I'm having taper pains, ha!

BIKE COMMUTE 9.5 miles

And that's it. Rest day! I let myself sleep in (tks to the dog it lasted until 4:48am), have a big brekkie of eggs and potatoes and bacon and veggies, and took a long slow walk around the neighborhood.

Oddly I have the urge to run. But I won't. My legs ache a little bit, my knee tendons and muscles and connections are tight and sorta sore. Debating whether I'll run the group run tomorrow. I thought I'd take the day off, thought I might swim instead, or maybe just run the short 4-5 mile loop.

Last time I did the challenge I made a list of what I learned. Here's a short list for Round 2:

1. Eating, drinking, sleeping, and stretching all make a difference. I know that sounds like common runner sense, but when I go out for a short 4-6 miler I don't dedicate to those recovery methods. And if you're only running 20-30 a week maybe those aren't all that critical for recovery. But what if I did dedicate to those factors regardless of mileage?

2. This isn't as hard as it sounds. In the podcast I'd hear about runners crossing a state, doing 888km races, and other stage races or back-to-back long challenges. My 10x10 doesn't sound to crazy stacked against all that. But as I like to say to others, each of us have our own challenges and limits to break, and right now 10x10 is that for me. Hmmm, what's next?!

3. My body and mind can handle it. There was a point after the #2 run that I felt a little intimidated, I have some people ask if this was a good idea (DC's why not run 7 miles, and Dad's similar question) that planted seeds of doubt. But that's maybe why I do this, because I have that seed of doubt and I want to see what happens to it.

4. I'm glad I didn't buy a house in south county area. Those were 7-8 miles away, and as I work commuted these last few days either running or biking, I was thankful I didn't have those extra miles to contend with!

5. Evergreen 51 miler?! I was going to wait until this was done before signing up. Now I'm thinking I'll wait and see how the long runs this weekend go before deciding. In question is my ability to recover and bounce back, as Evergreen is only a month ahead of Farmdale. I could run Evergreen, rest the next weekend at Mark Twain, and still have two more open weekends before the 100. I think that's OK. As long as I don't get injured...