Step down to 14 and more quinoa!

Saturday was a step down to 14 miles. I stayed with my group and focused my energy on continuous chatting around four laps of the reservoir plus bridle trail loop. Everyone found it difficult to mentally deal with the fact we had to make circle after circle, and over ground we've covered too many times already. This is where getting better at just staying in the moment is paying off. I made myself care acutely about everything that was said from the black and blue toenail war stories (a conversation to which I luckily have nothing to add) to what the men were likely doing at home (ESPN in anticipation of Sunday football, we all thought). Made it easier that I genuinely enjoy the group of women I've been running with.  Even if they laugh at my Nutrigrain bars as they whip out their Gu.

My joints felt far less pounding on the path of dirt and gravel, and I'm glad my body got this break before next week's 18 miler.  Over the run, I kicked up so much dirt that I ended up with a charcoal grey band of bridle trail above my sock line that took quite a bit of scrubbing to remove. After the shower, I crashed. I actually felt really good running, but I just fell too far behind on quality sleep over the week, and that deficit, coupled with exertion and too few calories, made me crash. Crash into a PJ-ed pile of blah for, um, the entire day.

Would love to say I woke up this morning feeling great, but I just kind of felt eh. My legs felt fine, but a migraine has been creeping up on me all day. Ah, well, at least I got the big run in.

And I took drugs, so even though I am not happy with my head, I made some healthy food to kick off the week. It's red quinoa, scallions, toasted almond slices, corn, salt and pepper, and parmesan shavings on top. And it's good.