I have the day off work today; thank you MLK! I didn't do my long run yesterday because it rained all weekend here and I knew that I had off work today in order to get in a few extra miles. Yesterday I finally went and bought some trail shoes. I got the Montrail Streaks and I love them! I have had a difficult time finding the perfect road shoe as they all seem to hurt badly until I get them broken in. I didn't have any pain from these shoes today and that was a major bonus in my book. Last night I took my first of 8 consecutive "Yoga for Runners" classes at our local Fleet Feet store. I did it with 4 of my good friends and had a great time. I normally don't have any trouble bending down and touching my toes, but that is about the extent of my flexibility. This class was a challenge! It is taught by one of our local ultra runners who does 100's. She is awesome! Anyways, WOW! I enjoyed the class but definitely struggled a bit. One older lady was in the class and she did worse than me. Thank goodness for her! I think everyone else was a pro... made me look bad! I enjoyed my run today. My brand new trail shoes are now completely covered in mud. With all the rain we've had my 2 creek crossings were up and I definitely got wet today. I practically went for a swim in the one that normally just gets me a bit wet. After my shoes got completely soaked they were SO heavy. The weight of the mud and the wetness factor really got to me mentally. It seemed like each foot weighed 50 pounds! My hips were killing me from about the halfway point on. I can only assume it is due to the yoga class from last night as we definitely did some hip stretches. Over time these are supposed to help with my running (I assume) but it caused me a great deal of pain today. Overall it was a great run. The temps started about 45 and it was nearly 60 when I finished. This is why I love Alabama... 60 degree temps in January. It was a perfect day. I wore shorts and a thin long sleeve shirt. This was the first run in months that I haven't worn gloves and ear warmers. It felt great to put a hat back on! Oh yea... edited to add: When I was just starting out on the trail (maybe .25 into it from the neighborhood) a kid on a 4-wheeler came up behind me but I didn't hear him because I was jammin' to my iPod. Well he slowed down to pass me (thank you!) and I didn't realize he was there until he was literally right next to me. I screamed, and I mean LOUD, right in his ear because he scared me to death. I nearly had a heart attack! Poor kid; he'll probably have hearing problems in his right ear now.
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