Afterglow...afterblaa's

The few days after the race, I was all hobbling legs and euphoria, it hadn't sunk in how fast I had gone and how strong I felt. At work on Monday, I didn't do anything much and could not have cared less. Throughout the week I have been pretty bone tired even as the soreness lifted, getting in a short 3 miler Thursday morning just to work out the kinks and show I still can, the legs miss it.

Somewhere during the week, I started feeling cranky and a little down, they say Olympians, even successful ones, feel really lost after the games are over, so maybe that is a little of the same on a much smaller scale. Even this running page recommends finding non-athletic pursuits to fill the void.

As for the future, I broke 4 hours in a huge way, and had a perfect race, so it is tempting to leave marathoning at that. On the other hand, the devil voice is saying I might actually be good at this thing. It might be pretty cool to go under 3:30 or complete a tougher course. On the other hand, as a bucket list item, I should just put a huge red check over it and move on to the next (which is?).

The same goes for the blog, I wonder if the title wasn't shortsighted, perhaps I should end it soon, but blogging was a new fun things too, and who needs to drop two of those in as many weeks? Perhaps something less drastic, so keep an eye out, the second word on the header could morph into triathlon, homebuyer, couch potato, or self-indulgent navel gazer (not really a tenderfoot at that!). I know that new challenges keep me fresh and have got to make for better blogging than same old same old.

Ask me in another few days when I am fully recovered and the sun is out. Dully noted, this race takes a lot out of you mentally too.

Mile speeds throughout race.

I was going to try to insert a table with my splits, but that seems less trivial than I thought, so here they are old school minutes:seconds for mile times during each section of the race provided by the handy chips we taped to our shoes for the race. All I can say is, check out those NEGATIVE SPLITS! You can see I was feeling stronger and stronger and starting to give it the gas a little after mile 10. I have to credit to having my cousin with me for that last low split.

5K 8:42
10K 8:47
15K 8:40
20K 8:20
25K 8:20
30K 8:24
35K 8:17
41.29K (finish) 8:28

3:44

I cannot believe I just ran the marathon in 3:44,

I cannot believe I just ran the marathon in 3:44,

I cannot believe I just ran the marathon in 3:44.

That means 8:33 mile pace, and I held that the whole race. I felt so strong the whole way, only really tightening up for the last mile or so.

There are lots of possible reasons: the magical powers of tapering, the ambiance of the crowd and having everyone who came out and cheered for me, having my cousin there to run the last 6 miles was great although he felt a little sandbagged since I assured him there was no way I would be running under 9 minute miles at that point! Two friends came over last night for the "last supper" and cooked up an amazing pasta recipe with squid and tomato sauce and all other good things, and I ate tons, and felt full the entire race which was a huge help. The weather was ideal.

But in the end, I have no idea, it was 15 minutes faster than I even dreamed of running, so how do you explain that? My only 20 miler was well over three hours. So all I can say is I was very fortunate to have a great race.

I haven't named names in this blog, since I don't give my own, but to everyone who I know who came out today to run or spectate, to grab the impossible cab in Georgetown and feed me, to encourage me along the way, especially those I didn't get to see--Thank you all. It was wonderful to share this triumph with you all. Special thanks to my personal support staff who suffered through the lows and vacation interruptus to support my dream of becoming a marathoner.

Tapering Swiss Style: wine, fondu, jet lag...

So I managed to mix vacation and running again without the one ruining the other.

Tourist logic: 4-miler + 3-miler = one 6-miler.

Keeping up with even a tapered schedule along with Helvetic consumption of wine and cheese was a challenge, but the running seemed to help me sleep through the night.

The body feels good, just a little headachie with the wine. The running was gorgeous, drop out of the Kummer's house down through the vineyards to the edge of a glacial lake and run between the water and cute as can be villages dating from the 1400's. The Bis was blowing (Europeans name their winds) which meant cold windy weather from the Alps, but not too wet. Concerns of dehydration are replaced by dreams of little runner gloves. One more week to go now, have to keep after the stretching and avoid getting the flu everyone has.

20 (ouch) miles on pavement, 3:05.

So today was supposed to be the big race conditions simulation run, on pavement, in VA after a Metro ride, walk to and from station...and it was all that and more. Oh what a difference the surface makes. For the 19 miler, I had maybe 5 miles on pavement, this was something else entirely. Another wrinkle, a bunch of short steep undulations on the Mt. Vernon trail, very unpleasant on tender legs. I know I have said before that I may not be able to walk tomorrow, but I am pretty sure I mean it this time. Walking is going to hurt--and as a colleague pointed out, you will want to walk down stairs facing backwards--I really get that today.

On the positive side, I had a cold up to yesterday, and I will be tapered down for the actual race, so hopefully that and motivation of race day will get me through the final 1+ hour of suffering. I decided that someone should be enjoying that pain, so I invited my younger brother to join me for the last 6 miles or so. He promised not to act too happy about my predicament, we'll see. Another big positive, no specific injuries, just general hurt (below the knee cap, shins but not the ripping feeling, and right at hip and ankle bone as usual). I saw someone sitting on a bench at a water stop, he was on mile 16 of 20 training for the MCM as well, and had been stopped in his tracks with shins, so I feel lucky--he got his gut check early.

I felt a strange sight coming back on the Metro, sweaty and like a sack of potatoes. I resisted the urge to taunt people who had just finished the Army 10 miler, which shows you just how exhausted I was. I mean 10 miles, that's nothing! Next up, tapering in Switzerland!