Race photos are posted! (This isn't one of them, it's just one my sister-in-law took that I like).
I know none of you will want one, but I don't want to buy the whole lot, either. Here's a link to "Party Pics"-style snapshots taken of me on the marathon course. Most of them are from the finish line, a few from the 10-12 mile mark.
http://www.backprint.com/go
And, just to put a bow on this whole marathon thing, I thought I'd make a few more detailed observations, now that I can actually walk again.
1. If you're ever responsible for helping organize a marathon, convince the people in charge to switch up the flavors of Gatorade at the aid stations. Seriously. I will never again drink badly mixed red Gatorade. By the end of the race I was drinking water just to get the taste out of my mouth, even though I really needed electrolytes.
2. If possible, plan to take the first day after the race off work. I could barely walk around the office--if it hadn't been a deadline day I would have gone home. I could literally feel my calves knitting themselves back together.
3. Don't believe for a second that you CAN'T run a marathon. With the proper training, a slightly insane streak and a good deal of willpower, a half or full marathon is within almost anyone's reach. Team In Training is a good way to do it, really. They'll give you the training regimen, the weekend Powerade and bagels, and a good deal of positive reinforcement.
4. Choose places to run that please you aesthetically. Even at my most zapped moments, I found time to look around me and smile, whether it was running along the James River during a training run or through 18th and Vine, a mile and a half from the marathon's end. If you have to run with an iPod, take out the ear buds every now and then and listen to the birds and the sound of your own breathing. I'm not a Zen-iphile, but those moments were as close as I got.
5. Buy good shoes, and make sure they're big enough. I can't stress this too much. You can put 500 miles on a good pair of shoes. My Mizuno's weren't cheap, but I wouldn't have finished in my old shoes, plain and simple.
Gosh, I guess that's all for now. The main thing is finding people who support you, be it a spouse, friends, a running group (I can't explain how great Springfield's Ozark Mountain Ridge Runners are) or Team in Training. Don't get too hung up on running WITH a group of people, unless you need the motivation to actually show up on Saturday mornings. Most of my best runs were solo. It was two hours (sometimes more) on a weekend where the stresses of life and work couldn't touch me, which is a huge part of the reason this was such a healthy experience and, in the end, why I'll do it again.
If you dig a try at the St. Louis marathon in April, I'd love to have some running partners. Contact me at matthew.lemmon@gmail.com
Peace.
ML
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