Coming off the high.

Well, it's been a week since the race now. I didn't run for four days after the race. I had several reasons for this: I was sore, I was still cautious about my injuries, and I was on vacation. I did go for a 4-mile run with my mom on Thursday, and that went reasonably well, though I wasn't pushing at all. I went for a 5K today, and actually had to walk a little ways, but I'm choosing to blame that on the heat.

In the interest of remaining injury free for the rest of the season, I am going to take it very easy for a while. This week, I'm planning to run Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, with each of those just being 5Ks except for Wednesday, when I hope to go back to speed work. I plan to just take each week as it comes and not try to start long runs again until September. I'll gradually work my way up again starting in September, with my new goal being to finish the Hot Chocolate 15K on November 1 without walking.

In the interest of savoring my half-marathon finish just a little bit longer, here are a few memorable things from the race:

1. Twice along the route, I saw a man with a sign that said, "Mortuary ahead. Look alive." It made me laugh both times.

2. Somewhere between the 10 and 11 mile markers, a woman just ahead of me yelled, "11!! Where are you 11?!" I must admit I was feeling the same way at that point.

3. 2.2 mile from the finish, there were two girls standing on the sideline chanting, "Two point two to beer! Two point two to beer!" Classic.

4. Somewhere around mile 4, a girl on the sideline yelled out to one of the runners, "Yay! You're still running!"

I'll update if I remember any more.