That's lactate, not lactose - so you non-milk drinkers don't need to run screaming.

I'm having a severe case of calf soreness ever since the Tuesday Hannaford run, and yesterday's runs around Cheverus' track didn't help the matter. When I get sore after exercise (you know, that one day back at the gym after 6 months of sloth and you think it'd be a good idea to do the stair climber for an hour and a half) I usually say, "I'm sore as hell - but it's the good kind."

Meaning that I'm sore as hell, but that's only because I did something productive - as opposed to being sore after being thrown from a wild Vespa.

I started looking into the soreness issue and gleaned some information on lactate - which historically had been blamed for the pain.

I can't feign any real knowledge on the subject other that this: It's not the lactate's fault. Lactate, these days, is considered a good thing that keeps runners from fatiguing as quickly.

So what or who is to blame? I say the Hannaford reps who made us stretch on Tuesday.

I've never been a stretcher (once heard that you're more likely to injure yourself by stretching than actually prevent any injury). So, I don't stretch. I figure it's one less thing for me to do, and I like doing less.

But I stretched with the group Tuesday (damn peer pressure!) and my calves are feeling the pain. Is it really the fault of the stretch? Probably not - but I have to point the finger somewhere, right?