In the famous words of Dora the Explorer, I did it. I am now a marathoner and these are a few of my post marathon thoughts.
First, I would like to apologize for not posting my recap sooner. I had every intention of doing so but…
I took a week off to recover from the marathon and when I was ready to get back to work I found myself in the midst of some blog problems. To those that were trying to log on to my site and could not, I apologize. Things should be ok by now to include my email. I am back now and ready for my Monday Miles, my post marathon thoughts.
I will tell anyone that a marathon does change you. It is a test of the limits that your body can go through. With that I can say there is a runners high of I completed a marathon and that kick ass feeling. There are other feelings that have come through my head. My biggest one was my time. I know you don’t do your first half or full marathon for time.You do it to finish. That said there is a place in the back of your head that says I want to finish in such and such time. I had a time and I was on course for making it until I rode Expedition Everest. I don’t regret riding Everest because I mean come on now, when do you get a opportunity like that? Even with deducting time for taking pictures, a bathroom break,standing in line and riding Everest. I still wasn’t happy with my time. So what’s a girl to do? I will be running another marathon. Well eventually. I’m not sure when yet just that it will be done. With my time, a PR should be easy.
Some other thoughts….
Gaining weight sucks! I thought I would lose weight while training but I gained a bunch of weight while training for the marathon. I’ve read all the articles about how not to gain while training and can say it wasn’t due to eating more either. As my miles increased so did my weight. I blame my hysterectomy. It could be the reason, I was put on a new type of estrogen therapy during training. Now that marathon is over it is time to work on losing that extra weight. In the last 3 weeks I have lost maybe 3lbs, slow and steady keeps it off right?
Talking about food, most distance runners know about being run-gry and wanting to eat all the food after a long run. I was the opposite. I was not hungry at all. After my marathon I ate a burger and fries for my husband since he was on me to eat. My appetite disappeared for a week or so. I don’t really have an answer for this
Taking it easy because of my foot meant a whole heck of a lot more walking than running. Heck the majority of the 2nd half I walked due to the crowd. While there is nothing wrong with walking (as long as you can maintain the course limits) I plan to run more of my next marathon. I am already back on the trail and training. I have even noticed that my running pace has been a bit faster too. It’s hard work but I will get back to where I was and improve from there.
Physically, once I got home from the marathon I was tired. All I wanted to do was sleep but i’m a mom so I couldn’t. I’m sure it was getting up so early race morning and the stress of a marathon on my body and my body catching up. Otherwise I felt pretty good. My foot which ached during the second half was better. My calves were a bit cranky for a couple days but nothing horrible or reminiscent of my first half marathon where I was left barely able to walk. Another plus was for the first time after a race I did not have any black toe nails. I will thank my Altras for that.
In the end completing a marathon was an experience I did enjoy, yes I enjoyed it. I ran into so many problems during training that I was prepared for anything but I didn’t have any major issues. I didn’t bonk, my calves didn’t cramp, my asthma didn’t flare up, honestly things went pretty smooth. Now that I have completed a full I am looking to do a 50K. In fact I was suppose to do one this past weekend but I was a DNS- Did Not Start. At the last minute I decided not to do it because of my foot, I want it to heal some more before I do another full or longer distance. The half marathon though is now my favorite distance and I have a few I will be pacing and/or sweeping this year. I am still looking for races just for me to do for myself but races are expensive! Anyone out there want to pay for my race entries? Will blog for Race Entries…. seriously, I will.