Marathon Reflections.

Wow, I really made it a long time before including the word “Marathon” in a post, huh?  or not?!  I won’t make promises but I am thinking this will be the last marathon focused post and then I will move on.  It just seems like I should rant on a little bit longer since I have been training so damn long for this thing!  I should at least be able to milk it out for awhile, right?

Must locate one of these bumper stickers….

So anyways, I wrote my full recap Sunday night and Monday.  It’s now a few days later and I have had the chance to realize a few more things about running a marathon/becoming a marathoner.

1) I am now a marathoner for life.  There is no going back and it’s not something that can be taken away.  When I am 80 years old, I will be able to still call myself a marathoner.  That is pretty darn cool if you ask me!

2) My legs didn’t feel too bad on Monday but then by Tuesday, I could hardly move… my calves were SO tight.  Not really so much sore as tight and almost felt disconnected from my body.  Hopefully acupuncture helps with this…

3) It’s so anti-climatic.  For being something I have wanted to do for so long and dreamed about so many times, now that it’s over, I can’t really say my life is any different.  Not that I really expected that to happen but you know… kind of the same with birthdays, graduation, etc.  Nothing is really different.  But I do now have more proof that if I put my mind to something, I can pull it off.  Even with a few bumps in the road!

4) I am always going to eat tons of ice cream after a marathon/long run.  I normally end up feeling really weird and sluggish after long runs/races but since I consumed my weight in ice cream and blizzards on Sunday, I felt none of that!  I calculated I likely had 10+ servings of dairy (in the form of chocolate milk, cheese, ice cream and regular milk that I had a random craving for later after dinner) which is about 9 more than I normally have.  Maybe all the calcium helped? So weird!

I would gladly eat ice cream EVERY single day!

5) Even when running the marathon, I didn’t really believe I was doing it.  I think I tried to deny it so long, my body and mind never believed anything different?!  Also, I think the lack of crowds at this race helped feed that anti-climatic feeling.  But on another hand, when I realized I was getting close to the finish line, I was there!  No weaving and getting psyched out about that!  And nobody to piss off when I went sprinting past them like I did at Bellin.

6) I thought I would really want a long break from running but I already kind of miss it.  Not so much the 5+ mile runs but the short, fun ones!

7)  I am even more excited about the Disney Marathon now!  I know it’s almost 7 months away but I’m still excited to see what I can learn and use for future training cycles.

8) I don’t know when I will tire of training for and running races.  For whatever reason, I really like them!  I love that sense of overwhelming accomplishment you feel for a few days after a really good race.  Now I just wish I could get my body to rest up a little so I can train to my fullest potential!  It’s taking all my self restraint to avoid scouring Active.com to sign up for more races right now.

Now that this marathon is over and I am breaking from running for a few weeks, I am totally at a loss for what to post on here though.  So if all of a sudden I disappear for the next 4-5 weeks, don’t be too alarmed  I’m probably just walking around with my medal around my neck, reliving the moment I became a marathoner!