Post Eugene Marathon Check In

May 11th, 2013

Awesome mug and medal I was greeted with
when I returned to work after my marathon.

So it seems I find myself with some time to jot down some notes about how my first two weeks post-marathon have gone (on my flight to Portland).

So far, physically, pretty lazy feeling. I'm attempting to rehab my left foot/achilles so I've done no running.

I do play softball, so I do have some physical activity. Not to mention with my car breaking down, I've been riding my bike to the train, then from the train to work. Putting in about 9 miles a day.

I don't mind the ride or softball, but I do wish I could keep things more immobile. It's getting better, I just don't know how long it will take. Could be months.

I keep going between being proud of my accomplishment, completing my first marathon, and feeling like it was a bit anti-climactic. Most people don't even want to run 26.2 miles, let alone complete it. It's a big deal. I hate the way this will sound, but there was a big mental build up for me about the difficulty. I absolutely know that the way I ran it (to have fun, to actually ENJOY a race for once) removed much of the challenge. My long training runs were all nearly a minute per mile faster, including my 21.5 miler.

I was definitely tired when I finished, but I feel like I was more tired after my 1/2 marathon PR in September (1:29:48 yipee!). I'm very much looking forward to my next marathon, being physically and mentally exhausted. I guess more simply put, I feel guilty for not feeling worse.

Not running has both a physical and psychological effect: I miss running, really miss my running pals, and I'm not getting my normal doses of endorphins or stress relief. It's also a time for me to mentally work things out.

All in all, I feel pretty good, I'm looking forward to not only getting back to running, but to training hard for my next marathon. After all, I still have my Boston qualifier to run.