Wednesday, December 3, 2008

spaghetti legs

Thank you so much for everyone's support over the last couple of months. I finished in 3:20, missing my first two goals of 3:10 and 3:17, but at least met my fallback goal of 3:25. I'm totally happy with that. After experiencing the whole 26.2 mile race, I'm just happy with myself that I didn't walk.

My legs havefelt like spaghetti for two days straight. I have been wobbling around campus like an old man since Sunday. It was just muscle exhaustion though, no joint pain. This morning was the first day I could navigate stairs and only feel like I was going to fall, rather than actually getting a death grip on the railing to prevent disaster.

I made two mistakes, one in training and one on race day. In training, I don't think my mileage base was high enough and that's why the last 6 miles were so unbearable. If there is a next time, I'll start preparing a month earlier and make sure I get a minimum mileage per week in running without soccer substitutes. My race day mistake was going out too fast. For the first 13 miles, I was under 7 minutes per mile. For the last 6, I was at almost 10 minutes per mile.

If I get time I'll post a few pictures later. I think there's going to be a good one of my bleeding nipples as I crossed the finish line.