Problematic

The soreness in my quads actually seemed to worsen yesterday as the day went on (probably doesn't help that I work an office job that requires little movement, so they had ample time to stiffen up). Last night I decided to scrap the idea of running or even of doing yoga or weights, hoping true rest would allow me to recover in time for today's mile repeats. But this morning they still hurt. If they still feel sore after work I'll push the mile repeats back one more day, and just take a short run today. If I still don't feel recovered tomorrow, I'll scrap the mile reps and just let the race this weekend be my hard workout.

So basically I'm trying to trust in all the hard work I've done so far this year, and not to overanalyze the bad run and the difficulty in recovering. From reading through some of the running forums, I can say for sure that I'm not the only one who had to cut a long run short on Sunday.

In other news, I finished a book! I seem to be going through one of those phases where I find it difficult to sit still and read for long periods of time, so reading really hasn't been happening on any grand scale in the past couple of months. But regardless, I finished The Horsecatcher, which I enjoyed, but which I felt ended very abruptly. Having pondered it further, I think the ending works, but at the time I felt I was left hanging somewhat. The story centers on a young Cheyenne who has no interest in war or hunting, but who has a way with horses. In his many expeditions, almost always completely alone out on the prairie, he catches and tames a number of horses for the herds of his tribe, but is always left wondering if his contributions will ever be honored the way those of the hunters and warriors are.

I'm still stalled out in The Stone and the Flute, and I've started another of the books that Megan let me borrow, Albert Camus's The Plague. I read The Stranger back in high school, and can remember little about the actual story, but Camus's style of writing was immediately familiar in the opening pages of this one.