Marathon Sunday...

So I wrote this post yesterday, the day after the marathon, but never finished posting it because I was still so exhausted from Sunday. I was hoping to attach photos but have yet to look at them because of my exhaustion. I am feeling a little better today minus a headache which I think is from the sudden change in air pressure around here and possibly sinus pressure. What's with going from overcast and 60 to sunny and 77! I prefer the 60s with some sun. My right foot is feeling better although my left quad is sore today. I think from limping and overcompensating yesterday from my after race pain (read rest of post to understand). I don't feel as exhausted. And tomorrow should be a better day plus I have yoga that should help.
Yesterday was a great day for a run! We had perfect weather with clouds and 48 degrees for an 8am start. It was 50 degrees around 9am when we ran past a Walgreens in Kimberly. Eventually the sun came out here and there but the temperatures stayed perfect for running. And I couldn't have felt better! After months of long training runs on Saturdays in heat and humidity which usually brought tears and exhaustion at some point in our training runs yesterday was heaven to me and the hard work paid off. I felt wonderful from mile 1 to mile 26! It was unbelieveable. I have not run a full marathon in 4 years. My 2 marathons in 2004 and 2006 did not feel this good. 2004 was a little better than 2006 but 2006 was right after having Emma and was a bit of a struggle to get through. I have not felt this good since running Chicago in 2002 and I ran a lot faster this time! I smiled so much yesterday and enjoyed each mile more than I have in years...it was such a great feeling...and I achieved a personal best in my time - 4:39. I took it 10 miles at a time in my mind and was amazed at how good I still felt at mile 20. The only little problem that came up was after mile 22 I noticed the start of a cramp in my right calf and then eventually it moved up to around my right knee to the point where we had to walk a bit to walk it off. It made me a little nervous because I had been feeling so good up to that point and I didn't want it to put a damper on the day. But Ethan was right and it went away from walking but then it came back shortly after mile 24, walked again and it went away. Then as we are running into the finish literally with less than 400 meters to go my right calf completely cramps up. Ethan asks if I am okay and want to walk - no way - I was finishing this race running even if it was a wobble run. :-)
I am having some pain today in my lower right foot/ankle area along with my quads but I know it will improve. Katherine is walking a bit faster than me today. :-)