painless

Yep. That's right. Painless. I ran 5.5 miles with the running spot group last night and my knee/IT band did not bother me one bit. I wore the strap and stretched it out really good right before. I also had to look busy because Karrie wasn't there to chat with me so stretching came in really handy.

It was supposed to be a 7 mile run but I (and I'm not the only one) skipped the "second lap" by Sawyer Point. It was also supposed to be a Fartlek run where you alternate between your 10k pace (slow) and your marathon pace (slower) for 1 minute then two and so on. Well since we were, as JoeF put it, "the rest of the people in the slow group" we took off with Kathy as our leader and we were making good time, I was staying with the group (unheard of for me) and we were just trucking along at I would say a pace between my 10k and marathon pace. Then we hit the park and Kathy decided to start the intervals. It was like the roadrunner took off and left poor Wily E. Coyote at the water fountain panting. So enough with the intervals. I think 3 miles at a faster speed than usual counts, no?

I have physical therapy tonight so I will get stretched out and massaged more. And I will KEEP stretching. I can only hope this recovery continues...