Recap

Here is the full recap of my first half-marathon. I apologize for some not so nice details but I wanted to keep it “real” and not be all rainbows and smiley faces.

Pre-Race
Carb starving and carb loading were a complete FAIL. I was supposed to carb starve (starve your body of carbohydrates) at 3 days prior to the race. The day started out well enough but then a longtime friend was in town and we had an impromptu girls night out. There was wine and there were appetizers; not carb-free but I had a great time with old friends.
Friday I got another visitor – but this visitor was unwanted. This visitor made me in pain, bloated, and gave me some gastrointestinal issues. I have no idea what I ate this day. To my benefit I did go to bed early that night.
Saturday I woke up really early (good girl). Carlos drove me down to the expo to pick up my packet and meet up with my friends. I was a mess. I still had all the issues from Friday but to add to that I was in a really bad mood and various body parts were aching (knees, butt, back, legs in general). Am I falling apart? I go to lunch with friends (after sitting in what seems like the worst traffic in Central Florida history). My stomach does not agree with my lunch. Gastrointestinal issues get worse and I end up throwing up later in the day. I am pretty sure that I got no race enhancing nutrition on Saturday since I ended up not eating anything for the rest of the day.

Race Day
Sunday morning I wake up early – it was 2:30 am or something. I drink some powder electrolyte mix and have a banana. I actually feel good despite still having cramps. We arrive at the race and meet up with my friends. I try to keep drinking electrolyte enhanced water while we chit chat a little bit. I glance around looking for other friends who are doing the race. I am unable to locate any of them. We do a group photo and head to our corrals. In our walk to the corrals (which is a twenty minute walk by the way), we get stuck in a bottleneck that delays us an extra ten minutes. Some smart guy put the porta potties along the walk-way and the lines of the shitters were backing the rest of us up. We use the second group of porta potties. I stay extra long to make sure I get all the pee pee out. We finally get to the corrals but super-fast friend in the “A” corral is running late. I wished “Good Luck” to her and very-fast friend in corral “B”. I find my corral – the very last “H”. My start is 40 minutes later. I stand around and twiddle my thumbs and try to get away from the girls singing Spice Girls” If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends” at the top of their lungs. Hadn’t Carlos had warned me pre-race that it was a good idea to pee in every potty group you see up to your corral? There is a potty group outside our fenced in area but I didn’t have to go…until about 20 minutes into my wait. Crap, the other racers have started. I am already comfortable in my corral. Am I going to get out and run over and then try to squeeze my way back in? I decided that I wait (what was I thinking?).
Start time is fun. The fairy godmother does some kind of “Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo” and there are big fireworks. The first two groups get big fireworks – we get little fireworks by the time I start.
I decided to keep passing up the log lines for porta potties but I am forced to stop after 5k mark. My 5k was great but had to wait at least 8 minutes for porta potty. That sucks.
Other than the pee pee, miles 1-6 were awesome. I mean really awesome. Running feels effortless. Running through the magic kingdom was nice. My only complaint is that I couldn’t get any of the pro photographers to take my pic. WTF. One kept telling me to go to the left or some shit. “You are the dude with the camera pointed at me, take my picture dammit.” (I later discovered that someone else had taken my picture but I have no idea where they were).
Around mile 7 I started to get a little delirious. This when I began to yell at things. Pre-race I was warned that the first “water” tables you see were powerade and if you wanted water you needed to go to the second set of tables. I kept accidentally picking up powerade even though I thought I was trying to get water. After about the third time I went crazy and yelled at a cup of powerade “I hate you powerade!”; then powerade was tossed away. Additionally this started the one of many narrow stretches where pretty much everyone was walking (4 or more abreast- against the rules) and I could not get around them. It was quite frustrating for me because I would lose focus when trying to get around people. I really should have qualified pre-race to be put in an earlier group.
Soon after the powerade incident I started to get pain on my left leg and left butt cheek. We started to get many ramps that were not only at an incline but they were also not level. Somewhere on one of these ramps I told my watch to “Shut up” because it was beeping at me to run again after one of my one minute walking breaks.
All the pain that I had previous did not compare to mile 11. Mile 11 proved the worst. I had to walk for at least 4 minutes. Legs and butt hurt really bad; and I think it rained at this point (ok, it sprinkled a little bit).
Finally got into epcot – Almost done. Another fn camera guy. I pose for him with cute thumbs up and the ahole won’t take my picture. I yell at him “Why won’t anyone take my picture”
I walk for one last minute and jog toward the finish. A camera guy finally takes my picture, and I give him a cheesy fake smile because I am tired. I get closer to the finish. Can’t find my husband or anyone I know in the crowd (my husband was there I guess). I sprint toward the finish and get my medal. Whoopee.
I get a ‘naner and a cool box of food goodies (hummus and gluten free crackers, yum). My man and friends are waiting for me at the reunion area. I am in a fog. Did I just finish a 13.1 mile race? My friends and I discuss going somewhere to eat post race. None of us can make a decision and I am not sure I will be able to keep a meal down at this point. We decide to go home and plan to meet up later in the afternoon after we have rested. That never happened. Much later I finally muster up the energy to walk down to the local steakhouse and get myself some meat. My energy level doesn’t last long. I am in bed early.
Day After
I take the day off of work to rest and get a massage. The 60 minute massage was awesome but not long enough. I wish I would have purchased the longer one. Legs still really sore post massage. The rest of the day is spent on the couch finishing The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest.

