The Day After

I decided not to walk, run, think about walking or think about running. No jogging, treadmilling or ellipticaling (I know those aren't words). If I'm going to be sore, I'll just be sore.

If it was not apparent from my earlier posts, I had serious doubts heading in to yesterday's marathon. Thankfully, preparation and focus overcame my doubts and I finished the Whiskey Row Marathon.

All the race literature says its, "One of America's Toughest Marathons." I don't know who ranks these things, but it gets my vote. If you look past the Hotel St. Michael (pictured below) to the mountain peak in the background, you can actually compare the starting point (just to the left of the hotel) with the mountain that was climbed (we actually went to the right of the very highest peak).

Today started at 4:30 a.m., when I woke up without the alarm. My plan was to drive from Prescott to Sells, Arizona (more on why I made that drive in a post later this year). In Arizona, you get to drive through some amazing scenery. Friday's drive from Phoenix to Prescott was in the dark. Today's drive back down the mountain revealed the spectacular views as I drove through places named Horse Thief Canyon, Bumble Bee, Black Canyon, Table Mesa and Deadman Wash.

While it's probably more fun to complain about having to make "yet another drive," I actually admit to greatly enjoying the opportunity to drive and see new places.

On an almost completely unrelated note, after a meeting last fall, I drove from San Diego to Sells. As I recall, I put about 1,000 miles on the rental car that weekend. During that drive, I passed Imperial Dunes, drove next to the border fence that I had heard about on TV, saw cell phone towers disguised as palm trees, had to stop at 12 different Border Patrol checkpoints, and visited something called "Salvation Mountain."

Today, with a little bit of extra time on my hands and a desire to explore, I ended up driving (not running) in the Saguaro National Park located south of Tucson in the Sonoran Desert. I have had three opportunities during the last year to drive through parts of the Sonoran Desert. The Desert is filled with varying colors, rock formations, canyons, hills, mountains and peaks. And, as you would expect, the Sonoran Desert is filled with cactus, as noted in the pictures. I actually read a book a few years ago, written by a guy named Donald Miller, entitled Through Painted Deserts. I don't have the book with me to know if he was actually driving the same roads I drove today, but the title fits what I saw today...a painted desert.

Since this is a running blog, the most frequently asked question the day following a marathon is, "how do you feel?" The answer is, "I feel like I ran a marathon yesterday." Today, that means I'm sore, but my knees don't hurt, which I expected given the pounding on the downhill run yesterday. My back is a bit sore, which I did expect and could feel developing during the downhill pounding.

My plan is to take it easy...real easy...until Saturday. And, at some point, I need to register for the June marathon...but I'm not in the "sign me up" mood today.