Rock'N'Roll 2013 San Antonio

Today was an awesome and an amazing day for me.  I ran my very first ½ marathon this morning.  I live in Austin and it happened in San Antonio, about an hour and a half drive away.  I am lucky enough to have awesome friends who let me crash in their bed for the night while they’re at work on the night shift.  For free.  I saved probably almost $100 (after taxes and fees) that I would have otherwise spent on a hotel room for the night.  And it would have been post checkout by the time I got done with the race and not been able to take a post-race shower.  So, I spent a little of that money I saved on a fun outfit for the race.  First, while at the expo, I bought a Wonderwoman tutu to wear over my running tights.  Then, I was on a mission to find a red running shirt or tank to wear with it.  Nothing to be found at the expo meeting my needs.  So, I left and made my way to Kohl’s.  I found something but it was the wrong size and it was $40.  Then next door to Marshall’s…again a bust.  So onward to Academy where I scored a running tank in my size in a nice rich red and then grabbed a blue sports bra to wear under it.  Also while at the expo I bought two SPIbelt-like storage belts.  They’re made by Hippie Runner and they had them one for $20 or two for $35.  So I grabbed 2.  The red with skulls I’ve been ogling for a while on their website and the other because, well, do I really need to say?  Ok…it’s pink and sparkly.

So, last night, after my friend left for work and I’m left alone in his apartment to watch the movie Oblivion (OMG…amazing movie!!!) and get all my little running ducks in a row before bedtime.  I take out my bib and I’m studying it.  I pull off the timing chip which loops around your shoelaces and sticks to itself.  I’ve never had a timing chip like this before.  I had one that velcroed around my ankle that I had to give back to the timing company when I crossed the finish line, and one that you bread twist-tied to your shoelaces, but other than that all my timing chips have been installed on the race bib itself.  So, I was left wondering if I had affixed it to my shoe correctly, even though I followed the very brief instructions that were provided.

After affixing the timing chip, I checked out my new shirt!  I know a lot of people will wear their shirt for the race while they’re running the race, but I’m of the mind that you shouldn’t wear that shirt until you’ve “earned” it…until you’ve crossed the finish line. 

This morning, I got up at 4am (oh yea, I went to bed last night with the beginnings of a sinus infection) and everything was just fine.  My throat was a little sore, but it was otherwise good.  I made my breakfast: a grilled cheese sandwich, a pear and a cup of papaya juice. 

Then, I headed out the door to make my way to the AT&T Center for the free parking and shuttle bus to the race. 

When I arrived, there was a few people that arrived in style:

I made friends on the bus ride over to the race start.  They were a large group of friends that had gotten matching shirts made.  They all loved my running tights and thought they were the super expensive compression tights, but they’re not, they’re just Fila capri tights from Kohl’s.  But, they *are* my favorite tights!  Anyway, they also loved my tutu.  We made jokes and talked the whole way from the free parking area until we got to the race starting vicinity.  They were nice enough to invite me to hang out with them until the race started too.  They even said if I could run with them, which I would have loved to do, but they were much more serious runners than I am and I knew by their bib numbers (the first 1 or 2 numbers stated what corral you were in…my first 2 numbers were 22…most of them were 17 or lower…one was even a 3!!!) that they were indeed way faster than me, even the lady who dubbed herself The Turtle (Michelle).  While we milled around for over an hour and a half waiting for the start, we got our pictures taken by the Marathon Foto peeps a few times and took a great shoe wheel pic:

Then, we got a really nice guy to take some pics of the whole lot of us with our phones:

I don’t remember the lady standing next to me or the one next to her names.  The next one is Katie (daughter of Charlotte…furthest to the right).  I don’t remember the lady next to Katie’s name, but the next one over is Michelle (aka-Turtle), then Annette and then Charlotte.  I love that these ladies let me be a part of their group, even if it was temporary.  I wish I would have gotten at least one of them’s information, but oh well.  Maybe I’ll get lucky and one of them will read my blog some day and say “hey I know her!”  Oh and the guy behind and to the left of Michelle is Hank…husband of the lady to the left of Michelle.  The lady right next to me is the ONLY one I saw on the course after the first mile and we all separated because they were all, like I knew they would be, faster than me and pulled away and ahead of me.  I passed her a couple times when she stopped to walk and then she passed me and I never saw her again when I stopped to use the port-a-potty.

