Heels and Hills and Him Half Marathon

Today, after a little over 4 months of training, I finished a half marathon, the Heels and Hills and Him Half Marathon, to be exact. It was blistering hot out there (high of 94 degrees in Irving), and there were honestly times I didn't think I could keep going. I would guess that between 1/2 to 3/4th of the course was directly in the sun. It was miserable. I know one runner who said that they never walk in a run, and today, they had to walk some. Yeah, it sucked, but it was amazing.

I tried my best to stay hydrated, sucking down powerade/water, refilling my bottle that I brought, wetting a washcloth to keep on my neck and all around me, and I think it paid off for the most part. I did have a hat and sunscreen, but they didn't do much good. I also have two very nice blisters on my feet which were the main cause of my issues in the walk. Well, that and the sun that sucked it all out of me. I kept thinking, I SO never felt like this in our 12 mile walk where it was drizzling rain the whole time!! We were SO not prepared for it to still be like this!!

This challenge was the most mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting challenge I have ever faced. I ended up finishing in 5 hours and a few seconds (17? maybe?). I can't believe it has finally come and gone. Update: My official chip time was 4:58:38, so actually UNDER 5 hours!!

Special thanks go to Tracy and Tammy, fellow Run Team members, who met me at around 2.5 miles to go, and walked the rest of the way in with me and 3 other ladies who brought us more water (I wish I could remember their names but I was so out of it...lol). It was awesome to have that final amount of support, even if I was pretty embarrassed that anyone came back out just for me.

Even more special thanks go to everyone who showed up at the finish line. My aunt and brother, Stacy and her son, Kristen (and the baby), my training buddy Jenn who stuck around to see my finish despite her own finishing at right around 3:30 (way to go, Jenn!!!!), and most importantly, Beth, who brought D so he could be there at the finish line too. I get all choked up about the support I had when I think about it, and goodness knows I cried all the way to lunch after we finished, and have had a few bouts of it this evening...lol

I also wanted to say that I could not have done this alone in another way. I know God was with me every step of the way. There's no way I could have achieved that without Him. There were times where all I could do was repeat the words on my bracelet that my BFF gave me for my birthday: "It was then that I carried you." and inscribed on the inside "He is with you." and just keep putting one foot in front of the other, knowing that it was the truth. Other times, I'd be praying it...and I'd feel a slight breeze dance across my face, and I'd just smile a bit, knowing that He was letting me know it was ok.

I didn't count food today. Obviously with that long of a workout, it didn't really matter. I tried my best to keep nutrients in me before and during the race, and afterward we all met up at Twisted Root burger company for a DELISH lunch of a cheeseburger, curly fries with ranch, and a chocolate shake. OMG I think I ate enough calories for 20 people, and was half afraid at one point that I'd get sick, but it was soooooooooooo good.

So this phase of my fitness goals is now over. And what a ride it has been. Doing the half marathon today actually knocked me over the 200 mile mark in training, so that goal is met as well! The next phase is going to include working on running more, getting MORE in shape, getting more of this weight off, so that my next walks/runs will take even less time. I want to GET THERE FASTER. lol I'm sore as all get out, sunburnt on my legs, arms, face, and neck, dealing with two blisters, keep finding little rashes in the oddest places and I'm totally exhausted, but somehow I already know that I will do it all over again one day. Stay tuned for that.

Walking My Way to 13

So yesterday was about 5Ks. Today, let's talk Half Marathons. That's right, 13.1 miles, or a little over 4 times that of a 5K. And...I'm going to do one this year. Do I sound crazy yet? Cause I kind of feel it. I keep going back and forth between excitement and a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. But I know I can do this. I now have a training buddy and a training schedule that is reasonable. And I have 17 weeks to get ready for it.

Here's the plan. We're going to do the Heels and Hills Half Marathon in September. But with a backup plan. The HHH has a time limit of 4 hours. So if by August, we don't feel we have our time down enough, then we're going to do the White Rock Half in December, which is a 5.5 hour max. Either way, I'm doing one this year. I think we have a good solid plan for it, and if I can stick with it, I WILL do this. I have this deep seated NEED to do it. Bear with me through this process, it's very quickly becoming an obsession, but at least its not one that will HURT my body, as long as I stick with knowing that this IS a process and a long term one at that, it can only help me. And while I'm not betting on it, I'm really hoping that a side benefit will be this weight melting off...lol I keep telling myself to not look to Sept 27th (race day), but to take the small steps, and look at the week only, no more than that.

I'm starting the training this coming sunday (though I will be doing a 5K tomorrow as well, thats just a bonus), but will just be repeating week 1 until June 14th when I start it for real. Sundays will be long walk days, so after June 21st or so, I'll need to have someone watch D for me. I'm still figuring out logistics, but I want this enough that I'll work it out!

Ok on to food...I'm definitely uncertain about how to work out the food part of this training. I'm VERY comfortable in my light weekdays and higher weekends, it works for me. So I'm scared to change that much. But I've already started feeling more hungry. I need to keep changing up what I eat and figuring out what will work best.

Today is our weekly CFA day since we have church tonite. Breakfast was oatmeal again. I did have a midmorning snack of 100 cal chips. Lunch was a Lean Cuisine pizza and big leafy salad with Zesty Italian light (the ONE thing I grabbed from the office catering in OTB, I was good!!). My afternoon snack was almonds. And dinner was a CFA Kids meal with no ketchup. This evening I had a whole wheat tortilla with a bit of Bluebonnet spread to end my day at 1295 calories.

Output: I got up this morning and did the 32 min WATP. At lunchtime I took a 15 min walk outside (down to the pond, around once, and back). This evening I did 15 minutes of cardio dance to get in the rest of my time. Tomorrow is a 5K so I don't want to overdo it.