Impromptu Half-Marathon

I was talking a client of mine the other night. She is running her first marathon at the Little Rock Marathon on Sunday. Through her influence and direction, I checked with the Little Rock Marathon, and there was a slew of people who were selling their bib numbers and these would be available for transfer. Long story short, I registered to run the Little Rock Marathon - 1/2 marathon THIS WEEKEND! Am I excited? YES! Am I nervous? Yes! Do I feel crazy because I haven't been training at all to race?! YES, YES, YES! But, I'm so happy and excited that I get to run. I don't care about my time. I run for the medals, peanut butter, and cupcakes (of course!). Oh, I run because I enjoy it, too. :) But, there is certainly NOTHING wrong with cupcakes and peanut butter!

I'm such the procrastinator, I didn't get signed up for the Half before it filled up. Little Rock is a Boston Marathon qualifier, so it is pretty big! This will be MUCH bigger than Soaring Wings, so I'm a bit nervous. But, it should be fun! I need to get new running ear buds and make sure the Running playlist on my iPod is filled to the MAX!

LITTLE ROCK, here I come! 

 Running - 2 miles. I wanted to do around 4, but I was SO tired after such a long week/day!

Breakfast
Steel Cut Oats w/ apple butter, craisins, almond butter, and almond milk
Orange juice mixed with Arbonne's Digestion Plus (LOVE that stuff!)

Lunch
Arbonne's Chocolate Protein Shake, mixed with PB2, Arbonne's Daily Fiber Boost, and Almond Milk

Dinner
GIGANTIC baked potato topped w/ Smart Balance butter, cheddar cheese, and salsa for kicks!

Snack
I may or MAY NOT have shared a Dove bar with the kiddo. Ok, I did. And it as GREAT!



Daily Encouragement

Best 2013 Half Marathons per Self Magazine

I was reading this Self Magazine article and it really struck me! Running a half marathon is such a growing experience in its own right, but can you imagine running a half marathon on the Great Wall of China?! I'm still trying to wrap my head around even the notion of that experience. There were multiple locations mentioned in the article, Indianapolis, Great Wall, China, Miami Beach, Los Angeles, New York City, Montreal, Oslo, San Diego, and Las Vegas.

Indianapolis
OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon

Great Wall, China
Great Wall Half Marathon

Miami Beach
Allstate Life Insurance Miami Beach 13.1 Marathon

Los Angeles
The LA Marathon

New York City
Allstate Life Insurance New York City 13.1 Marathon

Montreal, Canada
Oasis Rock 'n' Roll Montreal Marathon & Half-Marathon

Oslo, Norway
Rock 'n' Roll Oslo Half-Marathon

San Diego
Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon & Half-Marathon
to Benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Las Vegas
Zappos.com Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon & Half-Marathon

I've never seen the Great Wall, but that would be BEYOND fascinating. I have visited Norway before and it is beautiful! I've never seen more vivid and beautiful colors. 

What would be your favorite half marathon destination?

• P90X - Shoulders and Back session at 4:30 am! :::yikes:::
• Running - 3 miles 1% incline, 30 min (to be done tonight!)
• P90X - Ab RipperX (to be done tonight!)

Breakfast

• Cranberry Almond Oatmeal aka my new (again) favorite :) I couldn't wait to go to sleep last night so I could have it for breakfast. Sad, but true.

• Tropicana Trop-50 (not a favorite of mine, I think I'll stick to a cleaner juice from now on) mixed with Arbonne Digestion Plus (LOVE!)

Lunch

• Arbonne Protein Chocolate Shake, mixed w/ PB2

Dinner

• Arbonne Protein Chocolate Shake, mixed with PB2 

Snack

• Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt with blueberries

A Case of the Mondays

Okay, anytime someone references the fact that it's a monday, I can't help but have that line from Office Space run through my head.

Red stapler, anyone?

I've been toying with different ideas for the blog, but I think I'm going to start documenting my food. Sometimes I'll have recipes, but not always. I don't always cook, sometimes I'm just too darn tired. Anyhow, here's the breakdown of my day!

Breakfast

Chunky Monkey Almond Oatmeal, minus the cocoa. Sadly, I'm out. 

Snack

Yoplait Vanilla Greek yogurt

Apple

Lunch

Seasoned, baked chicken breast

Banana

Enjoy Life Apple Pie bar

So, for lunch I planned on having rice with my lunch. And then I forgot. So, I ended up having my 2nd snack with my chicken, because I was a starvin' marvin. And now it's past my snack time and... I'm hungry.

Dinner

Hash browns - with ketchup, of course. You CANNOT have hash browns with out ketchup.

2 Turkey Sausage patties

3 egg whites, scrambled

And a handful of gummy bears for dessert. Because, I can.

The kid and I love breakfast for dinner. My mom always called it an, "upside down day." I don't know why, but breakfast foods at dinner time is fun and an easy way to change of the routine!

