Race Day Plus One

Columbus Day has taken on a new meaning to me over the last few years. One in which I'm grateful to have the day off.

The Columbus Day holiday is now known as marathon plus one. 

My routine on this day is unlike any other:

I sleep in late (relative to the 5 or 6 a.m. that's been a standard most of the summer). I realize even before I'm fully conscious that I'm sore and stiff. Yep, I know what day it is. 

I hobble out of bed and get dressed. I feel like I'm elderly. I lay my outfit on the bed, then sit down to put my socks on. I can stand. I can sit. But everything in between is hard.

 I have a long massage scheduled for this morning. I'm looking forward to it, however, there are obstacles between my kitchen and my massage therapist's house.

First, there's a flight of stairs down to street level. My building has no elevator. The stairs register as a level of difficulty that's not normal. I make a plan as to how I'll get down them. The easiest way is to turn around and walk down backwards, but I'm too proud to do that. Instead, I do a sideways shuffle down the stairs, holding into the handrail for the first time this year. 

There's one more step out the building, then I'm in the alley. I now have to walk just two blocks to my therapists house. I start walking slowly, using proper crosswalks and making sure the walking man isn't flashing. Where normally I like to challenge the crosswalk countdown and walk or run across, today I have one speed. And it's slow. 

My body feels marginally better following the massage. I know today is the hardest and slowest day. I'm thankful today that my world is so small.

Halfway between my house and the massage therapist is Starbuck's.  Usually I treat myself to any crazy Starbuck's concoction that sounds good. I burned thousands of calories yesterday. I deserve it. But today I walk in to Starbucks and order something light on the caffeine and sugar. Though I was lucky enough to not have my neck issue fair up in the race, it's still there. The MT thinks I need to curb back my intake of both of these delicious controlled substances, so I'm trying to play along. I buy the paper today. All marathon finisher's names and times are posted in a special section. 

I sit outside and enjoy my drink and read up on the elite race yesterday. My day is wide open now. No training run to do today. 

My best friend came to visit later on in the day with her son. We went out to lunch and spent the rest of the day catching up on life.

How different today is from yesterday. It's nice and I enjoy it, but I know it can't be every day. 

Especially not this year. This year, I'm running another race 13 days from now.