Wow, it’s funny, for all the bitching I did about how marathon training was cutting into my social life, I guess on some level, I didn’t realize how much of my life it was really taking up. Not just the actual training, but the being constantly aware of it, wondering if I’d slept enough, ate the right combination of foods and was it too much or tool little and did I get enough yoga in to counter all the muscle tightening from all the running…. It took up a huge chunk of my brain power. But it also gave me purpose and direction. My running was all of a sudden focused on an end result.  A solid goal. So with the marathon has been completed (hold applause, thank you), now what?

Ummm…… (crickets)

I literally don’t know what to do. Should I get up to run? All of a sudden, it seems weird to run, just to run. Pre-marathon training, this was not an issue. All I ever did was run, just to run. Now it seems…off? There’s no goal? I have no schedule to follow? How do I know what to do? Should I run hills? Intervals? Distance? What distance? This is weird! This is how race directors suck you back in! They know you’ll be flailing to find purpose and direction again. This is why I keep getting emails from RunDisney. They’ve got me. I don’t know how to stop. All of a sudden I’m not only considering the Princess Half Marathon at the end of February, but also another full.  On February 12, my brother’s birthday.  I ran one on my birthday, how cool would it be to run one on his birthday in the same year.  It would be touching.  It would be EPIC. What the fuck is wrong with me? Yikes. Ok, I need to get control of this before I end up dead smack in the middle of marathon training again.

Step 1. Breathe in.
Step 2. Breathe out.
Step 3. Repeat as necessary.

Here are some other things I might try…

Practice yoga. Whoa. I wonder what my body could do without all that running tightening up my hips all the time.

Go swimming. That’s right, there are other types of exercise out there. Remember that? Swimming was fun. It made my arms look good.  Also, nobody yells at me for holding my breath.

Ride a bike. I’m sure that I remember how. It’s just like … riding a bike. Sure, I can do that.

Go running.  Wait, how did I end up back here?  Yeah, I’m admittedly a little afraid to lose my newfound endurance.  Plus running still presents so many challenges.  New distances, like the Gasparilla 15k and the Ragner Relay from Miami to Key West.  Plus, I could certainly put in an effort to get faster.

Maybe it’s time to try a tri?  Definitely a new challenge.

Sit still.  Uh, scary.  Really, really scary.  You know what happens when I sit still?  My brain goes on a crazy bender.  It’s not pretty in there.

Well, I guess the truth is, I don’t know yet.  It’s really only been three days since the marathon.  I’m not quite feeling totally wound up yet.  I’ll take a few more days off to think about it.  In the meantime, I’m open for suggestions…