The journey from fat to fit. Road trip, woo hoo!

weight: forgot to get on scale until I was leaving the house, so it was 151.0 with pants, shirt and flip flops on.

breakfast: skipped it

lunch: pan fried catfish, cheese grits, mustard greens and cornbread

SNACK UPDATE: decided to embrace the splurge day and had coffee with cream and sugar, not fat free half and half and splenda. and a little tiny pecan pie that was so delectable it brought a tear to my eye.

dinner: tba

FOOD: I was giving myself a FREE DAY yesterday after the race. But guess what? I was too exhausted to enjoy it! So DH and I had a celebratory lunch today since I was too whipped for a celebratory dinner last night. But now I am so stuffed, I’ll go with something light for dinner. How do you like that? My “lifestyle changes” are preventing me from even enjoying my pig out free day. Go figure.

exercise: rest day today and tomorrow, then back on running schedule Wednesday.

RUN REPORT: OK. If you want to see the race course, the web site is NODM.com. It is beautiful, all trail for the half-marathon, through the Olympic National Forest and then along the beach. So gorgeous.

I was so keyed up and anxious about the race that TMI ALERT I had diarrhea the night before and morning of. I know. Got up at 6:30 at the hotel, went to the breakfast room where about 20 other runners were. I had a yogurt and half a danish. Then DH walked me to the shuttle, about two blocks from the hotel, and I took the shuttle bus to the start of the race. The race ended at the hotel, so obviously the start line was 13.1 miles away, and they asked people to not drive out there because parking was limited. So at that point I was on my own.

IMPORTANT: Race started at 9 and shuttle got us there at 7:30 am, so lots of time to do nothing. But I was warned about this and prepared by bringing a book to read and something to sit on (actually, I forgot to bring my little throw that I was going to bring to sit on, so we went to Dollar Tree the night before and I bought a plastic table cloth to sit on because the ground is wet that early. THIS WAS REALLY AWESOME as lots of people were either standing or sitting in the wet grass for well over an hour).

So we milled around at the start area, me with my book to read, and then it was time to line up. They had pace groups, so I placed myself right between the 11 minute and 12 minute groups. And then we were off.

The first 3 miles were just a lovely flat run on the trail. And then we got into the hills. Which were quite hilly. Hilly enough that my ass and hamstrings were aching on the climbs. Hilly enough that hard core runners and schlubs alike were walking, not running, up the hills. And as much as my ass ached going uphill? My toes and knees were killing me going downhill. Down a steep still is very stressful on the knees and ankles. And remember that toenail that I lost? Well it’s not grown all the way back in yet and while it has not been bothering me at all, it was THROBBING after a few downhills because of being jammed forward in the shoe. All of my toes were aching and sore by the end.

DH was at the aid station at 3.6 miles and took pictures and cheered for me, which was fun.

I’d say we had maybe four or five brutal hills, but that entire four mile stretch was hilly and rolling, so it was really a challenge. Not constant killer hills, but constant up and down with the occasional killer hill. Oh, and two bridges. We ran over two little bridges over creeks.

It got back to being flat at about the eight mile mark. When I saw the eight mile mark, I was ready to quit. If I had had my phone, I probably would have called DH. Seriously. I was just so exhausted from those hills, and people are cheering ONLY FIVE MORE MILES. And I’m all ONLY five more miles? I don’t know about the rest of you guys, but FIVE MILES IS A FRIGGIN LOT. It was very disheartening.

It was also at this point that the first of the full marathon runners started to pass us. The full marathon started at the same time as the half marathon, but 13 miles further away. So while I had been running for eight miles? People who a had been running for the same amount of time but had gone 22 GODAWFUL MILES started to WHIZ THE HELL PAST ME like I was standing still. No lie.

My big plan had been walk the hills, and then make up time on the final flat stretch. But by the time I got to the flat part? I was just exhausted and tired and cranky and sore and my toes were throbbing. I did some walk breaks, but still ran most of that final stretch, if you want to call it running, haha.

You could see and hear the finish line from a mile away, and that was a good little motivator to keep on pushing and get it the OVER WITH.

I crossed the finish line, DH was there snapping pictures. I was met by a volunteer who said, “lean on me if you need to” which was so hilarious because I’m like HOLY SHIT, I MUST LOOK AS HORRIBLE AS I FEEL. He handed me a bottle of some kind of snapple power water or some such, and led me to the jacket pick up and the food table and DH met me there. But I couldn’t eat or drink anything. I just needed to pull my shit together for a few minutes, you know what I mean?

When I registered for the race, it was an extra $15 for a 15-minute massage and I am so glad I got that. I drank a bottle of water, took of my shoes and put on my flip flops and then went for my massage, which was HEAVENLY. Then I changed shirts, ate food and then we had to get back to the hotel and check out and get on the road home.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT THING: what to have waiting for you at the finish line: I gave DH a bag to have for me at the end with my flip flops, a dry tee shirt and lightweight hoody and my granola bars in case there was no food that I liked at the finish line. By the time I was getting my massage and was cooling down, I started to shiver because I was so cold in my soaking wet sweat soaked shirt. I am so glad I had something to change into rather than having to wait until we got back to the hotel. And if I hadn’t had my sandals there I would have been crying because my toes were so sore I needed my shoes off ASAP.

At the starting line, you could “check” a bag with everything that you had on you that you didn’t want to carry while you run, which is where I left my sweat shirt and book. I had on an old sweat shirt at the start line, because it was in the 50s, and I was prepared to start the run with it on and then just toss it in a garbage bin along the way when I warmed up, but since they had the bag check service, I just did that. But that was another tip that I got from an experienced marathoner. If you start out cold, wear something old and throw it away rather than having to tie it around your waist or carry it for the rest of the race.

How full of helpful hints am I?

After we left the race, I took a quick shower and then we got in the car and had a four-plus hour drive to get home. THIS WAS NOT A GOOD PLAN as I was so sore and stiff in the car. Next time, we’ll stay another night. We stopped and grabbed lunch on the way home, smoked oysters and smoked salmon, at a little seafood mom and pop place along the coast, and then we grabbed take out Mexican when we got home because I just couldn’t imagine going in anyplace and eating. I was ready to check out mentally and physically for a good long while.

Went to bed early, slept like a rock, and woke up feeling surprisingly good. I am a little sore and achey, but not anything unusual. Like what you would be after a hard workout, but not dying by any means. Though I am really glad that I scheduled off of work today because my toes are still sore and I am really glad I didn’t have to put on shoes for work (been in flip flops all day). Tomorrow I’ll have to cram my feet into “work shoes” and that’s not going to be fun.

Oh! And at the end of the race I got a super swank medal for completing. And also got a really nice “performance fabric” race shirt, long sleeve tee, that’s really nice.

I think that covers most of the highs and lows. I’ll update if I think of anything I skipped over.

FINAL WORD: I’m glad I did it, but it was hard. And I can’t say that it was fun. But there is a nice sense of accomplishment. So I’m still undecided about whether I’m going to chalk this up as a I’M SO GLAD I DID IT, IT WAS GREAT experience, or an OK, I DID IT, NOW LET’S MOVE ON experience.

Also, I have three weeks to decide if I want to stay in my training group for the full marathon in October. As of right now, I am thinking no. Half marathon has always been my longest goal, but the group is going on for the full. I’m not feeling the love on that one. But never say never, right?