Brie Fit

And my body feels absolutely trashed.  More on that later.

Yesterday after the race, my stomach was kind of meh.  I had a grilled cheese and a Greek yogurt for lunch, and then went down for a two hour nap.  It was epic.

Then I followed Tim to get a haircut because he said he’d take me out to dinner wherever I wanted.  Before his haircut, I went to Marshall’s and picked up a Nike swimsuit—originally $72, on sale for $19.99.  It’s pretty plain—just black with red accents—but will get the job done.  I’m determined to get in the pool by the end of this week, guys.  Hold me to that.

Anyway, I had a hankering for beer, so I picked Granite City for dinner. 

I started with their American Wheat.

Tasted about like you’d expect an American Wheat to—filling and refreshing. 

Tim’s haircut was delayed for awhile, so I was starving with runger by the time the waitress came.  I insisted we order an appetizer, which we never do—soft pretzel sticks with cheese.

I ate two and they were amazing.  I love all things pretzel.

I ordered chicken parmesan for dinner, but I wasn’t crazy about the pasta.  It was overwhelmingly onion-y.  I ate the chicken and went back for a third breadstick instead.

I commented to Tim—immediately after eating this huge meal I felt stuffed.  But for some reason, within a few minutes I felt normal again, like my body was metabolizing it really quickly.  Who knows if there’s anything to that, but…it was odd.

We went home and watched 127 Hours.  I hated it.

I went to bed pretty early.  We decided to sleep in a bit and go to 11 o’clock church instead of an earlier service, which was a good choice.  I had an egg sammich and coffee for breakfast.

And for lunch, I treated myself to some mac and cheese.

For dinner, we went to a barbecue at Tim’s aunt’s house, where I ate entirely too much again.  I’ve been starving and thirsty all day today.

Anyway.  Back to the “my body feels trashed” thing.

After my last two half marathons, I’ve felt relatively normal the day after—yeah, a bit stiff and sore, but nothing too overwhelming.

Today?  I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.  I slept for 9 hours overnight, then took another long nap this afternoon, and I’m still exhausted.  I think I tweaked a tendon or something in my left foot, too, because it’s been hurting to put weight on it.   My hip flexors and calves are on fire.  I can’t drink or eat enough.  And I still feel like I’m on the verge of getting the flu—generally achy, tired, stuffy and just icky.

I don’t know if it’s because I ran extra hard yesterday, or because the weather was  so cold and windy, or because I felt crappy on Friday anyway.   But still…freight train, meet Brie’s face.  Ugh.

I’m sorely tempted to call in sick tomorrow.  I feel like I need another day in bed with a 40 of Gatorade and chicken soup, even though I suppose this is kind of self inflicted?

Do you call in sick to work a lot?  What’s your policy on sick days?  Should I ?

Alternate title: How to do everything wrong and still PR (spoiler alert!).

So, as you guys know, I wasn’t feeling great yesterday.  I was crabby and my sinuses/allergies were bothering me quite a bit, and I was having some shin pain.  So I went into today’s race with pretty low expectations.  My main goal was to beat my time from the Rock the Parkway Half two weeks ago—since this half was much flatter, I felt that was a nice, realistic goal.  My other “maybe, if it’s a good day” goals were to either PR or go sub-2:10.

Anyway.  I woke up to wind howling at the window and briefly considered staying put under the covers.  I knew this might not be my day when I discovered that Southpaw had left me a poo surprise on the floor.  Got dressed and hopped in the car, ate a PB&J on the 40 minute drive.

I made it to Garmin headquarters about 20 minutes before the race start and jumped in the port-a-potty line.  I pretty much realized that I was not going to get an opportunity to clean things out of my system and was a bit worried.  Then I remembered the Disney Princess Half, where I didn’t poop, and had a great race, so…maybe not pooping (along with fruit punch Gatorade and neon shirts) is lucky for me.

I saw the 2:10 pacers at the starting line, but lost them in the crowd and didn’t really care.  I fiddled with my Garmin a bit and got to running. 

The first four miles were especially exposed to the wind.  Like…not a breeze, but knock you over, running in place, 25 mph wind gusts.  It blew the BondiBand off my head, which has never, ever happened before.  I just kept thinking, “The faster you run, the sooner this will be over.”  I felt really bad for everyone doing the full today.  The winds kept up the whole race and were seriously out of control.

