The week after the marathon

The Honolulu Marathon was December 10, 2023, and this is the note about the week after it, the week nobody films because nothing happens in it. Nothing happening was the point, so this is a note about what we did instead of training, and why.

We walked, we swam easy, which was mostly floating with intent, and we slept more than usual and didn't apologize for it. We ate normally, which after a marathon means more than normal for a few days and then it settles down, and we didn't run. The urge to run a few days after a marathon is real, because by Wednesday the legs feel better than they have any right to and the brain says a short shakeout would be fine. Would it have been fine? At thirty, maybe, but I've learned that now a Wednesday shakeout is what makes the first real run in January feel like it's happening on somebody else's legs, so I stayed on the couch and felt a little guilty about it, and that was fine.

A marathon is a big withdrawal. A season runs on sleep, and a marathon spends most of the balance in one morning, so the week after is the deposit that makes the next season possible, and I'd rather make it on purpose. We plan it ahead of time, and this is the routine person in me talking: the week after the marathon goes on the calendar as rest before the marathon goes on the calendar as a race. That way it can't get argued with in the moment by a version of us that feels surprisingly fine on Thursday, and I am always that version by Thursday, and Jay knows not to listen to her.

What came next was January and the five pounds and the groove, same as the year before, then a New Year's Day 10K in Hawaii Kai, because the calendar here doesn't give you much of a break, and a trail run out to Kaena Point. Then came the decision about the full distance, which we were already talking about in the car on the way home from a marathon, which is exactly us. But all of that was next year, and this week was for sitting down.