It depends on the day. The first day, my quads were pretty sore, but I think I still had the post-race high to mask the real pain.
The first night, my entire legs hurt like never before. Even small, normal adjustments in my sleep woke me up.
The day after the race, my quads hurt even worse than the previous night. It took a ridiculous amount of effort to put any strain on my quads. Sitting down, standing up – killer. Walking down stairs – brutal. The first 20 steps or so after standing were pretty stiff-legged and reminiscent of someone that typically uses a walker. My shins also started to hurt and my rhomboids were sore. Also, one of my toenails feels and looks very close to suicide, and I’m still begging it not to jump ship. (I finally took off the nearly-black nail polish I had on my toes and noticed the color of one toenail didn’t really change much despite the nail color removal.) And I have a sneaky feeling that I have a bone contusion in my foot, similar to the injury I got last year.
On Monday it still hurt to stand up, especially after prolonged sitting, and any weight on my foot was painful.
Today, my blueish/grey toenail makes me feel sick. I can’t describe the feeling in my toe but it’s just not normal. Oh, and the blood blister I can see under the toe that’s lifting my toenail up is pretty sick too. Shudder. And my foot is still hurting. A lot. Especially when I have shoes on and I’m walking.
But the total miracle: still no IT band pain or SI joint problems.
And I still loved every single minute of the race and everything I’ve experienced after the race. I earned this soreness! And I love it.
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5 responses to “What hurts the most after my first marathon”
and to think — – you did this all voluntarily…for the fun of it!
i feel your pain 🙂
love all those photos below! what a perfect weekend!
All I have to say is- you are amazing! What an accomplishment. Congrats…sport that 26.2 sticker with pride!
Rascal Flats!! I just had a post marathon flashback…that first week is brutal…but one year later i cant remember any of it! I cant remember being in that good of shape and skinny either!! Shucks. Good luck with the recovery and yes…avoid stairs at all costs! Going down is the worst.
good work Jeana! Maybe I'll just have to bring back the stars after all. what do you think?
skinny?? HA! I've put on ~10 pounds since I've been in NC! I feel great already. soreness was gone by yesterday, thank goodness. But yes, seriously, for the first few days, stairs nearly brought tears!