7 miles more... 22 back to back for the weekend

I won't sugar coat it; physically this one hurt! Mentally I'm on over the top.

I woke up with soreness in my right ankle still. This is unusual. Typically after a good night rest with at least 6 hours of uninterrupted elevation the ankle is good to go in the am. This morning I hadn't even stepped on it and I could feel it. My half sleep self said bag the run today. My cheapskate self (the one that knows I've invested significantly in Goofy with race fees and airfare) said there has to be a way. I had planned a zig zag run through Media. The soreness left me thinking I should stick closer to home just in case. So I changed it to 5 times around the neighborhood. Each trip around is 1.4 miles. Boring, yes, but if the ankle really started bothering me I did not want to have to walk to far to get back to home.

So I got out of bed and walked around to make the bed. The soreness did not go away :( . So cheapskate brain said "Get into your running clothes now, before breakfast" I did. Breakfast was water and a peanut better chewy granola bar. I put on sneakers, and filled my water bottle. I put my water bottle on the front porch and headed for the first lap. Strange thing happened. Within 2 blocks I had no soreness.

Theory: I need to keep more blood moving to this ankle more regularly. More massaging and icing after a long run.
Fact: I have to work on strenthening the muscles around it too. I already knew this but haven't been paying attention.

I finished all 7 miles. I ran two loops, went to my porch for water and stretching and then did two more loops in the opposite direction to try to ward off the boredom. After two more loops I went for more water and stretching and finished the last loop. I felt a slight twinge in the ankle on the last loop but nothing to stop me. I massaged it and iced it (in reverse order) then put the compression brace on it to go into town for the street fair to help the Lions Club sell hot dogs for a few hours.

My quads are sore. They were sore the entire run and when I got home I put the shower on as cold as I could stand it on my legs top to bottom, front and back for a few minutes.

Today was about working through all that and finshing. I feel great about that.

Tomorrow is a scheduled day off. But I know that I will not be able to do my Wednesday run. I have not mastered getting up before work and after work I have way too much to do and won't even be home until late. So I will move my Tuesday gym workout to Monday, run on Tuesday, take Wednesday off and back to the gym on Thursday. However, tomorrow's gym workout will have no leg work; upper body only.