Also, I’d made the mistake of changing my Garmin to show average pace rather than current pace, so I had no idea how fast I was running at any given time.    For the first four miles, I was all, “damn, I’m a pretty consistent 10:02 runner,” and then, I was like “…oh.  Nevermind.”

I didn’t see the 2:10 pace group at all, but hung around the 4:15 group for awhile.  They seemed like a friendly bunch.

At mile five exactly, my iPod shuffle died. 

I’m not really one to run with music—I usually listen to podcasts or watch Netflix while training, and I’ve done my last two halfs and my full with no music at all.  But for some reason, I wanted it today, so I dusted off my ancient shuffle and made a fun playlist last night around 10:30 pm.  It was kind of crappy, because I was jamming out to “Jesse’s Girl” at the time, and thus sang that song in my head over and over for the rest of the race.

I will never know where I can I find a woman like that, I suppose.

Anyway, at mile 6.5, I was like, “hey, this is the halfway point and I feel pretty good.”  I took out a Gu and nibbled on it for about two miles, when they were giving away Gu on the course, and I threw mine out and took theirs.  I didn’t eat theirs, but hey, I will always take free shit.  Always.

At mile 7 or so, I started using a lot of really foul language in my head.  Cursing gets me motivated, guys.  Specifically, I started repeating over and over, “You do not fade.  Brie BLEEPING Lastname DOES NOT FADE.  You don’t even know what BLEEPING fading is.”  Mile 7 is my make-it-or-break-it mile in a half, and I went for it.

This was also was where I kind of lost it last year during my first half marathon.  I remember running through the exact same neighborhoods, watching the pace group slip away from me and feeling desperate and wanting to give up.  This year, I felt strong and good and had plenty left to give.

The course started heading uphill a little bit at mile 10, but it wasn’t a big deal after Rock the Parkway a few weeks ago.  My pace slowed a hair, but not a lot.

Somewhere around mile 11, I fell in step with two older guys.  It was obvious one (was pacing the other, and he was being really motivational.  He kept cheering for everyone who passed them.  We kept trading positions, and on a downhill, he told me, “stretch out your stride, you can ride this one hard!” and so I did.

After that, we started chit-chatting a bit, and I told him, “I am going to PR today.” 

We spent the next two miles encouraging one another and cheering for everyone who passed us.  It was a really great distraction!

Ultimately, the friend needed a walk break and I pulled ahead, but major thanks to Kevin and Fred for keeping me going! 

I don’t really know what happened the last mile.  I felt fine, but it was extremely windy and uphill and I guess that slowed me down more than it felt like it did. 

I also apparently picked up an extra .15 somewhere in mile 11 or 12, because until then, my Garmin was right in line with the mile markers.  Annoying, because that makes a difference when you’re shooting to PR!

And PR I did.  By 5 seconds.

There…was no finish line.  Just some mats, and then a chute, and I was like, “oh, I guess I’m done.”  I don’t know why there wasn’t, because there was one last year.

I got my medal and laid down on the ground for a minute because I got dizzy when I started walking.

Also, a fireman hit on me.  He invited me to join him on the “warming bus.”  Uh, no.  I then realized I had gloves on (God bless the $0.50 Target throwaways) and my wedding ring wasn’t visible.  I was like, “uh, I’m going to go warm up in my car thirty feet away.  Where I will go home." 

I also cried, a little bit, because I was so proud.  2:13:32 has haunted me through four half marathons, and now the magic number has been taken down. 

So I drove home and Tim took pictures in all my neon glory.  (I wore some DIY armwarmers for the race, made from the cut off sleeves of a compression shirt that doesn’t fit anymore.)

Final thoughts?  I’m proud of my PR today.  This race could have turned into a shitshow quickly but I held it together and pushed through.  I wish it was a bigger PR, sure, but don’t we always?  I am also officially convinced that neon+fruit punch Gatorade=lucky. 

I am off to destroy some food.  The best part of racing in April is that you get to refuel with a nice Cadbury Crème Egg.

Thanks for all your encouragement along the way!

Although I am of the mindset of “just fuck it” right now with regard to my weight.  Bigger fish to fry, and all that. 

Breakfast was the usual.  Was given half a chocolate pastry by my boss. Went out for lunch with a co-worker/friend, had a mini pizza with pesto and spinach and a side salad.  Trail mix for a snack.  Not great, but whatever.  I’m running a half marathon in the morning.

Speaking of which.  Only in Kansas are race expos held at Bass Pro Shops.  This ain’t Boston.

