Testing, testing; is this thing on?
It’s been a minute! The 2025 Boston Marathon is suddenly a month+ in the rear view mirror.
I’m still thinking about it.
I’ve written before about the idea of the post-race blues. All that time, all that effort, and a race is suddenly done; gone. In the midst of a race, all you can think about is how you want it to end. You want to get to the finish, so the pain can stop. The next day, all you do is think about the race.
You want to go back and feel the pain all over again.
I find myself thinking back on the race every day. Like a sports fan wearing a shirt or hat of a team that just won a championship, I’ve worn a Boston Marathon hat almost every day since April 21st. I reach for it almost every morning or afternoon before I head out the door. I throw on my Goodr Boston sunglasses for almost all my runs.
Like I said, I’m still thinking about it.
Yet, the blues aren’t really there. Instead, I find that the farther I get from the race, the more I can’t stop thinking about the last five1 years, rather than the last five months. Again, all that time, all that effort, and suddenly the race is done.
And now? I don’t know what’s next.
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In the days after I got back from Boston, I met with my therapist for my monthly session. We spent the first half on the race, the trip, and everything that led to the day. Before we moved on to other things in my life, she asked me what everyone asks a runner when they’ve just ran a race.
“What’s next?”
It’s been odd telling so many people, “I don’t know,” but it was particularly interesting talking it out with here. I told her I didn’t have a marathon on my schedule for the fall before I tried to figure out the last fall I could say that.
In 2024, I ran Chicago for the third time.
In 2023, Des Moines.
In 2022, Chicago for the second time.
In 2021, the Twin Cities.
In 2020, a virtual version of the Twin Cities.
In 2019, Chicago for the first time.
In 2018, Memphis.
And it hit me; I haven’t had a fall without a marathon since 20172.
I sat with it for a moment, not really sure what to say next. A bit of a melancholy hit me, as I realized I wouldn’t have one of those summers with so many runs in the heat and humidity, only to come out of it on the other side praying for one of those glorious 40-45° fall mornings; that I wouldn’t travel to some locale, trying to stay up to 9:30 or 10:00, hoping to watch whatever the big game3 was going on in college football.
And it’s ok.
Seriously, it’s ok!
Rather, I go out for a run these days with a few goals:
Continue to get healthier.
Build my mileage back up, but only if (1) is happening.
Which is why I am not really pushing things too hard just yet. My hamstring is mostly fine, but mostly fine isn’t where I want to be. I tried my hand at a workout last week, and it went fairly well in the moment, but once I finished, I felt some of that familiar pain returning.
And so, I wait. Wait for something to happen that tells me all is ok again, at least with my running.
My mindset though? It’s doing great, as I move forward into whatever is next with my running journey in the days, weeks, months, and years to follow.
For now, I’m running to run again.
For more on this, I direct you to my preview newsletter, where I poured my heart in trying to describe my running journey since 2020.
That was, uh, quite the fall and winter for yours truly.
It’s pretty nuts to think about some of the games I saw bits and pieces of in recent years the night before my marathons. Texas A&M and Alabama had a wild game in 2022 that I learned the score of at about 4:00 am or so. Oregon and Washington played my favorite game in 2023, meanwhile I saw the final play of last year’s Oregon/Ohio State game before I turned off the TV and attempted to get some sleep. I very much remember years through the lens of football.
Great perspective! Think about this, your shoe budget gets a rest too….maybe. 😎