Happy Birthday

Ok so, now where were we? Ah yes, bent over the railing of the Connemara finish, trying to keep upright, not entirely successfully.

I actually met a work colleague who had come to the finish specifically to meet me, she was a bit worried about me but I knew I would be fine once I could sit down and get a few calories into me, which is exactly what happened. The journey home, involving 3 different buses, wasn't the most comfortable journey ever but lying in the softest bed there is wouldn't have felt comfortable either, so there.

I was reasonably ok the next day and even managed to cycle to and from work without issues. The legs remained a bit sore for about 3-4 days, a bit longer than usual but that's a reflection of the sub-optimal training beforehand and entirely to be expected.

The week after the race I ran a few slow, easy miles every second day. In fact, it was so slow that I ended up running on my own for the lunchtime group run from work because nobody else wanted to share my snails pace effort, so I watched then inching away from me instead, not that I was even remotely tempted to speed up.

Things got better after a while and the second week I was back running every day, and feeling ok with it. I got to 10 miles this morning, and while the legs were feeling distinctively flat, the distance didn't bother them at all.

Then

Now

However, another and much more important feat of endurance was the twins' 18th birthday. There were times when I wondered if we would ever make it this far, but somehow we managed it.

They're still screaming as much as in the first photo, just the dramas are slightly different ones.