The organization of this race is kind of a joke.  The “expo” is one day only, from 12-7 pm.  Meaning that anyone who has a job has exactly two hours to pick up their packets.  Oh, and it’s in the middle of a very trafficky area, so it took me an hour to get there from my office.  Awesome.

Also, I have never seen an expo where the largest exhibitor was an insurance company giving away chip clips.  But alas.

90% of the reason I’m running this race is because the rebranding is adorable and I love the logos.

After I picked up my bib, I surprisingly did not do a great deal of recreational shopping in the fudge, ammo, and jerky sections of Bass Pro.   I drove home, which took about 45 minutes.  Ugh.

Except on my way home, all I could think about was that I NEEDED to race in a neon pink shirt tomorrow.  I don’t know why; I’m not a pink girl.  But I wore this fabulous neon pink nail polish today (Essie’s Pink Parka) and got tons of compliments and figured I’d go for coordinating.

PLUS, this is the race I PR-ed at last year, and the night before that race I also bought an obnoxious neon shirt.  So…tradition?

Yep.  I’m superstitious.

I also have determined that fruit punch is my lucky Gatorade flavor and I cannot race well in purple nail polish.

Disclaimer: don’t try this at home.  I may die of chafing tomorrow, although I’ve never really chafed anywhere aside from my ass crack and under my boobs.  I like to live dangerously.

And now I just consumed a ginormous bowl of pasta and meatballs.  Carb loading and all that.

So, half marathon in the morning.  I’m honestly not feeling great—I’ve had a dull sinus headache and scratchy throat all day, and my shin has been throbbing a bit.   But I’ll go out, hang with the 2:10 pacers and see how long I can hold on this time.    This is the course I set my PR on last year, and I’m not gonna lie: it will suck if I clock a slower time after a year, a marathon, and four other half marathons worth of training.   Setting a new PR will require me to best my half time from two weeks ago by about 5 minutes, so…it’ll be tricky, although this course is much flatter..

PS: I know a lot of my readers/Twitter followers have mentioned that they’re running tomorrow—if you see me in the obnoxious neon pink, come say hi! 

Are you superstitious?  What are your pre-race superstitions?

Ugh, ugh, ugh.

I just feel like April has been an epic shitshow for eating and exercise (and, consequently, weight).  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE running half marathons, but…

• March 28-April 1: tapering
• April 2: half marathon
• April 3-6: recovering from half/light workouts
• April 7-10: traveling
• April 11-15: tapering again
• April 16: another half marathon

So, I’ve pretty much been tapering, recovering, or traveling for the last three weeks.   I feel like I’ve been doing nothing but light elliptical workouts so as not to trash my legs.  I miss hard, sweaty workouts!

Also, today’s eats sucked because I was an idiot.

I threw my cereal milk in my lunch bag today, but…no cereal.

I had to stop for gas anyway, and picked up some HFCS-laden Raisin Bran Crunch at the gas station.

Options were slim.  It was this, donuts, honey buns, or a hot dog from the roller grill.

Fail.

At least I remembered my lunch.

Cheese, pineapple, egg white sandwich, Greek yogurt.

After work I lifted upper body weights for 20 minutes and spent 20 minutes on the arc trainer.  It was boring, but my legs feel fine.

I’d planned on making black bean burgers, steamed veggies, and brown rice for dinner.

And then, in idiot moment number two, I realized we had no black beans.  We ALWAYS have black beans.  Except for today.

So Tim suggested hot dogs and macaroni and cheese and I went with it.  We didn’t have any other decent protein source in the house that could be thawed quickly and I was too tired to be more creative.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.  Today was kind of a lose.

However, I did do something I’m excited about!

Since I started blogging in August 2009, I’ve had “take a swimming lesson class” listed as one of my Goals.   

I can swim, sort of—I am an excellent backstroker, can tread water for days, and do some sort of half-wit freestyle.  I did a bit of this back when I lost weight, but haven’t been to a pool since late 2008, probably.  But I have always envied people who swim laps.  It’s so peaceful and I think it would be a great way to cross-train, especially in the summer!  I have access to a college indoor/outdoor pool, so why not use it?

Anyway, the exciting part is that I contacted the aquatics director about getting a few lessons—either classes or one-on-one.  I don’t think I need a LOT of help, but I do have some trouble coordinating the whole kicking/stroking/breathing thing.  Hopefully I’ll hear back tomorrow and can start swimming this summer!  (If I don’t, I’m going to figure it out on my own.)

