Another 5 mile recovery run?

I failed to mention that on my trail run Saturday I rolled my left ankle twice on the way down the mountain. It was fine on Sunday, but my peroneals (lateral calf muscles) were really sore all day Monday. I had 45 minutes before work today to get in an easy run so I ran my Lane Park recovery loop totaling 5 miles in 41 minutes. It feels a little better today.

The USA cross country championships were last weekend and no surprise that Dathan and Shalane won their respective races. They are quite possibly the best male and female runners in the country right now. As I checked out the rest of the results I found that Blake Russell placed 8th in the women's race! I had not seen her in any race results since she was the only US female to finish the Olympic Marathon in Beijing. This was her first race since giving birth to her first child last April. There is a prerace interview on flotrack here. She says she gets asked all the time, "What is harder, marathoning , or child birth." She said "hands down child birth" was much harder, even with an epidural. I would love to take a poll from my female readers who have experienced both, let me know!

Here is my Blake Russell story. I was in Boston for the 2008 US Women's Olympic Trials Marathon the day before the Boston Marathon. Blake finished 3rd and earned a trip to Beijing where she placed 27th. She was the only American to finish the race after Magdalena and Deena DNF'd. After the Olympics I wrote to some of the athletes requesting autographs. I sent Blake some photos and mentioned that I was a physical therapist (she is also a PT). She sent the pictures back signed with a nice note and enclosed another 8x10 of the three US women who qualified at the trials, also signed. I hesitated to send it away but finally decided to send it to Magdelena and then Deena, all of whom were prompt in signing and returning the photo. It is now on my wall in my office at home. It is an inspiring photo will all the red, white, and blue.