I am currently laying on my couch knowing that I accomplished a lot this morning, but also knowing that I don't anticipate being able to move anytime soon. I ran 20 miles this morning, and I did it in just over three hours and 30 minutes. The 20 miler has been looming over me since marathon training started. There was something about 20 that just made me anxious. I think it was the fact that I knew what 10 miles felt like and this would double that feeling. I know this is going to sound bad, but it was nice to know that my training partner--who has done multiple marathons--was also feeling the anxiety before today's run.
It was also nice that several of my Twitter friends had words of encouragement and bribes of baked goods to keep me motivated.
I was nervous that my shins would start acting up, the last few runs have been cut short because of pain. As we started running though there was no pain and it stayed away. It wasn't until we started up the climb on Wisconsin that my legs started to ask why? The view from the top though was awesome and worth the climb. In fact the entire run was worth the pain I am currently feeling.
Now here's my question. I recently read an article that said it takes 3-4 weeks to recover from an 18-20 miler and that you SHOULDN'T do a 20 miler within a month of the race. My second 20 miler is scheduled for 2 weeks from today. Should I do it? Or should I just begin the taper?