Aftermath

After Jeremy found me, I learned that he had already picked up my bike, but none of my bags. He said he saw the special needs bags out by the capital so we walked a couple blocks over but they were gone. Then we walked back to the convention center to grab my transition bags. My family had found a parking space in the convention center, so I didn't have to walk any farther. Jeremy said I was doing much better than he expected, I think he had been preparing himself to be ready to carry me to the car. I skipped the post race massage (not only did my muscles hurt, but the OUTSIDE of my body hurt, especially my upper arms and abdomen. I could not imagine anyone touching me) and also the post race meal (eat? no thank you).

We got back to my Grandma's house and I managed to shower by myself and eat a few grapes and a cookie. Then it was bedtime. I slept better than expected, but not great. In the morning, my sisters and I headed back to the convention center for the finisher's merchandise and to find my special needs bags. We got there around 9:30. I had to walk a block to get my bags while my sisters held a place in the store line. We also found a really long line and I asked someone what it was for. That was the registration for next year's race and there were a lot of people in finisher's hats and shirts standing in it. We had to wait in the store line for about 15 minutes before getting in. The store opened at 7:00 and most of the stuff was pretty picked over. I found a jacket I liked, but the small was a bit too tight in the shoulders and the next size up was XXL. Probably for the best that it didn't fit, it was $140. I found a spandex pull over for $50 that I got instead. I added some stickers, M-dot temporary tattoos, socks, a t-shirt and I don't know what else that put me around $100.

Our last stop was the official race photography booth. I bought all their digital images, and got two printouts of my finisher's photo. I was feeling pretty good about my time until I saw the two older ladies (51 and 54, ages on calves are handy) in front of me pick up their pictures and they both finished well over an hour ahead of me. I'm not sure what I was expecting, even the 73 year old beat me.

When were were done with the convention center, we headed out of town towards Milwaukee to go to the airport. On the way there, we stopped at Culver's for lunch around 11:30. I was finally hungry for the first time since the end of the race and that was the best hamburger I have EVER had. The Heath shake was pretty good too, but I couldn't finish my fries. I love eating when I'm really hungry. My rough estimate of how many calories I burned yesterday was around 5500.

We got to the airport a bit early and had lots of time to lounge around. We saw several other athletes in their finisher's hats and shirts. I love the unspoken rule that that's just what you wear the day after. Our flight left at 4:55 and we got into Denver at 6:25. I took the RTD bus to Boulder and got in around 8:30. The 3 block walk back to my house was interesting. I had been walking around all day at the airports but any time I had to walk after sitting for a while was extra stiff and occasionally my legs would give away and I would lurch. I took another Advil PM that night and had the best night's sleep in months - I was out for 10 hours.