The choice was to keep climbing or take the connector trail back to the car.

We kept climbing.

The choice was to take baby steps, shuffle/run slowly up the ridge or lengthen our stride and hike.

We shuffled as long as we could.

The choice was bomb it down the double track or take is slow and use caution.

We thew caution out the window and flew, baby, flew!

9 miles in the trail with a girlfriend and her adventurous dog, Rembrant left me feeling so good! So good in fact that when we got out of the woods I left and went for another three along the bike bath to round the day out to about 12 miles total.

12 miles further than I have run in a long time. I don’t know if it was the encouragement, the trails in Southern Oregon or the 50-degree day that helped me get through it, but I was proud of my body and excited about the run all day long! After my shower I started to feel the effects of what 12 miles on an untrained body feels like—sore and tired. But still hyped up and ready to rock out all night long. Those crazy endorphins give you this weird energy high that allows you to not only push it harder and fast up the mountain, but harder and faster on the dance floor later that night. The following day was another story of exhaustion–but as for Saturday I was pumped and ready to keep on keepin’ on!

Thank god it’s boot weather; I threw on my tall boots with a shorty skirt, but not before I dug out my Smartwool compression socks. I’ve always kind of been a bit skeptical of compression sleeves and socks—skeptical until this summer when I felt the effects working wonders after a 100 mile Adventure Race and my 6-hour drive home! It feels like a million little elves are massaging your calves at hyperspeed. They’re super good at getting the blood flowing and comforting the fatigued muscle. It doesn’t make the muscle not hurt, but definitely speeds up the healing process.

So after 12 miles I wore them all day shopping, walking and crafting up my Ugly Sweater for the evenings activities and no one even knew I had dorky/techy socks on underneath.

As you can see in the photo, (this is pre ugly sweater party/post a drink or two) you can see the socks peaking out a bit from the boot. This was me being ‘runnerly fashionable’ what do you think? I think it worked, no one knew the difference and my calves appreciated the extra lovin’ they got allllllll nightlong! Awww yeah!

Ever worn compression anything? What do you think?