The Aftermath

It's Kristin.

Who am I?? Now that the Marathon is over we are feeling a tiny bit lost, Danna, Suzy and I. We don't know when to work out, how many miles to run, what to eat. I seriously had to work on not having straight carbs all the time. That was a bit of a bummer. I love you angelhair pasta!

Well, after the race, Danna and I felt good. We went for a walk that night, stopped limping, never napped, and we just watched General Conference with the boys. We were feeling pretty proud of our quick recovery.

But oh! The next day. The next day our quads were shot. I literally could not flex them. To sit or stand required much grunting, use of arms, and asking for help (or just violently plopping into a seat.) Once I warmed up, however, I could walk pretty normal, and I was determined to glide into work on Monday injury free, dang it! Unfortunately, my foot had other ideas. The tendinitis was back with a vengeance. My left foot was pretty achy and to this day I wear slippers wherever I go in the house. I'm back on Cortizone, and I'm not able to do a lot of walking. I just want it to heal so I can run again.

I actually did my first post-marathon run this last week (3 miles) and my foot was not too happy. Meet my 2 new BFF's: Icy Hot and Tiger Balm. Good thing Matt thinks they smell good! (Note to others in pain: I recommend Tiger Balm pain patches from Shopko! I do not however recommend the Icy Hot rub-on stick.) I feel like my heart and body want to run and the foot is holding us back! Curse you traitorous appendage! ***fist shake*** Yesterday I cross-trained and Suzy and Danna ran without me. I was so jealous! I actually biked to where they were and rode alongside them for a while. :(

On a more positive note, the high that I got after the marathon was amazing! I was actually feeling intense feelings of elation for an entire week! That alone was worth the race.

What now? I think we will run a race next spring. Danna's shins need some healing, and so does my foot. Suzy, on the other hand, was born to run and her body is ready for more! People, she ran 3 miles the Wednesday after her marathon, and 8 that Saturday with no problem!

Other weird or random facts:

• Since the marathon, I can hold my breath for minutes! It's amazing. How can I put this new talent to good use?
• I got so many fun and lovely emails, texts and comments from friends and even strangers last week- thank you so much! What a blast!
• My new lifetime goal is to some day qualify for the Boston Marathon! Think I can do it?
• Over the course of our training we ran over 600 miles! I lost 3 sweatshirts and a pair of pants along the parkway. I lost 0 pounds. I did however gain a stomach of steel (meaning I can eat anything on the run), abs of steel, and really buff legs.
  
• I finally got my hair done again. I have dark hair and bangs again! Woot.
• Because of our training, we have inspired (as far as I can remember) 9 people to start training for their own marathon, 3 for a half, and others to start just working out. See all the good that came from our diligence? :)
• I want to try a triathlon some day. But the swimming part is scary. And the fact that my bike is crap.
• Running in the fall is not so bad. You can sleep in later and you get to do the most gratifying of all tasks- crunching crispy leaves under your shoes and feeling/hearing them shatter into a thousand pieces. Over and over.
  
• Things I'll do differently for the next race? Do speed work, find more cheap deals at the expo center, have a colder ice bath afterward, run without my camera, not log meaningless details into my running log (like what I wore each run), do my arm tattoo a little better, remember by bib on race day, and make a cooler music list for my "alone runs."