I can officially say I'm a marathoner now! Sunday sure was a hot one to complete it and I'm not sure who thought having all the hills and very little shade on the back end of the course after it was hot and everyone was tired, but whatever!
I enjoyed my experience for the most part. I started getting a little bit of cramping in my calves at mile 16. I wear compression sleeves on my calves because I've battled that before. I stopped at mile 17 to stretch and slip the sleeves down to relieve the pressure. It helped with the calf cramping; however my hamstrings started tightening up badly after that. I've never had issues with my hammies cramping during a run so this was a new, and uncomfortable experience. I spent the majority of the time in the WWOS walking and stretching. I tried running again in Champions stadium and made it all the way to the left-field bullpen before my calf siezed up. I walked it out for a while longer
I kept stretching, Bio-Freezing, hydrating, walking and a little running until I finally crossed the finish line at 5:36.38 (more than an hour slower than my modified goal pace), but I was proud to finish.
Today, I'm a little sore, but not nearly as bad as yesterday. I'm proud to have completed it. Now, the next few weeks I've got to slowly get myself ready for the Albany Half-Marathon on March 2nd. I ran that race last year and cramps forced my to finish 10 minutes slower than my goal pace. This year, I plan not only to finish in under 2 hours, but to PR. I was running half marathons in 1:57 during my marathon training, so I should be in excellent shape to do a 1:56 or better if I can get back out there slowly in the next few days. I plan on taking it easy though for at least 2-3 weeks.
I'm on the fence on whether or not I'll attempt another full marathon. I'm leaning against it only because I can comfortably run a half so fast w/o any walking. Of course, I'm super competitive and love to push myself so my wife says I'll be back at WDW next year. We'll see. As Coach has told me...."don't make any running decisions for at least 3 weeks after the marathon". I'm counting down the days!