The aftermath....

Typical Maine October. It goes from glorious and 70, to dismal and 30 overnight.

Glorious and 70

Maybe not dismal. But definitely cold.

As planned I took a full week of rest after Hartford. Since my job keeps me so mobile I was getting plenty of active recovery. A few years in the marathon business has taught me not to eff around with the week after a big race- I have never gained anything from getting right back to the grind!

I took a short run exactly one week post race. It felt quite good. I had been pleased with how my body had recovered and despite feeling like I was catching a head cold (which never really happened) I was basically back to normal.
I headed out the following day, still feeling good.
Exactly 2 miles out I got a stabby ankle/calf/instep pain that decided to stick around. Eric and I immediately aborted the run and called my very helpful Dad to get us home. (thanks dad!)

Post aborted run. Clearly not too upset. Look at that yard, what a mess!

The next day the pain was still there so I called up my chiro for some serious help. Pain in that area is very unusual for me and I wanted to get to the bottom of it before resuming the kind of prancing that is normal for me.
This bump in the road meant that a few more "rest" days were in order but the timing was ok. The serious races are over for the year and it is important to heal!

My chiro found that a weird tight big toe tendon had caused the issue and quite a bit of painful work was done on my foot/calf which I really hated. I was declared otherwise in great shape so after another couple careful days I got back to some easy short miles.

So far, so good. It's always excellent when it's an easy fix!

In the meantime....

Eric and I are in the 10 day countdown of going BACK to Disney for a bit more racing. (more on that later.) What I'm saying is that our "quiet time" is over!!

However, we enjoyed our quiet post race weeks, we actually cooked nice dinners, kind of cleaned the house and had a bit more free time. We hung out with Andy at a friends wedding which was fun, we don't see him enough and he is NOT coming to Florida with us this time, boooo!
We made the most of the evening, even though we weren't playing Disney trivia!

Wedding time!

File this next bit under "things that don't normally happen to me"

Stride box contacted me a while back to see if they could send me a free box.
I dubiously, and honestly replied that they certainly could, but that I am not really a big fan of monthly subscription boxes.
The box was filled with the usual suspects, samples of running fuel (all caffeinated so not for me) a couple snacks (again, the caffeine- so I'll pass...) Some oatmeal which was tasty and a buff type thing.

Would I subscribe? No. This box did not change my mind.

It might be a cute gift for a new runner in your life who isn't yet sure what they like to snack on mid run, or someone who isn't familiar with runner specific brands. Since I know what I use, and what I like I really just don't need something like this, cute thought it may be.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement but hey, I'm honest.
I think "boxes" in general are a fun idea, but (for me) too expensive for the value they bring to my life. 

Stride Box contents

So that's it from here.
More soon about the upcoming Florida adventure!