55 miles - the aftermath

After my first marathon, I wasn't exactly shocked to be sore and tired. I had no idea what to expect after a 50 miler, and, just like the race itself, the after effects were crazier than I could have imagined. As we drove home, I thought every light I saw (such as street lights, headlights, etc) was a headlamp of a runner who had gotten lost. I swear my thoughts were starting to take on a Colombian accent. I felt really short of breath and kept using my inhaler, which is actually still going on, so, as always, any medical professionals, feel free to weigh in on that.


The race was apparently a total body workout. Every muscle in my arms was sore, my back was killing me, my neck hurt, and my abs felt like I'd gone to one of those crazy bikini body bootcamp. My feet and ankles, which I realize aren't shocking places to hurt after a race, were really tight and sore, which did surprise me, because that's never happened after a marathon.


Here's what my "walking" looked like the day after running a 55 mile race:





After reading Victoria's blog about her post marathon ideas, I thought maybe I should actually do something to promote recovery, and not just sit around and cry when I had to pee.


Eric and I took a walk, covering about 2 miles or so. I did Yoga for Runners when I got home. I then attempted to foam roll, but even just getting on the floor was tough, and the foam rolling was pretty painful. I probably lasted less than five minutes before I gave up to go make ice cream. It did seem to help, this morning, I was still extremely stiff, but I didn't have to pick my legs up one by one and put them on the floor to get out of bed, so, that's improvement.


Oddly, my appetite seems pretty normal. I expected to be completely starving the day following the race (especially since it took me so long to finish that I never got to stuff my face with Mexican food). I was a little extra hungry for breakfast, and had 1.5 bagels, but then I ate a normal sized lunch and was stuffed, like it was a Thanksgiving dinner. Dinner was actually a tad on the small side, and then I made a bowl of homemade ice cream, and couldn't even finish it! That is truly a first in my life.


Luckily, today we are having parent teacher conferences, so if I get hit with a sudden insatiable hunger, I can  go out and stuff my face whenever I want.


Bad news - I have to get my flu shot today. Our school nurse is a friend and fellow marathon runner, who is always telling me how impressed she is by my ultra training. I'm planning to go see her and impress her with my 50 miler story as soon as I arrive, because this afternoon, when it's flu shot time, whatever respect she has for me will immediately dissolve when I turn into a sniveling, crying child begging for mercy. I have a gigantic fear of needles.


The million dollar question: Would you do another 50 miler?


 Well, Perry astutely realized that I wrote in my recap "We were off on our first 50 mile adventure". I didn't do it on purpose, but, I want to do another one. I'm not frantically googling or anything like that, but, I really want to try a race that's actually 50 miles and see what happens. I think Stone Mill was fantastically organized and was filled with wonderful volunteers, and great trails, but there's no way in hell I would ever subject myself to that again.