Post-Marathon Festivities and Thoughts

If you are a little late getting to the party then take a moment to read about pre-marathon festivities and the marathon recap and you will be all caught up!

Hooray, I made it!

A couple of hours after leaving the awards ceremony we were back at the host hotel for the post-race dinner. After sitting at a table by ourselves and eating our salads we were invited to move to another table and sit with three other couples (one being the race directors). We spent the next hour in conversation discussing the race, running, wrestling (one of the couples has a daughter who is wrestling and Allan wrestled from middle school through college), and the holidays. Oh, and dinner was delicious!

Thank you Allan for your creative idea for this photo

We got to hear from each of the race directors, the race winner, a man who has run this race for all 36 years that it's been in existence, and another man from Florida who has been trying to work it out so he could run this race for several years. They shared stories from the day, memories from races past, and more than one took a moment to encourage us to appreciate our health and to be sure we are doing all that we can to stay healthy so we can continue running for years to come.

36 years of running Rocket City for this man

The man who won had quite an interesting story and he made me laugh. This was his first marathon (and he finished in 2:25:18) and to hear his thought processes throughout the day and his thoughts on the race itself made for good entertainment. I believe this was his first experience with Southern humidity (he lives in Colorado) and to hear him try to describe that was hilarious! This dinner was the perfect way to cap off a great couple of days surrounding the marathon.

I'm pretty sure this is when he was describing humidity

Several of you have asked about whether or not I intend to run another marathon and I'll get to that but first let me share what Allan said when we pulled into the driveway that afternoon, "I'm starting to think I may have to run Rocket City. We could train and run it together next year." After laughing (thinking he was kidding) and giving him a death look when I realized he was serious all I managed was a maybe. Truthfully I can't imagine anything more exciting than running Allan's first marathon with him so it looks like we will be running Rocket City together in 2013!

I loved the back of the medal just as much as the front

With that said I don't want to run a marathon anywhere else. Being able to sleep in my own bed and drive 20 minutes to the race was perfect and I honestly can't imagine there are many other marathons out there that I could race for $60 and have the experience that I did. Plus there's something to be said for having the dogs waiting at home for me after the race. As a side note, I know family and friends would have driven up for the race but I asked them not to since we were hardly at home for those two days. I do appreciate their love and support so much. I feel as though this journey has involved so many people and the joy of running my first marathon should be shared with all of them!

This was the only way we could get the dogs to sit still and I was determined to take a post-race photo with them

I do feel like I should back up and talk about my training since I didn't really talk about that much leading up to the race. Thanks to the awful chafing issues I've had this fall (athletic tape is my savior and why I didn't think of this before I don't know) my long runs were my only runs  for several weeks and all of them went great. I would have liked to have had at least one or two shorter runs each week but that just didn't happen every week. Do I think that slowed me down and hurt me in the second half? No I honestly don't. I believe I prepared myself well (with the exception of racing that 5K the week of the marathon) but do I think I have a faster marathon time in me? Heck yes I do! I never felt out of breath and never felt tired during the race. If my legs hadn't hurt so bad that it made me want to cry I believe I would have been able to run a 4:1 the entire race and finish much faster than I did.

Race swag-I've worn all of it and love it!

As far as recovery went, I felt good as new by Tuesday morning. I probably drank four cans of Coke by that point and I relished every little sip. I lived in my Tommie Copper calf sleeves from Saturday afternoon until Tuesday morning and they worked their magic as usual. I didn't even feel like I had run a half much less a full marathon by Tuesday. If we are doing Rocket City next year you better believe there will be some Tommie Copper compression shorts and tights in my closet next year!

Love my TC calf sleeves and my compression shirt!

Goodness, that reminds me to talk about what I wore for the race. That pink Under Armour shirt is one of my go-to race shirts and will continue to be a favorite. The capris are from Gap and I have them in gray too. Both pairs are equally amazing and have solidified my love for running in capris versus shorts. I never run without my Wrightsocks so that's what I had on my feet and of course my Mizuno Wave Rider 14's were my running shoe choice for the marathon. They have seen me through several races this year and I can't say enough good things about them and how great they are for long runs!

Pretty sweet medal I think, I like how the word marathon stands out since it's in a different color

I feel like thank you isn't enough for all of the support and encouragement that you all have given me. I appreciate each and every one of you so much!