The Marathon After the Marathon

Remember this day?

I thought that glorious day was the end of the marathon training.   But really?  The training had just begun.

Yes I ran Nike Women and that was great.  But my body was tired and my shoes were old.  Just because you spend a lot of money on running shoes doesn't mean they will last twice as long.

(The skinny guy on the right was my guy FYI)

Anyway-Little did I know that my body would have a complete breakdown after that race.

It started with a slight ache in my foot that lasted for two weeks.  I took the time off to adjust to -yes my new temporary or not temporary position at work -and to get my foot better.  When I couldn't quite get to 100% I finally called a podiatrist.   I hedged the bet and chose one not in San Jose but just out of Hollister in Gilroy.

He told me I had the P word.

I know I don't have a full blown case.  It will not mark the end of my running career.  It marks the beginning of treating my foot like it's a VIP and making sure that I take care of it.  

Compression, taping, wrapping, inserts.  and sensible shoes.

The next day I felt better, only then I came down with a mysterious fever that wouldn't go away.  For 3 days I couldn't eat, I just fell in and out of consciousness.  I always beat fevers-no problem.  But I couldn't.  I seriously had to take large doses of Advil.  Every time I took them I said a prayer in case I died but I didn't.  

I had an infection.  Which went away.

So finally one month later-I'm back on my feet in shiny new Asics trying to get my groove back.

Lessons learned?  

• It's a lot to ask your body to do all that I asked it to do in the month of October.  
• If you don't rest your body your body will make you rest it.
• Speed work is not worth it.  Every time I run fast I suffer an injury.
• Even though Asics cost 3 times the price of your discontinued Nikes-they only last the same amount of time.
• When you take running away from a runner-they are gong to run any way.
• Sensible shoes are still ugly

The after the marathon marathon in a lot of ways has been harder than the marathon training itself.