I was surprised when I woke up that my legs were not more stiff and fatigued. I thought after all the up and down stairs I would be stiff. I was glad that I felt better than I expected.

As is usual for Monday, I cleaned the apartment, did laundry and ran the dishwasher. I am lucky as I have enough dishes that I do not have to run the dishwasher more than once a week. Sometimes I have to hand wash a glass or mug but do not have to wash much by hand. I do wash the pots and pans by hand but that is easy.

I have gotten in the habit of cleaning as I cook so I never have lots to wash after finishing dinner. The sink is a single sink and is not very big so it would be hard to wash a lot at the same time. I have tried to clean while cooking for the last couple of years even when I have a larger sink.

After I finished cleaning and had eaten lunch, I decided I should go for a walk. I was working hard at keeping from getting stiff by sitting still. Walking down the six flights of stairs was not bad. I walk down every time I leave the apartment but am not willing to walk up. I had found after my hardest races that walking downstairs was the worst and I did not have any problem today so the legs seem good.

I walked over to the Port Daurade and had a demi-pint (small) beer while I read and enjoyed the warmth of the day. It is a great way to kill time and enjoy life.

After the beer and reading, I wandered over to the other side of the Garonne and sat in the shade and read.

I was tracking friends who were running the Boston Marathon so got distracted from the reading. I had 5 friends who were running and it is great as all of them finished. Nick finished in 2:28 which is amazing. Ben finished in 2:40 (but was somewhat disappointed). I do not know what his goal was but I think 2:40 is fantastic. Amos finished in 3:11.

Grayson, my running “nemesis”, who is 74 finished in 4:03 which for his age is fantastic! Grayson is an amazing runner as well as a person. He is probably one of the nicest people I know. The other aspect is he is really consistent. I think his last 3 or 4 Boston times have been close to the same. He is not getting slower with age.

The last runner was Lori. Lori tried to run the marathon last year but did not finish it. She wanted to complete the marathon this year and did it. She finished in 5:56 and just made the cut 5 minutes. I am always impressed that someone can spend that much time running a marathon. I always joke that my mind could not take running that long. I had a 4 hour limit for myself. Lori has had a rough year so I am glad she was able to complete Boston. I think she has now run all 6 majors.