Ten days later: marathon aftermath

For the first week after the marathon I rested. On Monday I ran/walked close to 4 kilometres just to test my legs out.  But as I'm still not 100%, I'm going to rest another week.

I have a few thoughts as I look back on my performance at the Saskatchewan Marathon, as well as regards the event as a whole.

First, not keeping an eye on my running gait probably caused my race time to inflate by an hour.  A simple examination of the underside of my Mizunos Wave Inspire 10's (the shoes I wore for the marathon) reveals that the tread on the lower right quarter of the heel has been filed down to a smooth patch.  I suspect this occurred because of fatigue and stiffness, which in turn happened because I wasn't probably prepared to race (I missed too much running in the final month).

Second, although the overwhelming majority of what I have to say is positive, I think the organizers missed an opportunity with the race shirt this year.  Whereas last year that shirts were a rich blue with dark blue strips, and "Saskatchewan Marathon" across the chest, this year the shirts (the men's shirts, at least) were a strange violet/purple with white stripes and merely "Saskatoon" across the chest.  It feels like someone screwed up by not having the event name across the chest.  As for the colours... Hmmm... I would have preferred pitch black to this.  But that's me.  I suppose it's tough to try to distinguish a race shirt each year.

While my distress has eased considerably, my attention has turned to future races.  Here in Saskatoon we have several on the horizon, including the Mogathon and Mayor's Day Marathon on successive weekends.  Then there's the River Run Classic (HM, 10k and 5k) in July. Of course I have no intention of attempting either of the first two races, but the River Run Classic might be a good one to attempt to set a new 10k PR.  I've only run three 10k's, and none of them at full speed. 

Beyond these races are the Edmonton and Queen City Marathons in August and September.