When I completed The Rose Bowl Half-Marathon, I was stoked. I had such a good time and was proud that I was able to complete the entire course without ever having even come close to running that kind of distance before. After the race; however, it was a different story. My knees were killing me and I could barely walk let alone train for anything.
That is when the Post Race Blues grabbed a hold of me. I became extremely depressed and questioned everything I was doing from my business to my friends and family. It was a time of self-reflection, but boy it hit me hard. My brother mentioned the post race blues in one of his articles which got me wondering if other athletes experienced the same things. Turns out many of them do.
One google search provided a plethora of articles about the Post Race Blues which is highly common. Many people attributed it to the accomplishment of a goal and then having to decide what the next goal should be, but for me this wasn’t the case. Because I had no idea that I would be running a half marathon until just a few hours before the event.
Many people attribute the post race blues to the reactions in your body that accompany the amount of physical exertion that takes place in a run that long, especially when someone is not appropriately trained and this sounds right to me. The post race blues was a difficult time for me, but it only lasted a few days and once my legs began to heal and I was able to get back to my training all was right with the world again.