Will I do another one? I don’t know, probably. Will I keep running? I want to I think I will. It is a week later and I have yet to run again. Only time will tell.

Mile Breakdown

Mile	Time	Notes
1	12:55	Crap! I have to pee.
2	12:22	Still have to peee
3	12:27	Where is the potty?
4	21:30	pee pee time
5	12:29	I love this mile
6	13:00	This one too, oooh a castle
7	13:23	I hate everyone, especially this cup of powerade.
8	13:01	Am I still running?
9	12:57	What is this vanilla gel? This is crap.
10	13:35	I thought I already passed the mile 10 marker
11	14:55	Legs hurt must stop running
12	15:08	Is it raining?
13	15:02	I swear I was running (most of it)

What I have learned from running

My first half-marathon is a little over a week away. Everytime I run I get little tidbits of information in my head that I wish others would have shared with me; I feel the excessive need to share it with others. So here you go.

The first time I tried running with music it didn’t work. It wasn’t until I became a runner that music helped me run. It clears the chatter in my head that tells me to quit.

I never thought I would get this far, nor did I ever want to; but I am here and it feels great.

Most discomfort felt when running is actually just discomfort and not actual pain. To succeed you must push through it. You should listen to signs for severe discomfort but most of the time it is just part of running.

The first few miles will be the hardest. It wasn’t until I was reaching my long runs of 8-10 miles did I actually run most of it. There was much less walking at that point and more true running.

For the first time in a long time I don’t feel like a quitter. I am pretty much at my goal and it feels great.

Running does not make you lose weight alone. First you have to run frequently and many miles. Second you must consume less calories at the same time (but not so much that you are under-fueled). You cannot splurge and expect running to save you.

Easing into the Green Smoothie

From Photo Challenge

Smoothies can be incredibly healthy things for you to drink. I have a very healthy co-worker who swears by them. As part of my weight-loss-slash-get-healthy journey I have decided to give green smoothies a try. But before I give you the recipe that I used, I want to give you a number of disclaimers so I don’t hear you complaining about my recipe.

Disclaimers:

My smoothies are typically assembled with yogurt, greens, banana, and whatever fruit (frozen or fresh) that I have available in my house. The fruit provides some nutritents but I add it mostly to sweeten the drink.
This smoothie is not low in calories. In time less fruit should be added and more veggies should appear. My last recipe came out to almost 550 calories (maybe 1.5 servings though).
My blender is a high quality blender from the 1980’s (I am proud of my blender that I acquired from my mom years ago). It made of glass (not plastic) and is still kicking; but even it is not idea for green smoothies. It is highly recommended if you are serious about this smoothie thing that you invest in a blender that handles greens well like a Blendtec or a Vitamix. If you don’t, it is very likely that there will be little chunks of spinach or kale floating around in your smoothie; floaters are bothersome to most people.
Some people have issues with mixing the dairy in the yogurt with all the other ingredients (stomach doesn’t like it). I have no issues with it (even though I have a slight lactose intolerance) but you should monitoring this for yourself. I like how the yogurt makes the shake creamy. Down the road I will be adding less of this though to cut back on calories (maybe add only 1/2 cup).
There is a debate about the type of protein powder that is best for the smoothie. I use whey protein but I know someone who swears by a expensive hemp protein. This is another topic where you have to do the research and decide what is right for your smoothie.
Finally, this is the first go around for me. It is heavy on the fruit. The goal ultimately is to get as green as you can. I mean you are drinking a green smoothie because you are obviously interested in improving your health….why else would you do it?

