Marathon

Well, I did it!  I successfully completed my first marathon, and I loved it (the running part).  Afterwards, I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself, but the 26.2 was very fun.  I ran most of the race with a friend I've been training with and that was wonderful.  I've never run a race with another person, let alone one I've trained with for four months.  It was a nice capstone.  

My dear friend joined me on the course for a couple of miles which was so much fun.  Our club coach and another member of our team came and ran the last couple of miles with us.  I'm pretty convinced that 26.2 isn't such a big deal (mileage itself), it's being alone with your thoughts for 4+ hours (which is extremely rare in my case), so it was great to have people to run with.  It was also great to see my family along the route.  

Later in the day, I was exhausted, and slept for three hours, and then promptly forgot that we have a hot tub.  That could have helped the recovery a little.  Monday and Tuesday after the race, I could barely make it down the stairs, my quads were so sore.  Wednesday was even better, and after a massage on Thursday (one hour on just my legs), Friday I feel back to normal.  

I think I've found a new/old hobbie.  New, because I've never run that far before, and old because I've always been a runner.  When I was a sprinter in high school, I used to fake injury if our training run was anything over a mile, now 8miles is an easy run.  If my coach could only see me now.