Oh yeah, the Pain

I'm glad to be back home in Denver despite sporting Wednesday's crest of Boston delayed onset muscle fatigue; every ounce of fiber in my body aches.

I can honestly say with 100% certainty that during the last 4 miles of Boston when I hurt beyond any hurt I can recall, I did not want to run another marathon again. Ever. Not even Boston 2010. But as I stated in my last blog, it was short-lived after I was able to take a shower, get some food in me, and crawled back into bed with the heavenly down comforter and amazing pillow (I swear, as a reward to myself, I'm going to buy a really good pillow like the Marriott has. Man!!). Thanks to countless hours at Boston's Logan Airport with an uncharged computer and the power cord mistakenly packed in my checked-in bag, I have spent many hours post-Boston thinking and calculating how I can get stronger so that I can persevere the next time. I welcome the pain, I invite it....it's my pleasure. I now not only want to run Boston 2010, I want to run another marathon this fall. And I want to run well. Not sure how but I have a big conversation with one Mr. Rob tomorrow to discuss it. He seems to think I have only scratched the surface of my strength training. Which puts many questions into my head why I entered Boston with only a few scratches and not a full-blown battle wound. We'll discuss that also and I'll hopefully have more info on that later. I certainly feel I worked very hard; I was diligently in that gym 3-times a week doing strength and core work and I certainly can see the physical changes in my body....so we'll see what I can do differently to make myself stronger. Somehow I have embedded it in my brain that I can run a marathon with an average 8:30 pace. Somehow, I feel I must try.

So, if I'm in so much pain right now, I have to ask the question that was brought up on Facebook by someone who's a endurance junkie: if pain feels good, if pain=pleasure, than is it really pain?

We wouldn't be doing these marathons and other endurance sports if we didn't get some sort of pleasure out of it, some sort of high, despite how much it hurts. I can certainly attest that some of those that wrote on my facebooks pages congratulating me have never experienced the pain, the pleasure, the high....and the lows. Are they afraid? Do they not feel the pleasure associated with the pain they feel? Is it only given to a few and not to others? Or are the few that experience it feel a certain drive or a certain need to make them feel better? Do only certain souls feel better internally if they hurt so much externally? Is it all about the balance? You feel so good afterwards, because you suffered through the pain during it? The sweetness of completing something wouldn't be the same if it was easy to do. Being in pain, working through it, and finishing brings the the accomplishment more meaning. Why can only certain people accept this?

I'm feel honored to be amongst those that feel that yes, pain=pleasure.... at least in the marathon!

This picture clearly exhibits my "pain" as I am about 100 yards from crossing the Boston finish.