So, Now What?

After 6 months of going to bed early on a Friday night to prepare for an early Saturday morning run, after so many months of avoiding the temptation to go out, you'd think I'd be ecstatic the first weekend I could sleep in. I didn't. Instead, last Saturday I went and ran with the team for their last training run before this weekend's Chicago Marathon.

I couldn't bare to sleep in knowing that I could run with the team one last time. I had only planned for a few miles, something to keep my legs moving and keep my cardio at a good level. But, I suckered myself in to 6 miles. It felt great. My legs felt light, almost completely recovered and there was no hint that I had run a marathon the weekend before.

What a recovery in comparison to my last where I wasn't moving for a solid three weeks. This time, if not evidenced by my improved performance in the race, my recovery definitely signaled better training. Two days after KC I was running--only a mile or so, but still running. And, the weekend following, I was running 6 miles.

Some things I neglected to tell you about...

The Medal...or lack there of


You know, I wasn't really running this race for the medal, or for the shirt I could show off telling everyone that I just did a marathon, I was doing it for myself. So, when I realized after walking through the chute that there were no metals to be found, I was a little dumbfounded.

"What do you mean there are no medals?" I asked the organizers. A woman handed me a postcard with information on how I could receive my medal. Email this place, yadda, yadda, get it sent to you within 3-4 weeks. Pfff. Who organizes a race a doesn't account for enough medals?! So much for the post-race picture with the medal.

The cell phone and the ice bath...guess who won?


As all you runners know, there's nothing better than stepping into an ice bath after a long run. It felt especially nice after the marathon. On the ledge of the tub sat Jacob's cell phone so I could keep track of how long I soaked. As my time commenced, I was a bit wobbly trying to stand up and bumped the cell phone in the water. As quickly as humanely possible I fished it out. But the sucker died in no time. It's back to working after drying out for a few hours. Next time I'll be using a water proof watch and not my Jacob's cell phone.

I'm going out for a longer run...which in my book means hopefully around 8 miles tonight. We'll see. I'll still be blogging out running and life in general--so keep reading. I'm still continuing to train...for what I don't know yet. Maybe I'm training for life. My next race will hopefully be Grandma's Marathon in Duluth on June 16th. Anyone heard anything about that race?