Long time no blog...

Wow, it has been a while hasn't it? I hope you haven't been holding your breath.

A few updates...

• I completed my first half marathon, in one piece. Final time.... 3hrs 3mins...and some seconds. Goal was to finish in 2:45, but hey.... I started crying around mile 10, so I'm happy I finished.

Here's my recap from the race....

My first Half-Marathon... mile-by-mile, play-by-play:MILE 1: great, comfortable pace, looking around at all the people, no pain. My running partner, J and I started our alphabet game to pass the time and we were feeling strong. We got to the publix mile approaching mile 2 and we caught up with the 2:45 pace group. We realized they were doing 2:1 intervals and I breathed a sigh of relief…as in, maybe we can actually keep up with them. (Not so much) MILE 2: is where I hurt my foot on our last training run, so I didn’t have great memories, but I was pain free and feeling strong, so we powered through mile 2 into mile 3 MILE 3: smooth sailing, I knew were coming up on my favorite part of the route, so I was looking forward to that and I still felt strong. We passed hydration station #2 with our awesome BGR sisters cheering us on as we approached mile 4. (Don’t stop the people are watching…lol) MILE 4-5: I was still feeling good, but was def starting to feel the burn in my calfs a little. I love the Edgewood to Eulid stretch, we incorporate that stretch into our regular runs, so I was looking forward to that part, but then all of a sudden, we veer off of Edgewood, go around my fav part and then turn back onto Euclid, just in time to approach mile 5 and climb the filthy Gu stained streets of little 5. But I just go with it. At this point, I was a little tired and ready for mile 6, my running partner and I had a plan, we run 6, walk 5 minutes, run 3, walk 5 mins, and then run the rest. I was ready for the walking part. Although I had slowed down a little, I pushed through to the mile 6 marker and then promptly slowed to a walk. More like a crawl, but I was still moving. MILE 6: J was keeping track of time and pace since my pacer was out of wack. “We aren’t going to make 2:45” She yelled behind her in my direction. Me: Who cares? I just want to finish. She counts down and it is time for us to run again. At this point, I have sucked down about a pack and a half of shot blocks… mistake #1. I know the North Ave hill is coming up right before mile 7 and I am worried. I try to tell my legs to power up the hill and not break pace, but they don’t listen and I stop to walk. (That is not part of the plan!) I get to the top of the hill and pass mile marker 7… Wooo Hooo, half way there! MILE 7-9: I’m super high on shot blocks and start to run again and I fall into step with a BGR girl. We hit a comfortable pace and mile 8 and mile 9 fly by and I am feeling strong (and still high). MILE 9: Time to stop and walk again… and thank you baby Jesus, because my left calf is KILLING ME. I move over to the side and stretch again, I regret it because I know I’m going to lose both of my running partners now, but my calf hurts so bad I had to try to shake it off. J waits for me and the rest of the race was a blur. Partially because of my abuse of shot blocks and sheer exhaustion, but there were tears and lots of grunts and moans. (Note to self: for my next half, make sure you follow the training schedule so that you don’t feel like your lungs are going to collapse). J tried to motivate me…. And she did a great job, but my body wasn’t hearing it. MILE 10-12: I struggled from mile 10 to 11 with a couple of walk breaks in between, and when we finally got to mile 12, I felt like I was going to fall out right there. MILE 13: Why am I doing this? This is sooooooooo dumb! I picked up my feet and dragged my legs, old man- trot style and I got to the sign that said ¾ of a mile… WHAT?! ¾’s of a mile… that is soooo far! I have to laugh now, but that last little bit just about killed me. I got to the ¼ mile sign and I could see the corner…. Just make it to the corner. I could see J crying already and then she disappeared around the corner, I picked up my speed (at least it felt like it) trying to get through that last tenth of a mile, I saw J coming back for me so we could cross together and I saw our friends screaming at the finish line and that made me smile sooooo hard. J and I held hands a hauled our tired asses across the finish line. I DID IT! I finished! 3:03:11… that is my time to beat next time. I was so freaking happy to be done and so proud of myself for doing it. I got my medal, someone slapped a cold wet towel in my hands and that was that. 13.1… done :-)

• J and I are still living happily ever after.
• I started working out hardcore 6 days a week and watching portion sizes and I have lost 5 pounds so far. 
• I'm on vacation out of the country visiting my family, so my goal is not to gain any of the weight back. And then go into attack mode the moment I get back home.
• I'm gonna be 30 in 64 days.... 64 days.

What can you say after that?

xoxo,