Okay, so, while we milled around waiting for the start, we happened to me next to a trash box and a guy had a banana that he didn’t want and was about to throw it away and asked if any of us wanted it.  I snatched it up.  I had a banana at home that I forgot to bring with me.  As we continued to wait and wait for the start to happen, I realized that what I had eaten for breakfast, even with the banana included, wouldn’t be enough.  I had seen a couple people with bagels, but I couldn’t figure out where they got them.  As we were walking toward the entrance to the corral area I found the bagel tent and snagged one. 

Even though I was assigned to corral 22, I stayed with my new friends as they made their way all the way up to corral 6 (the ones that weren’t assigned to corral 6 per their bib numbers had changed their corral at the expo yesterday).  I was so afraid that someone was going to notice my bib number and that I didn’t have a green sticker stating that my corral had been officially changed…but no one did.  And I’m so glad they didn’t.  I forgot about that the higher your corral number, the longer until you actually crossed the start line.  In corral 6, we crossed the start line about 7 minutes after the clock started.  If I had been in my actual corral, it would have been about 40 minutes after the clock started.

I had originally planned to take pictures with my phone as I ran the course, but realized that might not be a good idea because if my phone slipped out of my hand, I would drop it as it has no wrist strap.  I should have taken my digital camera.  There were some great signs held up by the spectators.  One of my favorites was maybe a half mile into the course and it said “hurry up!  I could have enrolled in Obamacare by now!!!”  I had one guy give me a shout out as I ran past around mile 2 or 3: “tattooed women rock!!!” 

As I had planned, I didn’t take my fuelbelt with its 4 water bottles with me.  At the expo I picked up a new handheld water bottle that would fit into my bottle holder with strap and storage pouch.  It was a little bigger than the one I had in the holder, so that appealed to me.  So I switched out the bottles.  I just put plain water in the bottle I was carrying, that way I could eat my gels whenever I wanted without having to be at a water stop.  Also, I knew that some of the water stops would have Gatorade, so I could get my electrolytes there.  Also, and I didn’t know they did this, at one of the water stops, they had a table piled with salt packets.  Yes, you read that right: salt packets.  Like the kind they hand out at restaurants with your plastic fork, spoon and knife.  I grabbed 2 of those.  Who knew plain salt could taste so good when your body actually NEEDS that salt? 

The bands were great.  I just wish they had been louder and I had been able to hear them for longer.  My favorite was a band that was before my port-a-potty stop when we were doing the downhills after a few uphills.  They were singing “What’s Up” by 4 Non Blondes.  I sang along to that as I ran past them. 

I think from the second water stop on, every water stop, I walked.  The first one was just too early for me to feel the need to walk, so I skipped it.  I also walked about half the uphills because, well, those were some crazy uphills!!!

here's the elevation profile from my Garmin

 As we ran along, I was continuously amazed at the huge amount of support and spectators there were.  I was moved sooooo close to tears so many times.  This was an emotional run for me.  I was so very grateful for all the spectators and all their shouts of encouragement and signs full of funny and supportive sayings.  It just amazed me that a lot of those people didn’t know someone running the race, but were there supporting us and cheering us on…or, if they did know someone, they kept cheering after their loved one had long since passed by them.

I was doing pretty good for the first 11 miles.  At mile 11, almost exactly, my legs hit a wall.  Let me make this clear, *I* did not hit a wall.  *I* was perfectly fine.  My legs, however, were a different story.  My legs’ idea of running after mile 11 was some people’s idea of a walk, but I kept shuffling right along.  I did walk a few times in the last 2.3 miles, but I DID NOT walk across the finish line.  No way.  I did my best effort at running across that finish line and I raised my arms up in victory as I crossed it for my finish line photo op.  I crossed the timing chip mat, turned off my Garmin and made my way over to get my VERY FIRST FINISHER’S MEDAL!!! 

Right after picking up my medal, there were Marathon Foto peeps at the ready to take our pictures with our newly earned medals.  So, of course, I got my picture snapped holding it up next to my face proudly.  I, of course, asked a staffer if he could snap a pic of me with my phone holding up my medal...and he was nice enough to do it.

