26.2

Somehow, someway...I managed to drag myself 26.2 miles and finish the San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon last week! Jaime and I weren't quite as prepared as we originally thought we would be, but we made the decision to do it anyway.

We woke up at 4:30 in the morning and made our way over to the start line and off we went! Everything was going great until about mile 6 or 7 when Jaime's knee started to bother her. It eventually worked its way up to her hip and by the time we got to the half way point she was starting to walk. I walked with her for a while and then decided to go ahead.

I made it to about mile 18 and then hit that stupid wall you all hear about! Most of the last 8 miles consisted of switching off between running and walking. I didn't care though...I was going to finish it. No matter what. Once I got into the 20 miles, pretty much every bone and muscle in my legs hurt every time I ran and at that point it is just the thought of finishing that is getting you through the pain.

Finally...after 6 painful hours...I ran across the finish line. Not exactly the time I hoped for when I originally signed up, but considering my lack of training...I was happy just to finish the thing! Jaime also finished!

So...will I do it again? Yes. Of course. I definitely want to do it again. But my main goal right now is to get into better shape so that I can do it with a little less pain. I am still signed up to do Antarctica and hopefully I won't have to drop down to the half by the time that rolls around!

The pain that follows a marathon is.....well.....it just freakin' sucks! My longest run before the marathon was somewhere around 17 or 18 miles and I was sore the day of that run...but NOTHING like I was the day of the marathon. And lucky for us, Jaime lives on the 3rd floor! I can't even tell you how much that sucked.

Our bad A marathon tattoos

Jaime is an athletic trainer at the Olympic Training Center in San Diego...so we took full advantage of that and went to her work right after the marathon to hop into the cold tub they have. The water was 52 degrees. And it once you were in and your legs went numb, it was the best feeling ever.

We of course ordered a TON of food from cheesecake factory, rented a movie and then plopped ourselves down on her couch for the rest of the day and avoided moving whenever possible. I wasn't feeling so well that night...I don't know if I was dehydrated or just a little shook up from all the running, but i felt super nauseous by the end of the night that I crashed pretty early.

Monday the pain almost felt worse. I was so stiff. But as the day went on and I moved around a bit, I was starting to feel better.


We all went to a Padres game Monday night and got free tickets courtesy of one of the Olympic Athletes Jaime works with! Jaime and I were limping all the way to our seats...we were like 2 old crippled ladies. :)


I flew back Tuesday...and finally by Wednesday i was starting to feel almost back to normal. It's incredible how long it takes your body to recover from something like a marathon. I've been having some issues with my foot that I'm going to get checked out next week - hopefully it's no big deal and I'll be back out running again soon.