You Don't See That Every Day

I told myself I would give it 2 weeks after the marathon until I ran again. I tried earlier than that and my body reminded me of my 2 week plan. The training book I followed suggested that the week after the marathon you should do nothing. Absolutely no exercise. And I kind of followed that, but not really. I went walking with my sister and then walking around the aquarium and then walking around the zoo. And pulled weeds at the farm. And oh, did my legs hurt last night. So as I laid in bed last night trying to sleep  I came up with some ideas of how I would do it differently next time, if there ever is a next time. 1 Don't rush the previous night's dinner. I would savor my pasta and not wolf it down. 2. (Goes with 1.) Get to town earlier, instead of an hour before bedtime. 3. (Goes with 2.) Stay 2 nights at the hotel instead of one. It felt like a lot to pay to use a hotel room for less than 12 hours, and mainly to sleep. 4. Train more. I tried to follow the plan, but ...

26.2 miles. Check. We did it. We really did it. My niece and I, along with 998 other people, ran the Newport marathon yesterday. And we finished! I am so proud of my 23 year old niece who ran basically the whole thing, just a few seconds-long walks towards the end. I would not have done this without her, or without knowing she was training too. So the first 14 miles felt great! The view was beautiful from the start and the weather was amazingly perfect for the coast. Even getting up at 5:15 am didn't affect me. I met up with another friend who was running too, and so our chat helped the miles go by quickly. But by mile 14 my legs were starting to hurt. There were some downhills that I guess I wasn't quite prepared for. Well, my knees weren't anyway. I tried to take them slowly, but I guess not enough. And the run was all on the road - which meant I was running a little crookedly. Roads are made to slant down from the middle, so water runs off and not necessarily for le...