After that, I grabbed a bottle of water which I downed as quickly as possible, then I grabbed a PowerBar protein bar and scarfed that down.  Then I grabbed a bottle of Gatorade and sipped on that.  I also got a bag of HEB store brand Frito’s.  YUM!  Then, I sat down for a few minutes to rest my legs.  After about 5 minutes, I stood back up…what a feat that was!  I made my way to the post-race festivities area in search of a free spot massage tent like I had been told there would be.  However, when I got there, there was nothing.  There were beer tents and a shade tent, and some information tents, but NO massage tent.  What the heck?  There was a massage tent at both of the 10K’s I participated in and those were only about $40 each.  This race is a nationwide series and well known and participation is coveted and the registration fee at its cheapest is twice that of the 10K’s I’ve done (I paid more because I wasn’t an early registrant) and you’re going to tell me that there is NO massage tent.  Fail, Rock’N’Roll…fail.

So, since there was nothing to do post-race, I decided to just go ahead and hop on the shuttle to go back to my car.  The way I figured the timing, if I left then, I would get back to my friend’s place right before noon, which was the predetermined meet up time.

I have my official results, just not the official pictures yet (and yes, I’m one of those people that “steals” the pictures with the watermarks on them).  I’ll post those when they put them up on the website.  If there’s a good one of me then I might buy it because this was my first official half marathon.  Speaking of that, I can now officially display my 13.1 sticker on my car because I’ve “earned” it!!!

When today is done and over with, I am extremely proud of myself for having done this and followed through with it.

I stopped for the potty in mile 9

Day Before the Rock'n'Roll Half

Quick post.  First things first.  Weighed in, down another 1.8 lbs since Sunday for a 177.2 on the scale.  WOOHOO!

I'm getting everything ready for the race.  I've hopefully printed out everything I will need information-wise for the race and expo since where I'll be staying at a friend's place doesn't have wifi, so no computer tonight.  I will take my computer with me, just so I can type some stuff up for the start of tomorrow's blog, but I won't be able to post anything.

I'm not going to wear my fuelbelt for tomorrow's race.  I will carry my handheld bottle with Gatorade, but other than that, I'm going to depend on the water stops along the route for my hydration needs.  I hope this isn't a mistake.  But I really don't want to run this with the belt.  I plan to buy a SPIbelt or similar product at the expo today to carry my phone, ID, debit card, car key and gels in.  Hmmm...hope I can find one that has 2 zipper pockets...one for all my personal stuff and one for the gels.  I don't want to chance dumping everything when I go to grab a gel.

My food plans for today include sticking to the Shred for everything up to dinner.  That means this:

Meal 1:

• green power machine smoothie (pg 223)

• 1 cup low fat yogurt: Trader Joe's FF Mango

• ½ cup juice: guava

Snack 1 (150 cals):

• stuffed tomatoes (10 grape tomatoes w/2 tbsp olive oil, 1/4 cup ricotta, 1tbsp diced olives, a little black pepper)

Meal 2:

• fruit smoothie

• 1 piece of fruit: grapefruit

Snack 2 (150 cals):

• chocolate pudding w/5 sliced strawberries

That should get me to my meet up with Matt and his son mid-afternoon.  Then, we're going to El Jarro's for dinner.  For tomorrow, I've got a grilled cheese sandwich on the menu for breakfast, perfect pre-race idea and I didn't even plan it that way!  Haha!  So, I'll take the bread and cheese and the ICBINB spray with me to make that tomorrow morning.  Should probably go ahead and take my skillet in case he doesn't have one (he just got divorced so he has MINIMAL supplies in his apartment and I don't know what kind of cooking he does or doesn't do).  Also taking a pear and a cup of papaya juice with me for tomorrow's breakfast.  Post-race, they should be handing out bananas and granola bars or similar items, so I'll be okay until I meet back up with Matt at his apartment for a shower around noon.  I don't know if we'll go eat lunch together or if I'm going to head home at that time and will just stop at my favorite BBQ restaurant on the way home.

