In the Meantime

Post-race Recovery (3/07-3/09/11)

I have good news: my legs no longer feel like they are made of wood!  My normal gait is slowly returning, and today, I even bent down to pick up something that I had dropped, and I didn’t want to die from the pain.  That’s huge.  I’m also feeling more energetic.  I went to bed early last night and woke up feeling rested and cheerful.  I hadn’t been sleeping well for the past few days—wine and the half-marathon, too much excitement and too much fun were all keeping me wired and unable to really sleep.

I’m taking it easy this week.  I did some DIY yoga on Monday night to stretch out my sore legs, and that felt nice.  Last night, I walked very slowly to the grocery store, marveling at how spring seems to have sprung around my neighborhood.  The trees are in bloom, and there’s enough light in the evenings now to take photos.  Even though it took an enormous amount of effort to go shopping, my labor was rewarded.  I made pasta with amazing, amazing Pasolivo olive oil and ate it with my favorite quick spinach dish.  For dessert, there was an off-the-cuff dessert, a sort of single-serving strawberry pie with a graham cracker crust and a good handful of chocolate chips thrown in there.  Tonight, there was an easy black bean salad—a riff on a recipe from the Chicago Diner Cookbook—and roasted broccoli.  For crunch, there were pita chips, and for dessert, there were chocolate-raspberry cookies.  Oh, everything was just so delicious!  You can see that I may not be working out much this week, but I’m workin’ it in the kitchen, and it tastes great.

I’d love to go for a bike ride tomorrow, but my bike got into a fight with the wind and the sidewalk, so I need to take it into the shop for a fix and a tune-up.  It’s probably for the best, as I am definitely still feeling the race in my legs.  Maybe I’ll just go for a very slow walk instead.  There is so much new springtime beauty for me to check out around the neighborhood, and since I’m not running right now, I’m moving at just the right speed to see it all.

Be well, my darlings.  Until next time!