I don't think I'll work out, tonight. I'm still pretty stiff and sore from Soaring Wings. I think some good stretching and muscle rolling is in order for tonight!

My first half marathon

Saturday, October 27th was my first half marathon. It was my second one to train for, but I got a stress fracture during training in January. So, I decided to take another stab at it. My ortho told me he didn't think I was built to be a distance runner (which I still don't understand... my bones I guess??) But, obviously I didn't listen to him! :) My leg where my stress fracture was still got sore regularly during training over the past few months, so I decided to aim at just running 60% of the race. My only goal was to finish. My longest run during training this time was 6 miles, which was fine since I didn't intend to run the full 13.1. After the Komen race last week, my leg was pretty sore. I was only able to get a 3 and 1 mile run in during this past week.

Running socks crack me up - Left and Right! Pre-race pics! Honestly, the full one of me was so my boyfriend knew what I was wearing and what to look for amongst the zillion other runners!

That brings me to yesterday morning. I was flat out terrified. It was pretty darn cold (38 degrees), so I knew that would hamper my breathing (asthma). I basically had two factors working against me, my leg and my asthma. I just reassured myself I needed to just finish and not worry about time. Before the race, my boyfriend was texting me. He's a basketball coach, so he understands my nervousness, but he's not a runner. He just reminded me not to worry about time, just do what I can. I needed to hear that from someone else! Whether I walked, ran or crawled - I was going to finish! I'd rather not crawl, though!

Even putting on my bib, I was shaking. After my b-line to the bag check and porta-potty, I went straight to my corral. My plan was to run for 4 minutes and walk for 1, through out the race. I kept an eye on my pace, so I didn't get too tired early on. I realised during the race, that I seem to run a lot faster outside. At one point I checked my pace and I was sub 9:00 - I wanted to keep it around a 10:00 pace.  My leg was doing good and my breathing was fine, despite the cold. I decided I didn't need to run 4, walk 1, like I had originally planned. The course was riddled with hills, and I soon realised that trying to run uphill, taxed my breathing. Around mile 5, I noticed I began to wheeze, so I used my inhaler that I kept on hand. I decided to walk up hill, and run the rest. I kept that plan through out the race and used my inhaler about ever 1.5-2 miles.


Around mile 10, I saw my boyfriend - standing there in his cozy jacket, sipping on Starbucks. Ahh- spectators! HA! Not long after this, I started getting that pain in my side from dehydration. Aid stations were set up every 1.5 miles, and I took advantage of those about every 3 miles, but I apparently I needed some more. The pain was pretty strong, so I walked about a mile to the next aid station and got gatorade and water. After a couple minutes, I was back to running. I hydrated at each station through the remainder of the course.

My favorites:
High 5's from kids along the race course
The beautiful homes with halloween decor and signs to cheer us on
The sorority girls handing out gummy bears
The lady holding a sign, "You thought this was a 5k??"
My boyfriend at mile 10
My bootcamp and Beach Body instructor around mile 6
Seeing folks I knew at the race - I love being in good company

At the last mile, I booked it! I wanted to finish strong, besides the faster I ran, the faster I'd be done! Once across the finish, I thought I was going to throw up! But, I grabbed a snickers and banana. My calves were cramping, so I stretched it out. My boyfriend finally caught up with me, and we just walked around a bit.

I spent the rest of the day laying on the couch, rolling my muscles, and eating. My GOODNESS, I was starving. We rounded out the day with  hot wings, fries and spinach-artichoke dip. Gluten free? No, but I was so hungry and frankly didn't care. I felt sick right after, but darn it, I got some hot wings!

Forgotten lunches and 1-day until Soaring Wings

Yes, this happened. Yesterday, as a matter of fact. I always bring my lunch to work, but it just so happened I forgot mine. I tossed around the idea of just waiting until I got home, but I decided that hungry + headache + low blood sugar = a cranky momma. Helping the kid with homework in NO way can fit in that equation, either. So I headed next door to see what I could scout out. This was from a local bakery that has some AMAZING food. I figured picking this, the Greek sampler, was probably one of my better choices for dining out. It was pretty darn good, too. I pretty much did inhale the whole thing. Except the pepperocinis. I'm just not a fan.

I think tonight, I'll load up on pizza and a salad. Tomorrow is Soaring Wings, AKA my first half marathon. I'm excited and nervous. Well, I just don't want to talk about it too much (yup... THAT nervous!) I was able to pick up my race packet early. Here's the event shirt. It's pretty darn cute - and comfy.

And it's only Tuesday...

Do you ever have one of those long days that just drags on and on? I've kept pretty busy today, but now I've just hit a wall. I could seriously crawl in bed, right now. But, it's only mid-afternoon. I still have to go run, do some homework, and make supper. Anyhow, enough of that!