And then, come Monday, I'll reset my Shred day to the schedule I started eating from today (week 2, day 5) and go from there.  My weigh in day for next weekend will be Sunday morning before leaving for the renaissance festival with my friend Mark...which will be my next day "off diet," but that doesn't mean I'll be over-indulging, it just means I won't be able to stick to what I "should" be eating that day.  I'll be eating festival food.  A funnel cake, for sure.  Not sure what I'll get for my main meal of the day, yet.  Anyway, getting waaaaaay ahead of myself here.

Time to finish getting my stuff ready for San Antonio!!!  I'm probably going to stop at the Minute Clinic to see if they'll give me some antibiotics for my throat, which is still bothering me.

Shred Day 11

Meal 1:

• 1 piece of fruit: 2 clementines

• 2 pancakes + 2 strips bacon w/sugar free syrup

• 1 cup juice: papaya

Snack 1 (100 cals):
• 2 oz baked lobster

Meal 2:

• fruit smoothie

• 1 serving veggies: peas

Snack 2 (150 cals):

• PB&J

Meal 3:

• bowl of soup: Healthy Choice Chicken Tortilla (whole can)

• 1 serving veggies: Brussels sprouts

Snack 3 (100 cals):

• 14 almonds

Meal 4:

• 5 oz beef

• 1 serving veggies: broccoli

• half of a baked sweet potato, 1 tsp butter

Today I went ahead and slept in with the plan of going to the gym after work to do the “Paige workout.”  I just had to run a couple errands before work and then get ready for work and go.  To get my food ready to take to work included cooking lobster for the first time ever!  I had to look it up.  It said to snip the tail shell with scissors and open it up then baked it at 350° for 15 minutes.  It came out perfect.  It was a 4oz tail, so I split it into 2 containers, one in the fridge and one in my lunch bag.  Breakfast was awesome.  I had been looking forward to today’s breakfast alllllll week, ever since I put together my food schedule for this second week of the Shred Diet and chose pancakes and bacon.  I used the griddle plates on my Panini press for the first time and wow, it cooked the pancakes perfectly!!!  Usually I overcook them when I cook them stovetop in a skillet.  Not on the griddle plates!  I was a little annoyed because I had to make like twice as much pancake batter as I needed because that’s the recipe they had on the box.  Also, it called for one egg and I was using whole eggs.  If I had the eggs in a carton, then I could have cut it in half and only made what I needed.  So, maybe I’ll get to have pancakes again soon…I know I won’t be next week because I already typed up next week’s outlines for my daily meal/snack schedules and there was no pancakes and bacon on any of the days.  Boo!  I mean, if I have to toss it, it’s not like pancake mix is expensive.  I just don’t like tossing perfectly good food if I can avoid it. 

Today’s meal and snack spacing went somewhat like yesterday’s since I didn’t eat my meal 1 until I was getting everything ready for work at around 12:30pm.  So I ate at 2:30, 4:30, 5:45, 7:15, 9, and then 10:30.

When I woke up this morning, I determined that the reason I was feeling “off” the last couple of days, on top of and probably due to the weather as well, is that I woke up with strep throat again.  I went to go to the CVS Minute Clinic so I could get some antibiotics, however the Minute Clinics aren’t at all CVS locations.  I didn’t know that.  They told me where the nearest one was and it was too far away for me to have time to go there AND get ready for work.  So, I figure if it doesn’t go away on its own by tomorrow morning, I’ll go to the Minute Clinic on my way out of town tomorrow. 

Each day I’m amazed at my lack of urges when it comes to food and indulgences.  I’m amazed that 10 M&M’s are enough for me.  Even before I had the disordered eating problem, 10 M&M’s wasn’t enough to satisfy me.  Same thing with ice cream.  The other day when I said I got some ice cream?  I had about a ½ cup, which is a serving size, and that was good.  I had no desire to go back and get MORE ice cream.  I sated my taste for it and that was it.  And believe me when I say I’m not complaining about this one bit.  Not at all.  This is the first time in my life I have been “normal” when it comes to cravings and eating something that is an indulgence and not bingeing on it. 

My friend Vanessa brought me a few orange cream candied almonds.  They were pretty yummy!  And those will be my indulgence for today.  Yesterday, I had those 10 M&M’s I was talking about.  

