All Kinds of Sore

I think I may have felt more sore and exhausted after Sunday’s half-marathon than after the full marathon I ran in May – seriously, no joke.

I was all kinds of sore – feet (blisters!), hamstrings and especially quads. The San Francisco hills were not nice to me. Since I’m a member at Massage Envy, I booked a 90-minute appointment the very next day. I asked for the therapist with the most knowledge on sports physiology and kinesiology. The therapist assigned to me had other regular clients who had run the full marathon at SFM, as well as the Vineman Ironman that same weekend, so I knew he knew his stuff. And he did not disappoint.

As soon as he started working on me he said, “You’re the type of person who keeps people like me employed. You should have booked a 3-hour massage.” That’s how bad of a shape I was in.

He used a combination of Thai, Acupressure, Lomi Lomi and Shiatsu techniques and worked out all the knots in my shoulders, back and legs. I had never had a Thai massage before and I must say – I think it’s my favorite type of massage now. The stretches really helped to loosen my screaming hamstrings; and my quads that were sore to the touch felt almost back to normal.

I already have a 2-hour appointment scheduled the Monday after my next race at the end of this month.

I needed 2 full days of rest before having the energy to attempt any type of exercise. Because not only was I sore, I was exhausted. I was getting 8+ hours of sleep at night and it still didn’t feel like it was enough. At first I didn’t understand why, I never get this tired after a half-marathon. But then I factored in all of the work stress that I had been under. We were told a month ago that there would be a large Reduction in Force between August 2-4. The weeks and days leading up to this were filled with speculation and anxiety. I truly did not care what the outcome was for me; I just wanted the suspense over with. I’m happy to report that I’m still employed but all the stress from this experience, plus the race just took a lot out of me.

I’m slowly easing back into things by taking a Spin class yesterday and swimming today. This has been a good reminder of how stress and other factors in our lives can take a physical toll on our bodies.

Here’s a few other race day photos:

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