Skirting the issue

Running skirts; women seem to either love 'em or hate 'em.

Having never tried one, I was indifferent. If a woman wants to run in a skirt, more power to her!

So, when I was at the Rock N Roll Marathon expo last week, I stumbled upon the Brooks Epiphany Running Skort:

Brooks Women's Epiphany Skort

I love Brooks' running shorts and this skort, at $10, was a steal, so I thought: why not? And so, today, I took my skirt (I hate the word "skort") out for a spin.

I like they way it looked, though I had the nagging feeling I was forgetting something . . . like a tennis racquet (blogger spell check wants me to write: racket). And the inner short instantly started to ride up as I walked my kids to the bus stop. I fussed and tugged and pulled until I finally gave up. But it didn't matter. By the time the yellow bus rounded the corner and I'd powered up my Garmin, the angry ruckus coming from my joints and legs caused me to forget all about my inner skort wedgie.

This protest took me by surprise because I thought my legs were doing okay. After the RNR Half Marathon on Saturday, my quads, hams, calves and feet ached and screamed for two days. But a massage on Monday morning expedited the healing process and by that night I was feeling much better. I didn't think twice about heading out for a 3-miler this morning. But I should have.

I winced with each step; my body tense, bracing against the impact. The rules for post-race recovery began setting off alarms in my brain: For each mile you run you should take a rest day.

Thirteen point one days of rest? Not likely.

But I did start to question the wisdom of signing up for a 10-mile run the weekend after the half marathon. At the time, I justified it as simply a continuation of my training schedule which, to date, had me running two long runs a week apart, followed by a drop back week. So, I would run 13, then 10, then drop back. No biggie.

Here's the part I overlooked: A run at race pace is far more intense than your average training run.

At least it is for me.

During my training, I ran my 12 and 13-mile runs at a comfortably challenging, yet easily doable pace and, hence, I recovered quickly.

However, at the Rock N Roll Half, I killed it. I gave it my all. My average pace was approximately 45 seconds faster per mile then I'd been running in training, which means I cut almost ten minutes off of my total time for the same distance. I was quite satisfied with the end result but the effort took it's toll; my legs were beat.

And so, a skirt was just the right attire for my "tip-toeing through the tulips" run today. As for whether I am "Team Skort" or "Team Short," I remain indifferent. I don't think I'd ever forsake my shorts to bat for the skort team, but I didn't mind the change. It was fun to try something new and different. I like a little variety. That's why I'm a triathlete.