Stupid idiot menu:

Make me feel better: what was your idiot moment today?

Yesterday I went through kind of a mental crisis.  Okay, that’s kind of dramatic.  But whatever.

Registration for the Nike Women’s Marathon opened.  I want to run it.  I have to go to California for work anyway, might as well go a few days early and run a race in a beautiful city with awesome swag.

But then the lottery opened, and I sat, paralyzed before a checkbox:

Half or full.  Half or full.

Since the Chicago Marathon, I’ll admit: I’ve had a hankering to run another one.  I have a beef with the distance now.  I want to run a marathon where I’m not injured and dehydrated out of my gourd.  I want to run a strong marathon.  Chicago wasn’t that.

But the thing is…I kind of hated marathon training.

I was cranky. 

I got injured.

I was constantly hungry and gained weight.

I was told I was too fat to run. 

I felt constant pressure to run miles upon miles and it was torture.

I was anxious.  Like, can’t eat, stomach in knots, crying anxious.

Lifting?  Cross-training?  What’s that?

Running lost all it’s joy for me.  Granted, I’m not one of those people who experiences extreme euphoria while running ANYWAY, but usually I like it just fine.  Beats sitting in traffic after work.

But yet, something in the back of my head just kept saying, "YOU HAVE TO RUN ANOTHER MARATHON."

I felt like not being a GOOD marathon runner made me somehow less of an athlete.  Like I was a bad blogger or whatever because I wasn’t thrilled to run 20 miles on a Saturday morning in September heat.  Like I had something to prove.

I also, probably stupidly, feel kind of like it’s now or never for me to do a full.  We want babies, and soon, and I don’t think I’m hardcore enough to run a marathon while pregnant.   And I doubt I’ll have the random spare time lying around to train for one with a baby/toddler.

But.

Since December, really, all my running has been focused towards half training.  I don’t have a schedule beyond do a little speedwork one day, bump up your long run a little bit each week, lift some, cross-train some. 

If I don’t feel like running one day, well, I don’t. 

And I’ve run two pretty successful halfs on that philosophy.  Not PRs, but I’ve finished both feeling accomplished, proud, fit, and strong.

And I’ve lifted.  And cross-trained.  And enjoyed lazy Saturday mornings eating pancakes in bed.  And NOT popped Tums and ibuprofen like candy.  And I’m HAPPY.  I have balance in my life.

So.

When people are panicking and all, “I’m injured and my marathon is in a week!” my advice is always the same: “There will be other marathons.”

So, it’s time to take my own advice.  There will be other marathons, and I’m not ready to mentally commit to another one just yet.  Running a marathon out of vengeance or as a pissing contest isn’t going to get me anywhere.   I’m in this for life; I know I’ll do 26.2 again someday, but for now, I’m happy with 13.1.

So, hi!  I’ve been gone for a few days.  Specifically, on Friday, right after work, we drove down to the in-laws’ house with my sister-in-law, Christie, and nephew, Henry.

But first?  This happened.

I totally had a cat in my office.

Long story short: we thought we found an adopter for Bubs, but they wanted to do a trial run weekend to see how their dog reacted.  They spent three days trying, but it didn’t work out.  So, we’re back to the drawing board on trying to find him a home.

(Note: as sweet as he is, three cats and a dog is kind of pushing our sanity limits.  If months and months go by and nobody’s interested, we’ll keep him, but for now, we’re still trying.)

But anyway.

We met our nephew for the first time.  And I am in love.

Here is the point when my uterus exploded:

He loves babies AND dogs.

I’m a lucky lady.  (Sorry, Winston.)

Anyway, we spent most of the weekend reveling in the cute.

We mastered the art of peek-a-boo.

Henry cried, Tim yelled, “Just give him what he wants!” and offered him $20 in a panic to stop.

Sigh.

He’s the sweetest, happiest baby and we’re pretty thrilled to be his aunt and uncle.

Um, eating habits were not great.  But I don’t really mind.   I had more important things to think about.

(Like “omigodiwantababy wtfbbq,” specifically.)

Oh, hey, and I’m running a half marathon next Saturday.  I’d love to PR.

OH!  And today is my half-aversary.

One year ago today, I ran my first half marathon.  That race is my standing PR: 2:13:32, a number that seriously haunts me.

