End of a Perfect Partnership?

I've been wondering how the 30,000+ runners who completed yesterday's London Marathon are feeling today.  Particularly, I've been considering whether any of them could really be feeling disappointed.  Surely even those who did not achieve their target times must be feeling huge satisfaction at having made it around the course?  I guess that some who didn't finish could be feeling regret but for those who crossed the line, I'm struggling to think that any of them aren't feeling a good deal of pride.  And deservedly so.  I watched for about an hour at the Tower of London and was so impressed by how many were running smoothly, steadily and without distress at that point and were destined to finish in about four hours.  I had a degree of uneasiness, however, at seeing those who were really struggling.  It felt voyeuristic to be privy to their personal distress.  Hopefully, the support of the spectators was evidence to them and helped a bit.

While watching, I asked a friend who had run a couple of years ago what guidance was given about post-marathon training.  He looked somewhat taken aback, as if such a concept had never occurred to him, which it apparently hadn't, and then revealed that he'd barely run since.  Two things struck me.  Firstly, why was there no guidance about what to do next, when there is loads about how to prepare?  Presumably, it's a good thing to encourage those who have managed such a feat to continue to run, for their health and personal enjoyment if not to ever do another 26+ miles?  Secondly, for how many people did crossing the line on The Mall yesterday mark the end of a beautiful partnership between them and their trusty trainers?  I had a vision of thousands of pairs of the latter being consigned to dusty cupboard corners with no cognisance of their part in their owners' success.

My relationship with my own trainers is very different from that between those who ran and were run in yesterday.  My trainers do their work inside the gym only and, as a result, they tend to look pristine, hinting even at a lack of use, for a very long time.  They're certainly never asked to run 26+ miles but they've been through hundreds of Step, toning, LBT and Body Pump classes.

My previous trainers had led an entirely indoor existence until they accompanied me to the other side of the world.  Their first outdoor trip was to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which was an amazing adventure for me and, I hope, just as good for them.  Sadly, their life since then has been far less glamorous: they've been replaced as my gym trainers and now get an occasional family dog/children-walking trip across muddy fields to a cosy pub and to walk the streets and bridges of London.

My relationship with my current trainers is even more personal, as I designed them myself and they are unique.  They are pretty and make me smile each time I see them (easily pleased) but their real importance to me is that, like their predecessors, I have a lot of fun while wearing them.  I hope most of those who ran yesterday say the same about theirs.