Tomorrow is my weigh in day for this weekend.  Woohoo!  I’ve had a great week and am excited to see what the scale has to say about it.  I know I’ve lost weight.  I can literally SEE the difference in my midsection since I weighed in last.  My stomach is a little flatter, my hips are less lumpy.  I’m hoping for another 2-ish pound loss, but I’ll be happy with it even if it’s just 1 pound.  Any loss is me going in the right direction.

Shred Day 9 & 10

Well…originally I had planned to run a medium distance outside run yesterday morning but with how tired I was at the end of the day Tuesday, I figured that wasn’t really a good idea so I changed my plans to a 30 minute treadmill run of intervals.  However, yesterday morning happened and I slept until almost 11.  Bah!  I have foiled myself again!  I’ve got to stop doing this to myself.  So, I guess I’m running the half marathon on Sunday “cold.”  And by “cold” I mean with no real training run beforehand.  I really didn’t want to do that to myself, but it is what it is.  I can’t change what I’ve done and I can only deal with it and move forward.  I should do fine with running the half on Sunday.  I need to study the route and see how frequent the water stops are because, really, I don’t want to wear my fuelbelt with all its water bottles.  I’d like to have just my handheld bottle with Gatorade in it and a SPIbelt (or similar product…I’ll buy it at the expo the day before) to put 3 gels, my phone and car key in.  I just want to run this minimalist, really.

So, no workout today.  No workout today because I was sleeping in my less-than-8-hour turnaround between shifts as I worked a double shift last night.  Tomorrow morning will probably be the “Paige workout.”  I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to workout Saturday morning, but if I do, I’ll replicate a Samy workout at 24hr Fitness.  Then, half marathon Sunday morning!!!

Meal 1:

• 1 piece of fruit: 3 plums

• sugar free cereal

• 1 piece 100% whole grain bread

• ½ cup juice: cashew

Snack 1 (100 cals):

• cucumber sandwich

Meal 2:

• protein shake

• 1 serving veggies: peas

Snack 2 (150 cals):

• small avocado, lightly salted w/sea salt

Meal 3:

• fruit smoothie

• 1 piece of fruit: pear

Snack 3 (100 cals):

• 30 grapes

Meal 4:

• tilapia

• 1 serving veggies: Brussels sprouts

Yesterday’s eating schedule by time went as such:

The bread from meal 1 I ate at 12:30pm.  Cereal, juice and plums, also from meal 1, I ate between 2:30 and 3:15pm.  Snack 1 was eaten at about 5:30pm.  Meal 2 at about 8pm.  Snack 2 around 9-9:30pm.  Meal 3 was around 11:30pm.  Then snack 3 at 1am and meal 4 at about 3:30am.  That’s pretty good spacing between my eats.  Another reason I was okay with sleeping until almost 11 yesterday…it would make meal/snack spacing sooooo much easier.  Of course, it was still a little difficult to get through and it certainly didn’t help that I only brought 1 serving of Brussels sprouts for my final meal instead of 2 like I was supposed to. 

I was feeling a little “off” most of yesterday…kind of like I was starting to get sick, but wasn’t actually sick.  I ended up getting a serving of vanilla ice cream.  That helped a little.  I think I was just having a calorie deficit due to starting the day later than usual.  It’s probably also the switch up in how the different weeks of the Shred Diet are put together.  This week is a lot more focused on liquids.  More smoothies, protein shakes and soups than last week.  It changes it up each week so that your body doesn’t get used to one thing and you continue to show a loss on the scale each week.  I typed up the outline of week 3’s meals and snacks but don’t remember how it goes.  I’ll put down what specific foods I’ll have for week 3 on Sunday afternoon or Monday night.  I really like the meal planning part.  It helps me to feel more in control and that’s a big thing for me.

Something stupid happened Tuesday night after work.  I was so tired and when made the first turn after exiting the parking garage at work I cut it and hit the corner with the side of my car (right under the door).  Ugh.  So, when I got home I logged onto my insurance’s website and started my claim.  I also found out that I have accident forgiveness when I was looking through my policy information to make sure I had rental car coverage (which I do, thank goodness!).  Yesterday morning I called and set up my estimate appointment at the body shop for Monday morning 8am.

