When the marathon adrenaline wears off…

As a physician, Dr. Jennette Berry has always been an advocate for healthy living.

But it was Dr. Berry’s patients who inspired her to pick up running at the age of 40 and take her “practice what you preach” philosophy to the next level.

Uplifted from her patients’ years of dedication to races and marathons, the Advocate Medical Group doctor began running and training alongside her patients in three running groups six years ago and just recently participated in her fourth Chicago Marathon, accomplishing her goal of finishing under five hours.

As a physician and runner, Dr. Berry recommends the following recovery tips to runners after they complete a marathon:

1) Congratulate yourself for finishing a marathon. You are now among 1% of the world’s population who has completed one.

2) Continue to drink plenty of water.

3) Eat your favorite meal, whether it has carbohydrates, protein, sugar, etc. to treat yourself. Just don’t overdo it.

4) Enjoy a full body massage to relax those tired and/or tight muscles.

5) Stretch and try not to sit and lay around all day as you want to loosen up your muscles.

6) Take a few days off from work for much needed physical and mental rest.

7) Spend quality time with your family and friends who have supported you on your running journey.

8) Think about strengths and weaknesses from your marathon run to help improve your performance for next year.  No matter the results from the race, there is always room for improvement and things that went well.

9) Thank your training coach and running group(s) for all their support.

10) Pamper yourself all week if you can.

“The key is to remember why you run and your goal,” Dr. Berry says. “My favorite Bible verse is Philippians 4:13, which reads, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’ My goal was to get ‘Sub 5’ for my Marathon run, and I achieved my goal with a time of 4:58:07 hours.”