My second half marathon was a big old crapbag.  2:33:33, pretty much died at the finish line, sore for days.  Underfueled, dehydrated, hot and humid.  Not fun.

My third half marathon was the Disney Princess Half in February.  I had a great time and ran a strong race, though I chose a conservative pace.  I finished in 2:22:08.

My fourth half was the Rock the Parkway Half just a week ago.  I started strong, but the hills hurt my pace and I finished in 2:18 on the nose.

I also ran a full marathon, a couple of 5Ks and a 4 miler in there.  Not too bad.

So…we’ll see what Saturday brings.  I’ve done the course before and it’s fairly flat.  As usual, I’ll be chasing 2:10 and/or a new PR. 

Anyway.

Do you have nieces and nephews?  What is your favorite way to entertain a baby?

Lesson learned: eat cupcakes and gorge on chips and salsa, lose weight.  What the hell, body?

Cereal for breakfast.

I had to go to a thingy for work from 11 am to noon, which is when I’m most likely to snack randomly.  They had a spread of delicious looking food—cookies, brownies, chips and dip, cheese and crackers—but I (mostly stuck) to the fruit trays.  I did have maybe 3 potato chips.  The fruit was really great and a nice refreshing snack!

Lunch was ordered in from The Mixx, one of my favorite places to get a great salad in KC.  I haven’t loved their soups and sandwiches, but the make-your-own salad never does me wrong!

I didn’t snap a picture, but mine had spinach, carrots, dried cranberries, goat cheese, chicken, and a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette.  It was delish!

Larabar smeared with PB for a snack:

After work, I had kind of a weird workout.

I was planning on running outside, but suddenly, Kansas City is in bloom and ohmygod my sinuses might explode any minute.  Zyrtec is failing me.  So, I went to the gym and hopped on a treadmill.

After a mile and a half at a 9:40 pace, my legs just felt kind of sluggish and tired, and I decided I wasn’t going to push too hard considering a) I ran a half marathon four days ago and b) I’m running another half marathon in nine days.  So, I hopped off, and got on a  bike for eight minutes, and then I was like, “But…I wanna run.”  So I hopped back on the treadmill for another 2 miles, at a slower 10:00/mile pace.

So, in total, 3.5 miles of running in 34:30, 8 minutes of stationary biking, 490 calories burned, three sweat-mopping paper towels used, and one episode of Lost watched.

(And a partridge in a pear tree!)

(Fact: For the first seven or so years of my life I thought it was called a fartridge.  Nobody corrected me because they thought it was funny.)

Then I made a delicious vegetarian dinner. 

Black beans loosely based on this recipe, brown rice, and a sprinkle of cheese.

(Tim was like, “This is really good!   We should add some steak.”  Vegetarian meal FAIL.)

How about some awesome race pictures from Saturday?

It’s really appalling how poor my running form is.  Apparently I run without bending my knees or picking my feet up off the ground?   Huh.

I am treating myself to a few new sports bras—I’ve had the same ones for almost three years now and they are starting to perpetually stink.  They’ve also either stretched out or my boobs have gotten smaller, because I’ve been feeling a bit floopy lately.

Gotta go pack—I’ll be back on Sunday night! 

What’s your favorite meatless meal?

In twelve days.

I need an Intervention.

(Source.)

With a name like “Wickedly Fast Half,” how could I NOT do it?  $50, in town, and what the hell else am I doing that weekend?  I won a little money at the casino this morning (AFTER church, thankyouverymuch) and took it as a sign.

Maybe 24 hours ago, I was saying to Tim, “Yeah, I’m done with halves until the fall.   Maybe gonna do some 5Ks, lift some weights, take it easy.  It’ll be nice to chill out a bit.”

Snort.

I PRed on this course last year for my first half.  It’s flat, except the end, and I admit, I got suckered into the cute Oz Marathon rebranding.  Seriously, check out the site.  It’s cute.  (Hopefully the t-shirts and medals are better than last year.)  I know the course is boring, but the people are friendly and I’ll do anything for a medal.

I swear—I PINKY SWEAR—that this is my last half until the fall.  

Now, how does one train for back-to-back-ish halfs?

Post mac and cheese yesterday, I refueled with a smoothie (frozen strawberries+OJ+yogurt).

Dinner was another win.  Chipotle, Boulevard Irish Ale, and chips and salsa.

Topped off with a Single Serve Ooey Gooey Brownie a la Kier.  With peanut butter in the middle.

