"So, are you sore?"

That's the question you hear the most when you tell someone you just ran a half-marathon. The day of the race isn't that bad, but when you wake up the next morning, and for about the next 48 hours after that, the answer is, "OH MY GOD YES." To which you thoughtfully add, "Now I know why handicapped toilets have grab bars on the sides." My feet and ankles were actually pretty okay. You know what hurt the worst? The outsides of my thighs--probably my vastus lateralis, which Wikipedia tells me is the largest muscle of the quadriceps. So these are what "trashed quads" feel like? 'Cause damn, they really, really hurt. I have to lever myself into and out of a sitting position because they hurt so much.

The dogs don't care how trashed my quads are. They expect to be walked twice a day as always. Every time they pull the slightest bit laterally on the leash, my quads scream in agony. There are times when I can hardly pick my feet up enough to avoid being pulled down onto my face. I mentally compose haikus to my new best buddy, ibuprofen:

Sweet masker of pain
We are BFFs post-race
With you, I can walk

Six tablets a day
Yes, you had me at hello
Help me get through this

And I am just so tired. The only things I accomplish on Monday are breakfast with a colleague, a blog entry, and a shower.

On the bright side, I have decided that every junk food on the planet is fair game. I just ran a half-marathon, and I am going to eat whatever I want all week! "Whatever I want" includes fish 'n chips, French toast, an eclair from the local bakery, Ben and Jerry's ice cream, barbeque chicken wings, beer, wine, Coke, a giant cheese pretzel, a large pizza from Bellacino's, cheese doodles, baby back ribs, and a hot fudge sundae.

Tuesday actually feels WORSE than Monday. I can barely get out of bed Tuesday morning. Walking the dogs? Worse. Sitting down and getting up? Worse. I am still wearing my medal everywhere I go because it's the only thing cheering me up at this point. I tell my neighbor I'm not taking it off until I'm not sore anymore, which means I will probably still be wearing it on Memorial Day. My big Tuesday accomplishment is a nap.

I turn the corner on Wednesday. Waking up and getting out of bed is still unpleasant, but it hurts less as opposed to more. Sitting down and getting up is not fun, but it no longer makes me cry out in agony. After downing a few more ibuprofen, I even manage to take my older dog for his scheduled two-hour visit to the children's hospital where he cheers up the kids. Of course, I wear my medal and show it to everyone who can't run away fast enough.

My core group o' homies, the women you've seen pictures of all season long in this blog, meet Wednesday night at a nearby pub for beer and other delicious fattening bad-for-you stuff. They are all younger than I am, and they claim to be only a little sore or not sore at all. (Ah, the young bounce back so quickly! Or maybe they just lie.) You know what's really exciting? I GOT CARDED!! I'm sure she was just angling for a bigger tip, but yes, the waitress did card me.

My TNT buds enjoyin' some suds

Thursday, I feel better, though I'm still not pain-free, and we are all Facebook messaging each other about upcoming races. So many races, so little time! Steve and Betsy come over for some backyard agility practice Thursday night, and even a tiny bit of running agility with Tika seems to aggravate that muscle I pulled 10 days before the race. Boo!

Friday I am dragging again. I get back from walking the dogs at 9:30 and sleep until noon. Ugh. In the afternoon, I meet a colleague at the bakery and manage to be reasonably coherent for two solid hours. Improvement!

On Saturday, I can honestly put my medal aside. I do actually feel better, finally! I put it on this morning for brunch, but only because there was one more person I wanted to show it to. And I'm going to wear it to agility practice this afternoon, but only to show it off, and then it will hang out on my nightstand for a while until I figure out where to put it.

Soon I am going to have to think long and hard about where I'll go from here, but I just want to savor my accomplishment a little longer...