20 Miles... and a few loops around the yard.

My legs were actually a little bit sore from yesterday's walk. I did expect that because walking uses the muscles differently and, for me, walking long distances is harder than running it.

But I started my day with a bowl of cereal and some Ibuprofren and headed out the door.

I met Jordan at North Shore Pool and we started our run right at 5:30am. The air temperature seemed cooler than last week but it seemed more humid, and there was no breeze at all. Jordan complained about a small pain on the top of both feet (right in the crease) and her breath started out a little more labored than usual, but she was running better than last week.

We did the Brightwaters Loop plus an extra mile so that we already had over 7.5 miles by the time we made it back to North Shore Pool to meet the rest of the gang. It is always so nice to get back there and have more people to run with - except that they are fresh and can run a little faster than us! Today's group included myself, Jordan, Robin A, Robin P, Robin H., Justy, Melissa, Wendy, and Rue.

We headed south for 1 Pier Loop, down to the Coast Guard station, through USF, over Thrill Hill, to the back side of the Coast Guard station, then down along the water through the Old Southeast.

Then we mingled with a big group of Army folks doing a 2-mile training run along Beach Dr. SE, 22nd Ave S., and Bay Isle SE. Many of them were stopping and walking... little did they know that by this point, we already had 13 miles in!

We stopped at Tony Rivas' house for a water stop - he puts out some cold, cold water for us! After leaving Tony's house, we cruised into the beautiful Driftwood neighborhood then on to Chattaway's for our next water stop.

After Chattaway's we headed north back into town with a quick... well, not really quick... jaunt through Roser Park and a stop at our favorite water station (it's indoors in the air conditioning).

Roser Park

We continued on around the edge of Mirror Lake and back to where we started.

Woo Hoo!!! 20 miles!!

We refueled and did some stretching before heading home.

Once home, I just changed shoes and headed right out the back door for a few loops (with the lawn mower) around the front and back yard. That is no fun after running 20 miles, but it was good to get it done.

Now... the couch is calling my name!