More Buckeye Trail, and Swollen Feet

How do you like the new layout? I wanted to try something simpler, less cluttered, easier on the eyes. Also, I added a beautiful countdown clock for the Buckeye Trail. Now, aren't you glad you stopped by today? ;-)

I'm probably irritating those of you with RSS feeds, because I keep updating the same post, but I reread this one and frankly, I found it boring. For your convenience if you had already read the first version, I'll put my revisions in italics.
On Sunday, I met up with the group from Vertical Runner for another of the Buckeye Trail familiarization runs. I looked around at the start and didn't see a single SERC runner buddy. Where is everyone? And I was looking forward to showing off my new fuel belt, all loaded up with my newest fluid experiment: 3/5 Gatorade + 2/5 water + 2 teaspoons of salt per 20 ounces.
I decided to run with the leader-type guy from Vertical Runner. We started at Boston Mill store and ran the Pine Lane trail out and back, about 8.5 miles. To get the majority of my planned 22 miles in, I had planned to repeat that run to get to 17 miles, then add 5 more along the tow path. Just as I was about to head out again, Kurt and Christina from SERC finished the run. I don't know how I missed them at the start, but I think they arrived just as we were heading out. I told them that I wanted to rerun it, but they wanted to run north on the tow path rather than repeat the Pine Lane trail, so we did. Kurt is training for an Iron Man in n July. Christina did about three miles out, then turned back. Kurt and I continued and ran the Old Carriage trail, just to add some more climbing and trail running to the day. I was really glad to have someone to run with, and it gave me a chance to catch up with Kurt who I have not seen much of since Boston. After that, Kurt turned back, and I continued north to Brecksville station, then turned back. I was back at Boston Mill at 20,5 miles, so I did another mile and a half out and back to make it to 22 miles.

Om Monday, I did an easy recovery run of about 6 miles. I was feeling OK, but not exactly energetic. I biked 26 miles to work and back on Tuesday, but after the ride home, I didn't feel up to the track workout. My legs had been feeling tight since the weekend, and I was worried about overdoing it and reaggravating the knee and Achilles. On Wednesday, the guilt of skipping the speed work on Tuesday got to me. I did an 8 mile tempo run, averaging 6:40 per mile, despite the fact that my legs were still stiff, and I my head was saying, 'Don't do it.' After the run, in the shower, I noticed my feet and ankles looked swollen. On Thursday, I biked to work, and did six slow miles at lunch. They were slow miles, because I really could barely run. Initially, I blamed it on running too soon after eating, but when I finished I noticed my lower legs and feet were swollen again. I kept them elivated whenever possible for the rest of the day, and decided to take Friday off.