On tap for tonight is some crockpot pulled pork.  We stuffed ourselves silly at the casino brunch buffet this morning, so we’re probably not going to eat until later!

So…how do you train for races that are close together?  I’ll be visiting the in-laws next weekend, so I can’t get another long run in!

Welp, half marathon #4 is in the books.

I just realized that in the last year I have run four half marathons and a full marathon.  That is pretty bananas!   That’s almost one major race every other month.  I’ve also done three 5Ks and a 4-miler on top of that.  Not too shabby.

Anyway, I had PB&J for breakfast today.  I was feeling extra confident today because our new church delivered us a loaf of bread yesterday, and the bag had a Bible quote on it, so obviously this was not your average bread.  I like to think it was a little lucky.

Also, this bread is really good.

My wonderful husband got out of bed early on a Saturday to play chauffeur.  We left the house by 6:30, and made it to the starting line by 7:05.  It was chilly!  I think it was around 42 degrees at this point with some decent wind.  I wore throwaway gloves and the random Pittburgh Half Marathon long-sleeved tech t-shirt I got for free at the RnR Chicago expo over my Chicago Marathon short-sleeved shirt.  I figured I wouldn’t be heartbroken if I had to part with it along the course.

As soon as I got out of the car, I heard someone ask, “Are you Brie?” and it was one of my readers!  Hi, Rachel!  I hope you got your 1:50 today!

Other than the chill, it was a beautiful, clear day.

I started with the 2:10 pace group, but didn’t stick with them for super long.  They were taking long breaks at water stations, and I knew that wouldn’t work for me.  For the first half of the race, I was running probably 2 minutes ahead of the 2:10 pacers.

The first half of the course was basically a constant slow uphill.  There were a few small downhills, but it was basically a straight slog up.  I ditched my throwaway gloves at mile 4 and took off my long-sleeved tee and tied it around my waist at mile 5 since I was starting to warm up.  (I was going to toss the shirt, and then thought, hey, I just ran a half with a frigging tutu around my waist, this is nothing!)

Around the halfway point, the hills started going from tolerable to WTF level with steeper inclines.  I let the 2:10 pace group pass me for awhile, then caught up with them at a water station around mile 7, and then let them pass me again.  It was a little rough watching them go, but at some point, I just realized that I can only do so much.

Miles 7 through 10 were rough. The pacing strategy handout on the website describes miles 7 and 8 as “rolling” and miles 9 and 10 as “gently rolling.”   I honestly enjoyed having hills a bit because they kept things interesting—what goes uphill must come down, which was nice—but they were just unfortunately placed.   I always have my hardest time, mentally, in halves from miles 7-9, and the steep inclines were hurting me.  I also really had to pee and my stomach was bugging me a little.

(Also, hi to the couple of readers that said hi to me during that point in the race!  I think I need to get a Brie Fit racing shirt.)

At that point, I started taking a few short walk breaks—under 20 seconds every half mile.  This really got me through those tough miles and I did this from miles 7 to 11.  My average pace slowed, but not by much.

Thankfully, there was one big hill in mile 11, and once we reached the top it was basically straight downhill for the rest of the race.  (Thank. Goodness.)

I ran the rest of the way from the top of that hill at mile 11.5 through the finish at 13.1.  Tim was waiting at mile 13 with the camera and took this epic picture.

Running is super fun, you guys.

I crossed the finish line strong with an official chip time of 2:18:00.  I grabbed my medal, water, and a space blanket and collapsed on the grass.

The medal  was still in a plastic baggie, my one beef with this race—can’t you unwrap them and put them on us?  Every other race I’ve done with medals, no matter how pathetic, will put them on your neck.  If they can do that for 30,000 people in Chicago, they can do it for 5,000 here.

Anyway, the medal is yooge and I like it.  I also enjoyed the space blanket.  The last few miles were windy and I was feeling a bit chilly.

(Random: I got a pair of Oakleys with a gift card for running and they are pretty fantastic.  They don’t budge or fog when you’re running, AND I no longer look like the d-bag running in giant tortoiseshell sunglasses like I am in all my other race recaps.  They are a sound investment!)

Afterwards, Tim drove us home (with windows open, because man, I smelled), and I showered (with soap, lots of it, per his request) and then had a recovery cocktail.

Chocolate milk.  It upset my stomach, so I waited awhile, but now I’m putting on my favorite indulgence for lunch:

You guys, this would be my last meal if I was on death row.  (Or at least a part of it.) Amazing.

