Dancing is your best bet

I don't know how I forgot to mention this in my recap post, but Lily and I engaged in our patented, number one marathon recovery activity Saturday night at the post race party. 

Dancing our asses off. Which is really hot when you can barely move your legs.

People who danced too well obviously didn't run hard enough. Also people who were able to make normal expressions in pictures half assed it.

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It was really hard to take my eyes off Glitter Pants Suit.

Our 4:30 wakeup call Saturday morning for the race, plus that whole running really far and drinking thing did us in and we were all asleep by 10pm that night, which was much later than I thought I'd make it. Which meant we were all up by 7am on Sunday. Party animals.

Mike, Nicole, Emily and I decided to take a walk on the beach to loosen up. It was grey, drizzling, and windy, but not too cold. We walked about a mile in the sand and I saw my first real - life (dead) jellyfish, which we got to kick and explore. We turned around and got the pleasure of not only walking into the wind, but a torrential downpour immediately began. 

It started thundering and lightening when we got back to the hotel. Except the boardwalk that we thought led to our hotel led to a different hotel, since our visibility was approximately zero. By the time we finally made it back, the hotel staff had to put up a wet floor sign as a result of our walking from the door to the elevator. Does it sound like I'm complaining? Because I'm not, I loved our adventure and I couldn't get over how lucky we were that we didn't have that adventure during the marathon.

Nicole's sweatshirt is supposed to show how wet we were.

Since it was pouring rain, we spent the remainder of the day enjoying the view of the ocean from our hotel. I loved the food at the post race party (especially the price), but it had been a little bland, and I was craving salt like crazy. Emily suggested Chinese food for lunch, and nothing had ever sounded better. We found a place that also had stuff like burgers, so Emily and I went on an adventure to get lunch for everyone. It turned out it was about twice as far as we'd thought, and when I asked for extra ketchup for Nicole, they insisted that they'd given me "enough for you" and charged me for extra. I thought since I was getting charged they'd give me a bottle or something, but they just threw like 4 extra packets in the bag. Money well spent. When we got back and everyone dug in, it turns out that Emily and I had been the only ones to make the right choice - when ordering from a place called "Wok Express", a burger isn't your best bet. Nicole's "turkey burger" was a burger with a slice of deli turkey on top. However, my shrimp and vegetables soaked in soy sauce hit the spot.

We said a sad goodbye to Emily, Nicole, and Mike, and spent the afternoon all doing grad work. Again, not complaining, because grad work while looking at the ocean is a huge step up from grad work in my own living room. When it was dinner time, Lily and I continued the salt - fest with a Mexican feast.

Margarita plus homemade chips and salsa is the best post-race food ever.

Obviously, that was only the beginning. We got back and took one final dip in the hot tub with some wine. I just want to spend every night drinking wine in a gorgeous, outdoor hot tub that overlooks the ocean.

Finally, it was time for my sundae bar. Someone suggested we didn't need to get the largest ice cream container that Super WalMart had to offer, but thank god I was there to provide a voice of reason.

This was what remained after my sundae.

I think we all know how I felt about this.

Even though I was only 3 minutes above my marathon PR, I'm very happy with my time. My Garmin autopaused in the bathroom, so my Garmin time was 3:55:56, which means that the bathroom break didn't cost me a PR (which would have made me cry). I was pretty sick with bronchitis throughout a lot of my way too short training. In retrospect, I think this race was too close to the 50 miler, but I don't regret it. 

I'm thrilled to have another sub-4 marathon under my belt. I tend to doubt my abilities, so even though I got a sub - 4 in Baltimore, thoughts plagued me like "Maybe that was just a fluke. The race gods were smiling at me that day. I couldn't have done it without Kara pushing me". I feel good knowing that this time represents my true abilities, and that I was able to push myself to get there. It was great having friends to run with for the first half of the race, but we all know the end is where the going gets rough. 


I also just found out that I was 25th in my age group!

I'm so sad to have to leave Myrtle Beach, especially since today is gorgeous and sunny. Returning from vacation to the real world is so lame.