My 2nd Marathon

There are lots of other things going on in our lives right now but I wanted to write down my thoughts on my 2nd marathon before I forget them.

I originally wanted to do another marathon in March so that they would be a year apart but March came with a huge art competiton that I was in charge of and a musical that I spent 60 hours on outside of school ;)....so adding on the stress of marathon training didn't seem smart.

April is packed with lots of fun stuff and this Saturday happened to be the only one without a baseball game and plus I had already scheduled a chill time with a girlfriend Saturday night while our husbands did The Escape Room...I knew I would be super ready to CHILL after 26. 2!!!!

As my Papa told me from his days in the army, if you can run one mile, then you can run 26. 2, after 1mile its all mental. AND HE IS SO RIGHT. Now I am not downplaying the the role that good nutrition, strength training and long runs play in a marathon but I promise to you that miles 16-26 were ALL MENTAL since I was sore and numb from the hips down.

I set a goal time of 4 hours since thats qualifying for my age for the Boston Marathon. An average finishing time for any marathon for a women my age and weight is 4:35:00. I had been working on tempo runs, adding hills into my runs and lifting heavier so I really wanted to challenge myself.

I prepapred by running a half in Arkansas over spring break and finishing in under 2 hours, however there I had the clock in front of me the whole time. My longest run since then was 10 miles. This is where I do not follow regular marathon training and instead follow my Papa's advice. I can't stand doing anything over 13.1 unless I am going for 26.2....it seems useless to me...and you all know I am expert....smmmh.

So I began tapering on Sunday of this week...5 miles on Sunday, a kick butt Crossfit workout followed by 30 minutes of biking 1 mile, jump roping to 100, biking, jumprope, etc on Monday....that wore me out. 30 minutes of running stairs and ab tabata on Tuesday, Wednesday I did 3 miles, Thursday Crossfit plus 3 miles, Friday I did a CrossFit workout but with no added weights and movements that were more stretching and balance targeted.

Friday I ate tons of watermelon, which is very hydrating!!!! I also made sure I did proper carbloading that day...not pasta and nasty sugar filled bread....but sweet potatoes, broccoli and beef!!!! YUM...and some Greek yogurt..I try not to do dairy unless its Greek yogurt. I also went and got my after marathon snacks...I don't know about you but having good food waiting on me is A HUGE MOTIVATION!!!! There are these green spicy chicken enchiladas at Snap that are Paleo but they are a little high on the calorie count.....SO I knew that I wanted them for my lunch that day. I also went to Sprouts and got my favorite trail mix filled with nuts and berries and dark chocolate. I also bought a Protein Gel pack that was banana/coffee/chocolate flavor...NOT IMPRESSED. It didn't taste like those three things and every time I took a shot of it within the next mile I was cramping and my stomach was not pleased. I should have tried it before but it looked promising as its made by VEGA, my favorite flavor of protein, is veggie based and had 10g of Protein. I also bought my favorite flavor of Nuun (electrolyte drink), tangerine lime!!!

Now since this is MY MARATHON :), I do things my way, which is why I do them...Like I have said before I do not mind paying to run with my kids. They want the shirt and medal that come with the race money. I personally want to arrange my own potty breaks, water stops, routes and start times. AND, I am not paying you to run around when I do it for free every other day of the week :).

So, I didn't set an alarm...although I knew my nerves would wake me up around 4 ...and I was right. I slowly got ready, grabbing my water, arranging my socks just so, stretching and made sure Netflix was ready to go...and I jumped on the treadmill, aiming to run until the sun came up. 16 miles later...3 shows later the sun was up. Now if I was smart I would have watched the time better here but I had to use the bathroom 3 stinking times...ugh. However, it was my bathroom and I ran, did my business and got right back on.

I then jumped off the treadmill, kissed my kiddos good morning, grabbed my protein gel, more water and my phone and headed out the door. I had worked out the route so that I passed my house every 4 miles but I cut that in half with the way my stomach had been acting.

