We’ve covered the before and during of the Phoenix Marathon experience, but I wanted to take a look at what happened AFTER. There was something unique that happened at this race that I have not experienced before… and that is saying something.

The Love

Even before I crossed the 26.2 mile finish line, I saw it happening. In the final mile, I see @RunEMZ running towards me on the sidewalk. This means (1) she finished in front of me and is running back through the course, and (2) she is doing this looking for a friend. She is simply incredible as most of us (post-marathon) would simply wait near the finish line anxiously awaiting for our friends that are still running. Nope. She was going to run TO them and help run them in to the finish line. LOVE.

Since there were a bunch of us running this race, we all stayed close to the finish line to make sure everyone came in. Not uncommon, but what was is that every single person was immediately asking about someone who was still out there. Some of us struggled, either with injury, or the wind, or anything that can happen on race day… some of us knocked out amazing PRs… but all of us were MORE concerned with everyone else. It was an act of selflessness that seemed to be a part of everyone’s experience.  Cheers, high-fives, and hugs were shared obviously, but every single person was asking about other people: “Have you seen X? Ok. Good. What about Y?” It made me smile on the inside that runners were able to put aside their own personal goals, or pain, or celebration to think about the community as a whole. Throughout the weekend it was clear that stronger bonds were being formed. LOVE

The Celebration

There were quite a few Pro Compression Ambassadors in town for the race and Pro was gracious enough to host a celebration dinner for some of the Ambassadors, their family, and the staff. It was a great way to bring together the crew to celebrate a weekend full of excitement. We had wonderful food, shared our race-day experiences, and of course took a bunch of pictures. The Ambassadors also score some pretty sweet trucker hats (giveaway on Instagram here).

With @dasilentassassin

With @vk_davies

With @prettylittlegrub

With @RunEMZ

With @the_athletarian

With @carleemcdot

What’s another 8K?

There were also some of us that were kind of crazy enough to tackle an 8K the following morning. There is a Bay Area race series put on by Represent Running that has fun with area codes. The San Jose area code is 408, so they host a 408k and it just happened to be the day after the Phoenix Marathon. Since there is a “remote” option to run the race, some of us decided to make it a part of the weekend. Consider it like a tiny shake-out run the day after a marathon or half.

I know that if it wasn’t for Carlee, Ryan, Shane, and Kaella, I wouldn’t have had the motivation to take on the 8K alone that weekend. I most likely would have pushed it back a few days until I got home. I’m glad we made it a part of the PHX weekend and I’m thankful that these amazing runners were a part of it.

Shoes and a finish line photo!

With @kaellaontherun and @dasilentassassin

With @carleemcdot and @ruggedwoodsman

The 408k finisher’s medal (and bottle opener) — yes, that is a mariachi shark.

What’s coming up next?

Well, as of the writing of this post, I have only run 3-miles since that 8K. I want to run and I really want to get back out there, I’m just giving myself some time to recover mentally. I’ll put in some miles later this week, but I have spent the last week getting my workout in at the gym in an attempt to build a stronger runner, from head to toe.

I’ve got some announcements coming up this week, but for now, I’m enjoying a little down time. I’ll be back at it soon enough.

What’s your favorite way to recover post race?