Most runners like to do a post-run race report. For this post, the race report is fairly short. It’s everything after the marathon that is worthy of a lengthy blog post.

The actual marathon was what it was. The first 8 miles were great. I ran at a comfortable pace, taking it easy on the up hills, and taking advantage of the down hills. After mile 8 my IT band started to show signs of weakness. I struggled through the next 5 miles until mile 13 when my knee decided to call it quits. I couldn’t run more than 1 step without doubling over in pain and hobbling to the side. I walked the next 5 miles–pain with every step. Eventually the pain was bearable enough that I could shuffle step, swinging my right leg wide to keep the knee from bending, and actually run for 100 yards at a time. I finished in 5:28:12. Key word being finished.

After the race I immediately went to the runner’s tent and ate a banana and drank a few cups of water. More on that minor detail later. I then went straight to the chiropractor’s tent. They had about a dozen tables and workers taking care of all kinds of issues. My knee was actually only a minor issue compared to the sharp pain in the middle of my back. I’ve been going to a chiropractor for the past few weeks which has helped, but after 26.2 miles, my back was in agony. My designated chiropractor examined me and instantly found the spot on my back. “This HAS to be it”, he said. And he was right. He did some other twists and pops and came back to my back. I took a deep breath and slowly let it out….and -crack- as he smashed my spine back into place.

I cannot describe the relief that I felt.

I found my wife, our son, and our friends soon after that. We took some post race pictures with our medals and headed to the car. We piled in and started the long drive home. Now–about that post race banana.

The whole ride home was an interesting mix of feelings. I felt cold. The race had been cold and windy. And even a little rainy. I had gloves, but only a short sleeve shirt. Being forced to walk the middle portion of the race–the portion around the lake where the wind picks up and carries the cold air to all of the runners–must have lowered my body temperature to a point that wouldn’t soon recover. I was also sleepy. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open. Don’t worry, my gracious wife was doing the driving. And mostly I felt nauseous. I was beginning to think that banana was a bad idea. A very bad idea. It was all I could do to hold it in until we dropped off our friends and made it home.

Interestingly enough the last mile home was similar to the last mile of the marathon. The whole time I was thinking, you’re almost there, you can make it. For the marathon, it was to keep going. To not stop moving. For the car ride, it was to hold in that which my stomach was ready to let out.

We pulled into the driveway and before I could take it any more I opened the car door, leaned out, and let loose the most powerful projectile vomit I have ever experienced. My legs still hurt to bad to step out of the car so I let myself fall out of the car onto my hands and knees where my body continued to forcefully remove the banana/water mixture from my stomach. My wife ran over to comfort me and after a few minutes, I was better. It’s amazing how your body will respond to something unwanted. And how you feel once it heals itself.

I was still a bit cold and still had no appetite so I took a hot bath, hot shower, and crawled into bed. I rested for an hour and a half before getting ready for the Christmas party we had that night. Yep, that’s right–after 26.2 miles, and a few hours of misery, I put on my happy face and went to hang out with a group from our church. I slowly regained my appetite–finding solace in sprite and salty lime tortilla chips. We went home and I sat on the couch, a long day finished.

The past couple of days has been a slow and steady recovery. My IT band has still not completely loosened up, but it’s getting close. I will probably take it easy on the running for awhile and stick to some cross training.

In other achievement news, the last couple of weeks leading up to the marathon (and the marathon itself) were great for my weight loss goals. So, without further delay:

	Hold My Calls Run a marathon.	100 Acquired 10/13/2009
	Almost There Weigh 190 pounds – 35 pounds total weight loss.	40 Acquired 10/12/2009

I still have a few more achievements for the year. One that is finished, but yet to be posted. And one that is definitely not possible at this point. I think there are some others in there too that I should start looking at…