Tell me readers, does anyone else go through post-marathon depression? Okay, as depression goes, what I experience isn’t debilitating like true depression. The let down usually hits after the hype from marathon completion settles down. This is when I am left feeling empty and goal-less. But it’s more than that…
The thing that hits me after EVERY marathon is the feeling of failure. This is because, once again, I have not run a qualifying marathon. And although I never thought I’d be able to run a qualifying time at Big Sur, the feeling of failure has still come.
You, dear readers, do not need to heal this. As I said, this happens EVERY time…and it also passes EVERY time.
This happens to me every time I do a marathon, and..wait. I’ve never done a marathon. Nevermind!
I’d like to fail like you. :).
Congratulations on a good finish, I mean it was Bis Sur!
I always go through a post-marathon depression phase, and I run several marathons a year. The hardest is the last one for the year, particularly when it does go as well as planned.
But there is always the next one, lord willing!
…uh, yeah, felt that way last week, Jack has it right. Advice to self “keep running and plan for next season”. And this from Deena Kastor on Sunday: Although disappointed, Kastor chose to take a philosophical approach to today’s setback. The marathon, she agreed, is a monster which can never be fully tamed. “I think that’s why we come back to the marathon over, and over, and over again because we feel like just tweak something in our training, or change our race strategy that we can get there a little more brilliantly the next time. It keeps us coming back.”
Don’t beat yourself up. And, as you know, the post-marathon blues are only temporary. You’ll soon have another race and a another training schedule to bring you back to happy pastures.
Having not gone sub-6 in my last half Ironman, I’ve had a lot of time to ponder “failure”. For me, its always important to get back to the “why”.
Pretty much inevitable.
After a few days of recovery, just getting out for a really easy relaxed run always seemed to help me.