Recipe:

Very Important: A good quality blender is needed.
Applesauce, unsweetened, 0.25 cup
Banana, fresh, 1 medium (7″ to 7-7/8″ long)
2 large leaves of Kale chopped, stalk removed
1 cup Spinach frozen
1 cup Stonyfield Farm Lowfat Plain Yogurt
1 cup Ocean Spray fresh Cranberries (I had them sitting in the freezer)
1 scoop of protein powder

Blend it!

Owning It

Today I happily arrived at my followup appointment at the doctor; the appointment where the doctor is to tell me that my blood work showed some abnormalities that were making it difficult for me to lose weight. The doctor enters the room looks down the results and says “Everything is normal.” Apparently there is absolutely nothing wrong with me. Oh Shit! I have run out of excuses. It is time for me to own my weight problem. It is time to recognize that I am the sole cause of my weight issues.
I feel like I am in a transition period right now. This blog started as a way for me to document my gardening, photography and cooking but I feel at least one or more of those activities could be counterproductive to my weight loss goals. I only desire to cook things that are either high in carbohydrates or high in fat. For me to carry on and still work on my health, I would have to transition to somewhat a healthy cooking blog. As for gardening, it is getting in the way of my running (running is a big time suck); and getting in the way of my life in general. I am already way behind for the spring gardening. Photography on the other hand is easy to continue, as long as I make time to work on my skills (see running is a time suck). And then there are the reviews I do on Yelp – which center on eating. How do I continue that activity? Some priorities will be set. Some changes will be coming. The details of those changes are not even known to me at this time. I only have to say “Hold on tight and enjoy the ride.”

2011 Blogging as Therapy

2011 was a crappy year. I am not one to shed all my personal details on the internet but 2011 has been one hell of a roller-coaster for me . I am starting to realize this silly little blog that has little content and very little direction has been very therapeutic for me. While I don’t feel comfortable pouring my heart out to everyone on a day to day basis, it is very uplifting to blog about positive aspects of life; to concentrate on things that make me happy and make a permanent memoir of those moments. Looking back hopefully there will be a catalog of good times and positive memories. All the negativity will be in the distant past.
I used to have a reoccurring dream that I had moved into an apartment in New York City. Typically a girlfriend of mine would be my roommate. Always at some point in the dream I would walk home and realize my apartment was in a bad neighborhood (sometimes I would get lost on the way home). Inevitably I would come home to an apartment that has been broken into and all my crap was stolen.
People who know me know that I am not materialistic. I will buy a few nice things here and there but for the most part material things are low on my list. So what does this reoccurring dream mean? It probably means that deep down I have a fear of losing something. Most appropriate in my case it probably means losing people you care about, people you love, and people who love you. Recognizing this fear, and after the extremely tough year that is behind me, I hope to make 2012 a year where I foster better relationships with my husband, family, and friends. People are very important and are essential in helping you pull your head above the water when you feel weights are pulling you down. This also means that I will cut people out of my life who choose to bring me down rather than lift me up. I am not one for making resolutions. Resolutions seem to be a setup for failure. Didn’t Yoda say “Do… or do not. There is no try.” ? I feel resolutions are all try. In 2012 I will continue to exercise. In 2012 I will be more compassionate; but only in such a way where my energy is not being sucked dry.
Luckily 2011 is ending on a high note. I have had lots of good vibes lately from friends and family and running is making me regain some self-confidence. I am not expecting 2012 to be this miraculous year. I hope it will be ordinary. Why do you ask? Because my ordinary life is in fact, fine. Let us raise our glasses to another ordinary year!

Happy New Year!!!