There’s a Huge Void Where My Bike Used to Be

Well it’s 10 days since the race and it still really hasn’t sunk in or registered that I DID the race, only that I no longer have to DO it.  It’s an odd thing after 7 months of daily Workout Logs being emailed to you to suddenly hear radio silence in your inbox:  “No scheduled workouts”   What the hell do people do when they don’t have scheduled workouts, people??!!  And that bike, which used to be permanently attached to my inner thighs – I haven’t even glanced at her since we got home.

It feels a little lonely and a little sad to have it all be over.  I think I’m having a sort of post-race drop mentally and physically (and bloggily).  I accomplished something HUGE, I know, but my brain hasn’t quite absorbed that.  I’m trying not to discount what I just did, but I can’t help but be plagued with the question of “why did I even do it? What was it all for?” It doesn’t help that my body doesn’t seem to be bouncing back the way I’d hoped.  I tried a 30 minute run Saturday and it was rough.  Hard to believe I had run a marathon less than a week before. Hard to believe I’ve run a marathon at ALL. 

Now I have a cold.  Once the cold passes, it’s time to determine “what’s next” to keep motivated, because I am not one to run, swim, or bike, just for running, swimming, or biking’s sake.  Another (shorter) triathlon? Yoga?  Salsa lessons?  Basket-weaving?

Before I can move on, I need to come to a close with this blog.  I just took a baby step and the photos are now downloaded onto my computer.  Next step is to write more than just these interim posts, right?  I just want to make sure I take the time to reflect and write accordingly and I haven’t had much time since to do it justice.

Here are some non-race photos from before the race, to ease my guilt of not posting yet. 🙂

On the drive up to Sonoma, we stopped at a little farm-thingy-place to buy fruit.  Prairie and I of course took the opportunity for some action-shots against a random colored wall in the 100 degree heat:

While we were stopped, we noticed that my motivational card on my bike had come loose.  Pedro Swayze removed it and while he took our photo just taped it to the car…then forgot about it and we took off.  When we realized, we assumed the card was now in the middle of the central Cal desert.  But when we stopped, we discovered THIS.  If this doesn’t sum up the message of the card, then I don’t know WHAT does:

 

Another card I got for Prairie:

 

The poster mysteriously left above my bed the night before the race.  In Spanish.  Wonder who it was from? 🙂

Wifey-Ann and Christy-Pants, roommates extraordinaire, at my pre-race dinner.  I LOVE these women and couldn’t have gotten through this experience without them:

Family breakfast, the day before the race.

Check out this meal.  Note the excessive carb-loading!

 

 

Ok, I have to admit that maybe writing this post has been therapeutic, reminding me what a good weekend it was 10 days ago and giving me some inclination to get going on that race report.  If I can do a 15 hour, 26 minute race, I should be able to write a damn report about it!

Advertisements