This week I have mostly attended plays and thought about running.

The first play was Suicide Incorporated, which was not very good for a Roundabout production, although that still puts it in about the 75th percentile of all theater. It was very well-acted and there were some funny parts and some affecting parts, but there were also a lot of places where it reminded me of something I would have seen, or written, in college.  The second play was Venus in Fur, which was very good.  Supposedly it has a lot to say about power in relationships, although mostly I thought it was very absorbing and featured some phenomenal voice work.  Also I ate at Maoz, which is rapidly becoming my new obsession now that I have run out of people willing to be dragged to Balade.

I didn't run much.  Apparently one is supposed to take some time to recover after the marathon.  I have opted for "active recovery", which means I walked two miles Monday (I could not run; in fact, walking was a challenge), did yoga at home on Tuesday, went to spin class on Wednesday, did no exercise on Thursday, went to running club (more on that below) Friday, and went to yoga class today.  My legs actually feel pretty good (although I think  I am a bit congested in the nose-and-throat region), which suggests I did not run hard enough in the marathon.

About running club.  So, I am filled with ideas about how to become a better runner: get a Garmin, take Jackrabbit classes, run twice a day, etc.  There is a running club at my office that meets Fridays, and I had not been going because (a) it requires leaving before my usual time, (b) I'd have to plan ahead and bring running clothes to work, (c) everyone else is a faster runner than me, and (d) I am a wimp.  Yesterday I decided those were bad reasons, and I went.  Everyone was really nice, even though I was the slowest runner there (albeit only out of six).  The guy who runs the club is an incredible athlete and longtime 3-hour marathoner who seems to really enjoy helping other runners improve.  He gave me lots of advice, some of which (about speedwork and hills and so forth) I will take, and some of which (about becoming a twig so that I can run faster, or something) I will ignore.  We ran about five miles, plus did some drills.  I've never done drills before, and apparently this shows in my form, as I don't pick up my knees, which means it is basically impossible for me to run at a reasonable pace.  I did the meat of the workout (the 3.4 miles in between warmup and drills) at about an 11-minute mile pace, which is by no means fast, but is pretty close to my normal running-in-the-hilly-park pace.  I can feel it in my legs today, probably more than I would if I hadn't just run the marathon, but I'm still pretty pleased about my recovery.