All I wanted to do after finishing was go home. Forget the massage. Forget the food. After walking home, I couldn't really eat much. I settled for a lot of chocolate milk and a banana.
The shower was probably the most painful shower I've ever had. The chafing from my wetsuit and my heart rate monitor burned like no other. Not to mention the saddle sores.
I put on my compression tights, ice, and tried to stretch, but even that was tough. I thought I'd be exhausted, which I was, but I was also still running on adrenaline and I hurt. I finally fell asleep around 2:30, but was up at 5am. It hurt too much to sleep. Those quiet moments by myself in the morning is when I finally cried about what happened only 5 hours earlier.
We walked down to the merchandise tent before 7am to get in line for finisher's gear, and then went to grab breakfast. I was ravenous. But after half an egg sandwich, I couldn't take anymore. The potatoes made me want to ralph.
We had planned a victory lunch at Oregano's and met my dad, some friends, and our teammates there. I figured it was the perfect place to replenish all those depleted glycogen stores. Unfortunately, after only a few bites of pasta, I was done. And, this was the cycle for the next couple of days --> Feed me right now! Five bites later --> OK, that's enough. Thankfully, my appetite returned just in time for Turkey Day!
As for the pain, I didn't recover as quickly as I wanted to. I have the most disgusting blister under my toenail (yes under) that hindered me from wearing socks and shoes. My compression socks pull on the toe, even with it covered in a bandage so I couldn't really wear them anymore after Monday afternoon. Every day I felt like my legs turned into tree trunks by 7pm. The massage therapist said my muscles were like water balloons and were pulling on my attachments, which is why the knees hurt so much. Other than the knees, the rest of the pain felt like the normal post-weekend muscle tenderness that I was used to. Fortunately, by Wednesday, I no longer had to wince standing up.
What I was most surprised about was how foggy I was mentally. On Monday, every thing was just a big haze. I would receive a text, read it, and then let the phone fall wayside. Then 10 hours later, I would "see" the text as if it was the first time. On Tuesday, I distinctly remember waking up thinking my head was a lot more clear than the day before.
I also had a hard time believing what happened on Sunday. I kept telling Nick that all I could think about was the run. I kept forgetting the fact that I did the run after the swim, and the bike. But I guess that's because I already knew I could swim 2.4 miles and bike 112 miles. I couldn't train for the run like most of the people out there could.
When the official results came out, I saw there were still people that came in after 17:00 and were accepted. Apparently, the official clock did not start until 7:02 am! So I really had 3 minutes left from the cutoff!!!!! It also explains all my confusion with the clocks (my watch was 3 minutes behind, the official clock was two minutes behind, and the pros started 10 minutes before, which is why my watch was 15 minutes different from the race clock). When I told Robin I still had 3 more minutes she said, "Hell no. That time would haunt you!" She's right.
On Thursday, we ended up at an intersection on Curry Rd. and I said to Nick, "Hey, you know this street." I joked about what a "hill" it was. And, then I said to him, "You know, I could do it again." To which he asked, "You could do it again? Or you could train for it again?" I told him I could do it again, but I don't want to train for it again.
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