weeks, but that's OK by me - I've got nothing on the calendar until springtime.

Additionally, today was the first day of the year that I had to wear long pants. California's central coast has a generally mild climate and somewhat different seasons than the traditional calendar would indicate.

We seldom have tempurature extremes, or severe weather like thunderstorms or blizzards, so I keep track of the seasons by what I need to wear for my morning run. I'll write more about this later.

But today was the first day of pants...and it finally feels like autumn.