PHOTOS ARE FINALLY UP!!!

Go to the link and see 'em at Flickr.

It's OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, it's been a week since the marathon and I feel great. I still can't believe I finished it and am totally inspired by all the people who ran it with me. The age range was from 6 to 86 and there were people in every state of physical condition. It was exhausting and hot, but it was fun to run with so many other people. I kept pretty strictly to my pace and finished in 6:56. I didn't push myself too hard and tried to stay as cool as possible. This was mostly made possible by the numerous water and sponge stations they had throughout the course.

Strangely enough, I wouldn't rule out doing another marathon. It's pretty intense, yet now that I know I can do it, I'd love to see how well I'd do if I stuck to my training schedule much more closely and took better care of myself (i.e. not skipping most of the weekday training runs!). The best news is that I never got injured from running in the last 6 months, which is kind of a bad testiment to my lazy training habits.

I was very very sore and felt quite broken right after the race. For a good three days, my walking resembled that of a penguin rather than a person. My quads were hit the hardest, which I attribute to trying to hurry down the hills by taking too-long strides. I didn't get a sunburn, so that's a product endorsement for Coppertone Sport. I would be very careful of what shoes I wear pre-marathon in the future. I figured flip-flops would be fine, but the ones I had gave me HORRIBLE blisters on the tops of my feet. Seriously, they gashed deep into my feet. You'd think I'd know better than to try shoes that weren't very worn in, but who would think that flip-flops could inflict such horror?

I will be posting photos very soon (not just of my feet).

Almost Normal

I don't think about my legs when I walk anymore, which means they must not hurt abnormally. My blisters are mending and nearly un-noticable. The only bad thing is one of my toenails is starting to turn purple, which means it will probably fall off. Damnit. It better not fall off before the marathon. That could be a problem. Other than that, I feel pretty good. Maybe a little oddly swollen (I'm the only person on the planet who GAINS weight training for a marathon!!!), but otherwise dandy.

after the 26

My two little blisters are KILLING ME!!!! My poor left baby toe has fallen victim to sock friction. So has the toe next to my baby toe on the other foot. Must get some sort of product to keep this from happening again. I'm going to go home, sit in the bath until I prune and then have a grilled cheese or something equally comforty that will upset my stomach. Yay!

I actually ran a marathon today!

Yeah, you read that right. I woke up with every intention of doing either the 20 or 23 miles, but figured I'd try for 26 and stop if it got to be too much. Well, it didn't (at least not until the last mile or so) and I managed to do an pretty astounding job at keeping up. Our whole group did. We rock and we've got the medals to prove it!

I'm too tired to write more. As luck would have it, the last Best Friends Catnippers Spay and Neuter Clinic for the ferals is happening tomorrow (why always the day after my longest run to date???), so I must get up bright and early to volunteer and to take one of the two new kitties that have been hanging around. I got lucky and actually caught her(?) on my first try. I think this one is a girl, so all the more important to get her business taken care of NOW. Sorry kitty :(

Jittery

Hmmm...the prospect of running 20 to 23 miles on Saturday is a little frightening. It's a bummer because I can't indulge in any of the drinking that will go on at our Disneyland.com redesign launch party on Friday night (or the rest of this week, which is a total bummer since it's my 31st birthday today).

I'm sleepy.

Trying to take good enough care of myself to be able to run so far is a very difficult task. The fact is that I lose all enjoyment for running after the 8 mile mark. I always hit a nice little runner's high after mile 2 or 3 and it goes on until about mile 7. That's probably because I haven't trained as dilligently as I should, but I refuse to get injured and I really don't have that much time with all my damned commuting. It's a bummer. I'd much rather be in the gym or running than sitting in my car on the 5, but thems the breaks I guess.

Anyway, happy birthday to me. Wish me luck on Saturday. I have to go buy bandaids to protect my blisters. Fun stuff!

Almost there

Last week was rough. 8 miles on Saturday, Halloween on Saturday and Sunday and the very sad election on Tuesday. The running wasn't so bad, it was actually fun. We went at a comfortable pace and in the end, I felt like I could have gone another mile or two easily. All the distractions from the week were the hard part. Ugh.

This week we were supposed to do 10 miles and our group split in half and our half did 8 miles. I have a sore throat and was getting icky blisters, Lacy's back was hurting (she's been out for a few weeks because of injury) and Larry had to get his eyedrops (recent eye surgery) and use the Andy Gump. I'm tired as heck. Not so much from the running, I think. Well, we did go faster than we did last week which I think tired me out quicker. Our pace group leader, Sally, has kicked butt and is quite the runner now. Unfortunately, I have trouble keeping up with her on her good days and end up in pain.

Only 5 weeks until the marathon. CRAZY! Next week we have to do between 20 and 26 miles. Double UGH!