Adam was tracking me on his phone the whole time so every time I got close to the house the kiddos would come out and hold up posters and yell for me, it was quite cute...until it wasn't. About mile 20 I started coming un done. I was dehydrated so I chugged water. The protein gel was not sitting well with me and I was getting side pains...somethign I had never had before on long runs. I even began to hallucinate...like closing my eyes for long (2-3 seconds) at a time and when I opened them being farther down the road then I thought. I kept my running to my neighborhood and our school after that, worried that I may fall out...I even heard my kids voices and would look to see if they were around, even when I wasn't close to home...the body does weird things.

The only thing that kept me going was knowing how close I was to being finished and knowing that I could eat good food, shower and rest the entire day after. I also knew that my kids were watching and expecting me to finish. SO, therefore I didn't watch my time at all from mile 16-26.2.....which meant 30 minutes after I finished and finally did the math I realized that my finish time was 4:01:54....talk about heartbreak...1 minute and 54 seconds over my goal time.

You know what though, I got over it in about 5 seconds. Something about kids screaming at each other, telling me I stunk, actually reading their sweet posters and seeing how they refer to me as "beast mommy" and then that LONG HOT SHOWER just helped me get over it real quick. I do wish I would have finished in under 4 but I WILL TAKE 4:01:54 any day...it means I finished, I pushed passed all the things that were telling me to stop...the pain in my hips, knees and feet....the dizziness, stomach cramps and sun that refused to shine :(.

I finished, my kids saw it...the good, bad and ugly.

Then I sat and heated my legs for 2 hours and ate my trail mix, drank 4 bottles of water, 2 with nuun in them and slept off and on. I got up, made the kids some watermelon ice cream (YUM and so healthy) and did dishes. I actually got really sore that night but had a great day and had to force feed myself those heavenly enchiladas, very slowly.

That night though I HAD HUNGER PAINS LIKE NONE OTHER...the only reason I didn't get out of bed was soreness. Yesterday though I got up, walked 3 miles on the treadmill, ATE ALL DAY LONG, like couldn't get full, ALL PALEO though (besides some kashi cereal) and drank 9 bottles of water (which is miraculous for me, ask Adam!)

Today I did CrossFit with Goober and ran 2 miles with Goober. We wanted to do 3 but my knees said No and I am not pushing myself...recovery will happen over the next week and I will eventually not be so stinkin hungry!!!

Maybe I will do another marathon next March/April, maybe I won't? Who knows? Right now I am focusing on running another race, this time with Baby Boy, lifting heavier at CrossFit and perfecting my Paleo Chicken Curry ;).

OH, and AUNT ROBIN AND UNCLE CARL are coming to see us this weekend!!!! Everyone is super excited!!!!

Light CrossFit day before Marathon!

Breakfast was 2 eggs, spinach and peppers. Snacks were an apple, pb2, almonds and watermelon.
This was my lunch, salad was peppers and onions, supergreens burger and some steak!!

A whole plate of sweet potato fries and sugar free BBQ sauce. 

Beef and broccoli to follow...carb loading done right is very GOOD, not heavy at all!

My times....treadmill on the top, outside route ont he bottom...over 2,600 calories burned...no wonder I am stinking hungry!!
My split times were 9:04 on the treadmill ( i blame all my darn potty breaks) and 8:56 outside.

The heavenly after marathon lunch....I should have gobbled it up but I ate slowly and enjoyed every bite, knowing I needed to eat!

My sweet girl and her bunny dressed alike for church....the cutness is ridiculous!

My friend snapped this and sent it to me. I wish you could see Ribbit. ...both her and Baby Boy are raising their hands to worship..I love that they are unashamed of their faith!

Paleo curry with roasted cauliflower, carrots, spaghetti squash...sauce is tomatoes, curry powder, garam masala and cocunut milk creamer....still working on it but YUM!!

Todays CrossFit was killer...walkout to  plank plus push up, Kettlebell swings, Thick ropes attached to weight that you pulse up and down and kickboxing jabs with weight and high kness...I was a sweaty mess. After this me and Goober ran. He has been working on getting his deadlift and hangclean form right....momma isn't too much help there but I try :).