Running Off the Cheesecake

This past Friday and Saturday I celebrated the Jewish Holiday of Shavuot. The holiday celebrates the Jewish people receiving the Torah (Jewish laws and observances) from G-D on Mount Sinai. One of the customs of Shavuot is to eat dairy foods. One reason for this before the Jewish People received the Torah their meat was not ritually slaughtered. Once we received the Torah all meat had to be ritually slaughtered. Since the Torah was given on Shabbat (Jewish day of rest) and it is forbidden to slaughter on Shabbat, we had no choice but to eat dairy food. I actually love the holiday for that reason. Most meals on Jewish holiday are centered around meat so I look forward to a change of pace. Shavuot dessert is usually cheesecake. Since I only eat it once a year, I almost always overindulge helping myself to at least 2 helpings.

With is as background, I was looking forward to my run this morning. Today I was aiming for 8 miles. I woke up to overcast skies, cool temps, and low humidity. A perfect morning for a run! I stuck with what I've been doing since my marathon, run for fun. I took the Garmin with me but paid no attention it. I ran a longer version of the route I ran last week, so there is one extra hill I had to climb. My legs felt good on the hills and I again able to recover on the flats. Once I creasted the final hill on made the turn onto Palisades Ave., I started to pick up the pace to see how my body would react. My body handled the increase in pace just fine. I finished the 8.36mi run in 1:06:40 for a 7:59 pace. Map and splits can be found here:Local 8+ miler.

I pretty sure I'm fully recovered from my marathon. My plan was to go back to Nike Speed in June. I will have to put that off until the second Wednesday in June. I scheduled a dentist appointment for this coming Wednesday. I will make sure to run on Wednesday since it's National Running Day.