Some thoughts

I haven't run since last Wednesday.  I was pretty sore on Monday and Tuesday after my marathon, but was feeling good on Wednesday.  My feet were the most sore, and my right one more than my left.  But by Wednesday it was feeling okay and I decided to do a slow 3 miles.  I knew within the first half mile that I should stop and go home.  I didn't want to.

For the majority of my marathon training, especially the last month and a half, I dreaded my runs.  I didn't want to run at all.  The only ones I didn't dread were my long runs and that was probably because I was doing them so early I didn't give myself time to dread them.  So on Wednesday when I WANTED to go run I was excited.  It had been a long time since I had wanted to run after work. 

Well, after a little over 2.5 miles my foot hurt so bad I had to stop.  I walked home.  It was frustrating.  And then it hurt worse than it had before that 3 mile run the next day.  I don't want to injure it more, and am hoping it's not a stress fracture.  It's feeling better right now, I'm still not going to run, even though I really want to, but I feel I should give it a little more time.  It's frustrating.  I want to run again, and I can't.  What's worse than that?  Not much!

It was a sloooowww run!

I had some thoughts after my marathon and decided to write them down:

There were a few things that I think I did right to prepare for my marathon.  There were several I didn’t do right, which I will also try to share, but first, what I did right, or at least what I learned.  =)

·         I started early.  I looked up training plans that fit where I was when I started training.  A year ago I had a training plan that I liked, it’s longest run was 26 miles, and I thought that was what I needed, but it started me out with running 5 days of the week.  That was good for last year, but this year when I started I was running only 3 miles every other day.  I choose Hal Higdon’s Novice 1 training plan, which started me exactly where I was.  I started early enough that I knew I could add a couple weeks to get in a 24 mile run because I was not confident that 20 miles was long enough for my longest training run.

·         I stuck to eating what I normally eat.  I didn’t eat a lot more on long run days, yes, most long run days I had a donut and maybe some mimosa’s but mostly I stuck with the same food, in the same quantities I always eat. I was really worried about gaining weight because I have heard that people often do.  I did not, in fact, I lost 4 lbs.  =)

·         I was willing to change up my fueling during my runs.  I was scared after my 18 mile run, I felt fantastic during it, but afterwards sat on the toilet for 3 hours, that was no fun, and I changed up my fuel techniques.  However, I don’t think that the gummies I ate caused my problems, looking back I think it was dehydration.

·         I contacted the race director numerous times to ask questions, first about what kind of Gatorade they would have, and then about last minute stuff that was worrying/bothering me.  And he was really great at responding right away, often right after I sent my email.

·         I drank a lot of water the day before my marathon.  A lot.  And I drank a lot of water the morning of.  So much that I had to use the bathroom at mile 4. 

·         I ate a ton of carbs the week before my marathon.  I was worried about gaining weight, but I kept telling myself it was good for me.  I ate spaghetti, a type of goulash only my family makes, and baked ziti, and also had those things for lunch.  However, I recognized that the oatmeal in the morning before a long run made me have to stop to use the bathroom during a run, so I cut that out early in the week.  Yes, I know that not everyone eats carbs and they do just fine on long runs.  I eat minimal carbs, but because my body is still used to them, I was able to eat them without problems.  And I didn’t gain weight.

·         I quit eating heavy carbs Friday evening.  I was worried about too many on Saturday and didn’t want to cause upset stomach, so the only carbs I ate on Saturday was the pizza crust (lol) at the yard sale, and a small amount of “goulash” after dinner. 

·         I did not drink alcohol Friday or Saturday.  If you follow me on Instagram, then you know I love my wine.  But I abstained until after my race on Sunday. 

·         I had awesome, and I cannot say it enough, really awesome support from my family.  They were truly fantastic.

I did a lot of things wrong as well.  In fact, I think the things I did wrong are bigger than the things I did right, other than what I ate.  (I really contribute not hitting that wall to how I ate the week before.)  I can’t think of more things wrong than right, just bigger.

·         I cut a lot of miles off my training schedule.  I did not run the entire number of miles in one week that I was scheduled to since August, maybe before.  I cut out between 3 and 8 miles weekly.  That is a lot of mileage I didn’t do. 

·         After my 18 mile run, when I had bathroom problems, I think I overreacted to the idea that the honey stingers were why I had issues.  Looking back I think it was because I did not drink enough water the day before, and I’m not sure, but I think I drank quite a bit of wine the night before.

·         I quit yoga.  Remember my challenge of doing yoga everyday? Yeah I quit. . . My body is a tight mess.  On Sunday after my marathon I couldn’t even touch the ground, I’ve never been so tight before.  I’m lucky I don’t have any major injuries.

·         I didn’t get new shoes soon enough.  I ran 20 miles on bad shoes.  And I think I am having foot issues again because of it.

·         There is a seasoned marathoner in my office, and I knew he was there, and I did not seek out advice from him.  It took another person in my office telling him I was running one for him to come find me and talk to me.

I’m sure there’s more. A seasoned marathoner can probably look at all that I did throughout my training and list off a million more things.  But right now, with the high of having completed, and done better than I expected, I can’t think of more things.  =)

Will I do another marathon?  I get asked this question a lot.  Every single person that has asked me how it went has also asked if I would do it again.  I don’t have an answer.  I feel really good about this marathon.  I am happy with how it turned out.  I don’t think I would have the same support at a second marathon, and I really, really credit my support to how well I did.  So my answer is, I don’t know.  Maybe, maybe not.  The pain afterwards makes me want to say no way!  But as the pain fades away, I think, well, maybe.  

I have some more marathon pictures . . . so here's a bunch more, you can skip the rest of this post if you want.  =)  There's at least one more that I'm having difficulty getting off Chris's phone, but I love it, so whenever I'm able to retrieve it, I'm sharing it.  =)