I succeeded on my longest run to date today (19.5 miles) without much pain and at a decent pace (sub 9 mins on average), which was rather encouraging. Marc also went on a long run this morning, and I actually ran further than he did (although obviously he was done in much less time)... it is rare that my long runs out-distance Marc's! hee hee...

It was good that Tricia and I got started at 6am as it ensured that by the time the sun was starting to get a little warm we were near the end of the run and mostly in the trails by then. I picked up 2 bags of ice on the way home and proceeded to take an ice bath to help with the recovery. Boy, that is one painful experience ... I told Marc I'd rather run for another 10 mins than be in the tub for that length of time. But, the rest of the day wasn't painful at all, which probably meant that all that ice torture was worth it afterall. Even the little jogs I did this afternoon while testing out potential new running shoes and 2.5 hours seated in the movie theater (we saw the 6th Harry Potter movie... the teenage angst is annoying) didn't hurt beyond some minor stiffness.

Given how much Marc & I burned this morning, we ate quite a bit today.... I consumed about 1/3 of a 9x9 pan of brownies (and that was just post lunch & dinner). That is the blessing of running... I can eat whatever I want!! yipee!

Guess I got my 'play' in today... tomorrow I'll need to do some real work, as there is much to do before I leave next Sunday for China again (will be in Heilongjiang and Liaoning provinces -- North & NE of Beijing) for about 10 days this time.

~ Shuwen