Recovery time

During my "down time" I'm going to Africa.

I've been ordered not to run by both my trainer and my father in order to let my left IT band recover.  This dovetails nicely with a trip to Morocco that I've had planned for months.  For the first time I'll be leaving my running shoes at home and letting treks through medinas and desert camel rides be my cross-training.

I'll be back in two weeks, hopefully rested and ready to take on a few short local races during the holiday season.

Until then:

Because Running A Marathon Isn't Hard Enough...

...this guy ran it in full body armor.

I'd heard about this before the race and wasn't sure what to expect of the suit.  I got a chance to check it out as I ran by Travis on the course.  It was definitely different from what I expected and I could tell it was a bit cumbersome.  I had to wonder why anyone would do that to themselves - a world record attempt?  A TV stunt?

The real reason is far more worthwhile - to show that this level of protection can be mobile.  If someone can run a marathon in a Kevlar suit, certainly it can be used in active combat.

It was interesting to see someone take what we were all doing on race day, honoring our troops, and raising it to the next level by taking strides (literally) to help them.

Science is cool.