Toe-Shoes Tina: Beast Mode

Miles since marathon:  35

Rest days since marathon:  1

And we can’t stop.  And we won’t stop.  We run things, things don't run we. Don't take nothing from nobody.  Yeah.  Yeah. 

No, I’m not about to go twerk on Robin Thicke.  (Not that there’s anything wrong with that, mind you.)  Nope, I – and I can’t believe I’m saying this – am feeling a little like Miley:  I can’t stop.  The marathon knocked something loose in my brain and I.  Just.  Can’t.  Stop.  A normal response to running 26.2 in 100 percent humidity would be to take it easy for awhile.  A perfectly acceptable response would be to never want to run again.  Or for at least a month.  I don’t know what went wrong with my wiring. 

I rested the day after the marathon.  Well, by “rested,” I mean traveled home.  I was back in the gym the following day (marathon +2 days).  “I’ll take it easy,” I thought, “I need to recover.”  And, truth be told, my first day back to kickboxing may not have been my hardest workout ever.  But things ramped up from there.  To the point I was racing Jackrabbit at our normal balls out pace two days later.  And I haven’t slowed down.  That Saturday (marathon +6 days), I ran 10 miles before taking Daughter #1 and Husband #1 to their 5K.  Then we went to the mountains.  I ran five miles at altitude on Sunday (marathon +7 days).  Then, Monday morning (marathon +8 days), I made my triumphant return to Vibrams.  Toe-Shoes Tina is back, y’all!  Again, I promised myself I’d start slow.  But I ended up clocking five 8:11 minute miles.  Hot damn!  I then did my normal kickboxing Tuesday through Friday (marathon +9-12 days), except it wasn’t normal.  I felt stronger and faster than I’ve ever felt.  Even while pulling tires across asphalt for sprints on Friday. 

This past Saturday (marathon +13 days), I had a 5K in the afternoon, but still went to my boot camp first (despite sore quads from the tires).  After a challenging circuit, the coach had us do less challenging stuff, like lie on our backs and punch the bags.  (90 percent of the class was running the 5K later.)  I sped home from boot camp to shower and change for a Bat Mitzvah.  I then attended the Bat Mitzvah across town and raced back to my side of town for the 5K, changing out of my dress and in to running clothes (including a bra change) in my car in the parking garage.  It was nearly 90 degrees by the time the race started at 2:00.  As we were lining up, I said the following “it’s so hot.  I’m just going to take it easy.  I’m not even going to use MapMyRun because I don’t want to stress about time.  I’m hoping for 9 minute miles.  I’ll be happy with anything under 30.”  Um . . . I PR’d.  With no timing mechanism, I thought I was starting easy.  Then I saw Jackrabbit (who usually smokes me) about 30 seconds ahead of me.  So I chased her.  I finished in 23:43 on a hot, hilly course (27th woman to finish out of 620).  Huh?   I was elated last year when I (barely) broke 26:00 on the same run!  7:38 pace.  I still danced at the after-party for an hour then rallied for date night with Husband #1.  Then I woke up and did a 90 minute (much harder) boot camp the next day. 

Monday (marathon +15 days) was Presidents Day.  My parents were visiting, so I left the girls at home with them and went for a 12 mile run.  I figured 12 miles would be easy-peasy after the really long runs I’ve been getting used to.  It turns out 12 miles is still a long way to run (and I barely broke a 10:00 pace).  But I did it with no pain and in relative comfort.   This morning I did another really hard kickboxing session, complete with suicides, tire pulls, and box jumps.  And you know what?  My muscles have that familiar dull ache, but I feel fantastic!  My joints are good.  My stamina is good.  And I don’t want to quit.  I’m on some crazy high.

Last week I e-mailed Dave Krupski, our ultra-marathoner badass friend.  I had to know if this prolonged endorphin rush was a “thing” or whether it just meant I didn’t run hard enough in NOLA.  He reassured me that it was a thing.  And, to paraphrase, it results from breaking through mental barriers and realizing what you are truly capable of doing.  I can just imagine Pinch Your Butt cringing at my lack of rest and predicting some colossal blow-up (IT band?  Hip flexors?  What will it be???).  But I’m not stopping.  I want to see what I can do next.