And because it’s been way too long since I’ve regaled you with a picture of a giant blister, here you go!

I feel pretty good aside from aforementioned blister and a couple of toenails that need to fall off.  My legs feel a million times better than they did after my first half.

SO.  It wasn’t 2:10, and it wasn’t a PR, but it was my second fastest half to date, and I shaved about 5 minutes off my last half just a month ago on a MUCH more difficult course.  I feel pretty awesome about that.  I felt strong for most of it, and tackled some pretty gnarly hills without doing much hill training.  I also finished with very little gas in the tank—maybe not totally on empty, but I think my fuel light was definitely on.  So to speak.

I don’t know if this a problem or a strength, but I mentioned to Tim on the way home that I just can’t get too terribly worked up about race times.  I’m running distances that make most people go, “WTF?” and eight minutes does not change how awesome that is.  I’m proud of myself.  The fact remains that for the first 25 years of my life, I did not think there was any way I could accomplish the things I’m doing now, and I’m not going to split hairs.

Anyway, I’m not currently sure what’s up next on my schedule—I don’t think I’ll do any more halves until the fall, and am just going to work on speed and weight training for the summer.  I plan to race some shorter distances, but nothing too long!

Thanks for all your support, guys!

Annnnd it’s carb loading time!

I’ve been eating a little more  carby the last two days (there were some Cheerios last night after I posted), and today is an official carbfest.  It may not be scientific, but I know what works for me, so I do it.

Calorie watching resumes Monday.

For breakfast today, I had an extra big helping of Kashi and mixed in a few dried cranberries for fun.  And cinnamon.  I need to incorporate more cinnamon in my diet because I have borderline high cholesterol.  (It’s genetic—my dad, the health nut, had terrible cholesterol too!)

I snacked on a tiny banana with my mid-morning coffee.

Somehow, the peel was really thick, so the banana inside was really small.  It was odd.

For lunch, I had some egg frittatas (I’m loving these!), yogurt mess, half a PB sammich, and half of this thing of grapes.

Someone brought a huge tray of delicious cookies in for us, and I was all, “Sweet!  It’s carb loading day!  I’m totally going to have a lunch dessert today.”  And then I went into Sparkpeople and realized there were 340 stinking calories in that cookie.  So I had half at lunchtime, and ate the other half later with the rest of my grapes instead of the snack of trail mix I had planned.

I also used this handy dandy free tool to create a pace band.  I covered it in Scotch tape and will be sporting it tomorrow.

Nailpolish is Lollipop by Essie, which is a fun, bright, kind of orangey red.   I’m a big fan!

After work I continued carbing up with homemade pizza.

Warning: don’t try this at home:

So.  Let’s talk goals for tomorrow.

1. Obviously I want to go sub-2:10.  That was the goal for my first half marathon almost exactly one year ago, and I still haven’t achieved it.  It’s time.
2. I would be reasonably happy if I set a new PR, though.  That means I have to beat 2:13:32.
3. I want to finish with nothing left in the tank.  I want to leave it all out there on the course.  (“It”=everything but poop.  I will not defecate in public to achieve a goal.  Sorry.)

Which leads me to strategies for tomorrow.

1. Cling to the 2:10 pacers for dear life…
2. …except through aid stations.  The race materials say that they’ll be walking for “10-60 seconds” at aid stations, and I’ve figured out that I just need to keep running.
3. Gatorade in the handheld.  Seemed to work well for me last time, and if it ain’t broke…I’ll have an emergency Gu on me, but it’ll be an “in case of serious energy drain” thing.
4. Save it for the downhills.  The words “rolling hills” and “flat for Kansas City” have been used in describing this race to me.  I admittedly haven’t done much hill training.  So…I’m going to consciously go slow uphill and save energy to ride them down fast and make up any time.
5. Use my head.  I can usually talk myself into or out of a good race in my head.  No excuses.  I don’t have a running mantra per se, but I tend to think logically when I run about what is going right and what I need to work on.  I give myself pep talks and I think about all of you crazy readers and how I want to give you a good race report to read! 

For a good time, check out 100 of the Most Ridiculous Yahoo! Answers Posts, as given to you by Tim.  Hilarious.  He recommends 24, 61, 73 and 90, especially.

And now, I’m going to hit publish and head to the grocery store!    I’ll see you after the race tomorrow!Wish me luck!

What is your running (or cycling, or swimming, or life) mantra?