The Day After the Marathon

There was a difference in my body after finishing this marathon as opposed to the Long Beach Marathon in October. I ran that marathon 2 minutes faster and believe it or not that 2 minutes made a big difference in how I felt at the end. Yesterday although I missed my time goal I didn’t feel too bad as I crossed the finish line and as I attempted to find my family I didn’t feel like crawling into a ball and falling down. I do remember finishing the Los Angeles Marathon where I literally wanted to quit running at mile 20 but grunted to the finish line in a horrible time and as I finished that particular marathon I just needed to sit down. The rule of thumb is to keep moving and keep the blood flowing through the body after finishing a marathon. This is not always an option but yesterday I kept moving and did feel good. No, I couldn’t run another marathon nor could I do a significant pace of running but I could still stand up which is a big accomplishment.

We did have a long walk to the car and this was a slow walk. After a marathon my legs are very sore and the hardest part is going down any incline and the small curbs seem like mountains so I did my best to avoid them. Walking with my family back to the car was wonderful and my son and daughter were so very gracious. My son attempted to help me and my daughter was also by my side all the way back to the car.

I didn’t know if I would feel up to driving home after the marathon so we had the hotel room reserved until today. I wasn’t looking forward to the 5 ½ hour car ride but was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. I am a big fan of sleeping in my “own” bed since I spent 2 years “away” from this bed and no matter how comfortable a hotel bed may seem it can’t “replace” the comfort of my “own” bed. I really wouldn’t know how I felt until after taking a shower and that is one of the “joys” of marathon day; the shower afterwards. I did feel good enough to say to my wife that we should make our way back home instead of coming home today. She agreed and this saved the expense of the extra day.

The new tradition after a marathon has become P.F. Chang’s Restaurant. They were the lead sponsor for the marathon and one of the “goodies” was a 15% discount card. We did go to P.F. Chang’s for lunch on our way back home. I enjoy this restaurant because I actually have options which rarely happen with my finicky eating habits!! The lunch/dinner was very good and I do enjoy eating after running 26.2 miles. I didn’t eat much before or during the race and I always think that I should be much hungrier after the race. I was hungry but not as hungry as I should have been. I did eat at P.F. Chang’s and it was delicious. My children aren’t big fans of the restaurant but I told them to fake their interest since it is one of my favorites and they obliged.

We did head back to California after lunch and the drive was uneventful. I drove for a few hours then turned the wheel over to my wife. I tried to take a nap but was unsuccessful so after an hour I went back to driving the minivan. I wasn’t as tired as I thought I would be and it was great to get home after a very lovely weekend. It was very nice to gain the extra hour back when the time zone changed from Arizona to California and we weren’t home at a very late hour. We stopped for some frozen yogurt as our “snack” before we arrived home and when we arrived home everyone basically crashed.

I slept very soundly last night and yes, my legs are sore this morning but nothing debilitating. I promised everyone we would go out to breakfast since the children had the day off from school. We went to breakfast at a local pancake establishment and I was very shocked when we received the bill. I can remember going here a few short years ago and it seemed to me that the prices had doubled, oh well such is life at the very least my son was extremely happy to receive his “fix” of bacon!! I’m not sure where this has come from but my son is a bacon aficionado. He can eat a great deal of bacon whereas my daughter wants nothing to do with it; amazing they are so much alike but so different.