I ran on Sunday, after the race. I planned on getting in a long run before Soaring Wings, but that didn't quite pan out. I guess I pushed myself a bit harder than normal, because the pain from my old injury was flaring up. I got in about 3 miles and then hit the weights. I spent the rest of the afternoon icing, and watching TV. :)

Did you notice my ugly legs? Scars from other running incidents. Oh, goodness. I should just live in a bubble or wear a bubble suit.

Well, I have to tell you about my dinner on Friday. This is the first race where I knew I couldn't have pasta, or anything else gluten-full. After scrounging around in my kitchen for a bit, I realized I had rice pasta. All of the sudden, I had it; a very clean and filling supper!

Rice Pasta with an Avocado Cream Sauce

Ingredients
Rice pasta, spaghetti
1/2 Avocado, mashed
1 TB Parmesan cheese, grated
2 TB milk (almond, cow, whatever suits you)
3 oz grilled chicken breast, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Prepare pasta according to the instructions. In a separate sauce pan, add avocado, cheese, and milk. Heat ingredients on medium heat, stirring often. Once the ingredients have heated thoroughly, they should form a sauce. Add chicken to sauce and heat. Top pasta with cream sauce and enjoy!

Race for the Cure Recap

Thanks to my sister, for making this! :)

Saturday was the Race for the Cure in Little Rock. I have regularly participated in this event, but this year was very special to me. I lost my mom to breast cancer in August of this year, so I was bound and determined to give it my all. I signed up for the competitive, chip-timed race, which is something I haven't done before.  My (cold) Saturday started at 5 am - I'm a morning person, thankfully! Breakfast was my usual of oats and coffee, yum. I let the kid sleep while I was got ready.  I had picked up a shirt the night before, but I didn't try it on until Saturday morning. It wasn't supposed to get out of the 40s during the race, so I knew I had to improvise. So, I went with my pink and white tank, and layered my race shirt over it. It is what it is, right?

I got to the event around 6:30, and it was already packed. I couldn't believe it! My race started earlier than the others, so I assumed that I would be ahead of the crowd.I was freezing my little sparkly tail off, but I knew I'd warm up when the race started.

First stop.... you guessed it! Don't let this fool you, the line before the event was long, but my fingers were too numb to get my camera out. :)

 There were a few familiar faces, but I was so nervous I didn't pay attention to much! There were some serious runners, but I just knew I should do my best. And no, I don't consider myself a serious runner. I'm a quasi-runner. :) I wasn't worried too much about wearing cotton, since I had the wicking shirt underneath and it was only 3 miles. I didn't think I would get hot during that distance and it was already so cold outside.

After all of the opening prayers, etc, the event started. I was off! I started to surprise myself, because I was passing other women. I didn't think I was that fast, though. I was just running. At the 1-mile mark, my Nike+ app gave me my pace, 8:45. What!? I was totally shocked. That's about a minute faster than my normal "good" pace. And then, I started to get hot. I thought about just running through it because I had my phone in my arm band, strapped on over my long sleeved shirt. Well, crud. I saw another girl stop and take off her top layer. Finally, I stopped. I didn't want to lose my race shirt, so I just tied it on my waist. And I was off again. 

It was SO awesome to see all of the men, women, and kids out there cheering everyone on. It is so impressive to see a community come together like that. I was beside myself. No one knew I was running for my mom, or my family's story, but I saw so many people with "i'm running for..." or "running in memory of...". No one knew me and my story, but they all know the pain. That's something that me and the 40,000 or so other people there all shared in common.

During the race, I had to stop and walk a few times. The cold weather was getting to me, because of my asthma. My lung were hurting! I knew this would set me back some on my time, but I knew I needed to take care of myself. How embarrassing would it be to pass out at the race!?

My official time was 31:29 and average pace of 10:09, but my Nike+ app had me at 9:55. Considering all of my stopping and/or walking, I'm pretty darn happy with that. I was hoping to finish in 31:00. So, I'm pretty content.

All of the festivities at the event were fun. Yoplait was there giving out yogurts and had a fun little photo booth. Ford was giving out bags, and had fun cars. I always love walking around the races and seeing the companies that have come to support it.Spit for the Cure was there, so I participated in that. Mom did it years ago, and I finally got my chance, too. Here are a few photos I got after the race. 

The Little Rock firefighters put on a bit of a dance show! There was also a pink firetruck, but I was too busy running to get a picture.

Some of the tents set up.

Mmm, yogurt.

I got these fun little eye blacks from the New Balance booth. I picked up a pair for the kid, too.

I got a pic with Dad after the race. He has a fractured leg, but he insisted on getting out of the wheelchair.

I left my tag on my shoes for the rest of the day. THAT'S how happy I was about my race. :)

Once again, the Race for the Cure brought together and amazing event for women who have fought breast cancer, the ones who have survived, and those who lost the battle. I did this for my mom. This is us in 2008 at the Race for the Cure.