Grandma's Marathon Recap! Part 2

I want to take a short step back to the days leading up to the race. In case you didn't know, Kimi and I have been working with Cassie Dimmick, a registered dietitian from Achieving Your Best,  in order to try and maximize our performances.  After Kimi's Twin Cities Marathon last October, I knew she only needed to drop 3 seconds per mile to reach the Olympic Trials B standard. I wanted to give her every advantage possible to help get her across the finish line fast enough to qualify.  I met Cassie at the Bass Pro Fitness Festival Expo in November and we hit it off right away. I knew she'd be perfect for us to work with.  Cassie has been great at helping us with our focus nutritionally by keeping us accountable.  Even though I'm a chiropractor myself, working with someone who can look at our nutrition objectively from the outside helps tremendously.

Leading up to the Grandma's Marathon, we practiced with our Nutrilite Endurance Cubes and water intake multiple times during long runs and long hard workouts to help prepare our stomachs to handle the fueling necessary for achieving our goals. The week prior to the race, Cassie put together a specific food schedule for us.  I'm not going to lie, it felt like I was eating non-stop on Wednesday and Thursday. However, when race day rolled around, my stomach felt great and clearly the energy was plentiful just like we had hoped it would be. 

I want to take this time to give a shout out of thanks to Cassie for all her hard work and dedication to helping us achieve our performance goals. 

Thank You Cassie!!

www.achievingyourbest.net

Moving forward now to after the race. Kimi and I hung out around the refreshments and post race festivities for about an hour or so at least. This was simply to get settled down and get some food back in our systems. It was still quite chilly so both of us changed into some dry clothes and wrapped ourselves with blankets that were provided to cut the wind.  We finally decided we had had enough and wanted to head back to the dorms to get cleaned up so we made the 1/2 mile walk (which felt like an eternity at this point) to the bus pick-up area.  After getting cleaned up, we checked out of the dorms and drove to Minneapolis. We decided to split up the return trip so that it might not feel so incredibly miserable.  Surprisingly enough, I didn't feel half bad on Saturday evening after the race. However, by the time we had arrived home on Sunday, I was stiff as a board and walking was becoming quite difficult.  Thankfully, the soreness in the muscles only takes about 3 or so days for me to get back to where I feel like I could run. Kimi on the other hand, is already talking about running and how great she feels just a few days afterwards (I'm jealous of her incredible ability to recover quickly from everything).

Kimi after the race

All smiles on the bus ride back to the dorms

The question most people have now is what's up next?  And for that, I guess you'll just have to wait and see.  I do know there will be some fun and exciting training over the next few months. That's a fact!