My plan for Monday morning is body shop at 8am, then, if I’m feeling it, hit the gym for 30 minutes on the treadmill (I may not be feeling it after just running a half marathon the day before after absolutely NO training…I’m sure my legs will be sore or at least tired).  Then, home to shower and change and go to a doctor’s appointment.  Then, after that, I’m hitting the road for Spring, TX to buy a corset!  Hopefully my friend Chris will be accompanying me…we’re both a little ADHD so it should be a fun little trip. 

While at work on the overnight shift last night, I started reading a book that my friend Amanda gave me.  It’s called “The Dish On Eating Healthy and Being Fabulous.” 

It’s a really easy read.  They break things down in easy to comprehend.  It’s a fast read, really.  Or, at least, it feels fast. 

Today I slept better than I did Tuesday morning.  I only woke up once at 10:45 to use the potty.  When I woke up at noon, I showered real quick and then got my food all ready and packed up.  Here’s today’s meal/snack plan:

Meal 1:

• 1 piece of fruit: grapefruit

• protein shake

Snack 1 (100 cals):

• 1 rice cake, 1 tbsp guacamole

Meal 2:

• chicken lunchmeat sandwich

• green garden salad, fat free dressing

Snack 2 (150 cals):

• egg salad (1 egg, 1 tsp light mayo) on whole grain bagel

Meal 3:

• 1 serving lasagna (Stouffer’s frozen)

• 1 serving veggies: green beans

Snack 3 (100 cals):

• 8 shrimp, 3 tbsp cocktail sauce

Meal 4:

• fruit smoothie

• 1 serving veggies: asparagus

So, I think the “off” feeling I had most of the day yesterday was me being sick.  I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this on here before, but when I get sick, unless it’s strep (usually), I feel crappy for like 4-12 hours and then I feel better.  I don’t actually get sick-sick.  But, even then, the last time I had strep (last weekend of October) it was gone in like 12 hours’ time.  I did feel like I had a low grade fever most of yesterday too.  So, I’m thinking I had a mild flu/stomach/GI tract bug. 

So, today I had that turnaround from the night shift to the afternoon shift and got around 4.5 hours of sleep.  I got up at just past noon and started getting ready.  As I was getting my food ready it just seemed like I had a LOT of food for today…especially after what I had yesterday.  Yesterday was a lot of liquid during the day with more solid foods at just the beginning and end of the day.  But, a lot of it was new stuff, as you can see because there’s pictures of almost everything I ate today, so it was exciting.  One of the things I ate today was lasagna!  So I just went and bought a serving of frozen lasagna with meat sauce that had the least amount of calories.  So, anyway, because the day started late, I ate one more time at work than I usually do because usually I eat meal 1 and snack 1 before leaving for work.  Well, today I ate meal 1 while getting ready for work at 12:30.  Then I ate at 2:30, 4, 3:30, 7, 9 and then when I got home at 10:30.  I NEVER got hungry today.  Never.  Not even once.  It was awesome.  The egg salad on the whole grain bagel…superb!  Loved it!

I’m thinking tomorrow morning I’m just going to sleep in and go to the gym when I get home tomorrow night.  I want to do the “Paige workout” and there won’t be as many people at the gym if I go at 11 or 11:30pm as opposed to going in the morning at 9:30 when there’s loads of people there and I have to fight for workout space and equipment.  And then no workout Saturday morning.  That will give me 3 workouts for this week.  Sure, I would have rather had 4, but I’m just striving for a minimum of 3 right now.  If I can hit at least 3 workouts a week, I’m happy.

It’s actually easy to turn down food offered by co-workers.  I think it’s due to all the variety that the Shred Diet allows me insists I have each and every day and from day to day.  And, when I do take offered food, I only take a very small amount and it’s enough.  I’m not having urges.  If something sounds yummy I just say so and then it leaves my mind.  I could get used to this.  I really think this diet is something I could do long term…just adjust the serving sizes so they’re a little bigger once I hit the maintenance phase after hitting my goal weight.  I haven’t felt deprived even once in the last week and a half I’ve been on the Shred Diet.