#guestpost Really Horribly Terrible Marathon-Training Advice from Jack Sh*t

You say you're going on Hiatus  because you need a little blogging break and don't know what to write about, and a blogger you greatly admire comments, "Maybe write about bloggers you admire.  *hint hint*".  You find this really funny and reply back, "Or maybe get one of those bloggers I admire to write a guest post? *hint hint*"

Wouldn't you know it, a really awesome guest post showed up!  I had the pleasure of meeting Jack Sh*t way back at FitBloggin11.  He's just as funny in real life as he is on his blog and the fact he took the time to write a guest post for my readers here (when I wasn't expecting one) shows what a stand-up guy he is.  Since it's Thursday and I usually post something thankful, I think this really fits because I'm thankful to know bloggers like Jack.

Without further ado I give you...

Really Horribly Terrible Marathon-Training Advice

A Guest Post by Jack Sh*t

• If you’re planning to run a marathon right after going to the restroom, make sure you don’t have toilet paper stuck in the back of your pants. A 26.2-mile stream of toiler paper is extremely wasteful!

• If you put a treadmill in the back of a pick-up truck and have someone drive you around while you run on it, it feels just like you’re running outside. Try it yourself if you don’t believe me!

• It’s important not to get dehydrated on long runs, so consider wearing a hydration pack or carrying a bucket of water balloons.

• Running’s easier if you’re as light as possible so before you head out, send me all the cash out of your wallet.

• Find what motivates YOU to run; for me, it’s when somebody says “I think the security guard saw you shove that down your pants.”

• Spend at least one day per week practicing carbo-loading.

• If you’re a barefoot runner, refrain from training in a field of broken glass and rusty nails.

• You shouldn’t run if it’s rainy, or looks like rain, or if there’s a chance of rain, or if it’s too sunny, too cloudy or too plain-looking.

Remember:  it’s all about putting one foot in front of the other (never – and I mean never – put one foot in front of the same foot!).

Jack Sh*t is a blogger that blogs his blog at Bloggityblog.blog, where he goes on and on and on about weight loss and explores the lighter side of lightening up. A Google search of the term “Jack Sh*t: America’s Greatest Hero” produces zero results.

Thank you, Jack!  You really put a smile on my face this week :)

 

Hiatus

If there's anything I've learned over this past week of post-marathon "rest", it's that it would be very easy for me to fall back into old, lazy habits.  I've worked out a little (if you count walks and one 40 minute trainer ride) but for the most part, I've sat around and eaten too much.  Exactly what I did not want to have happen.

Part of the break was definitely to heal physically from the marathon.  I came away from the race with a nice PR and no new injuries, but I wasn't 100% healthy going into the training in the first place.  The other part was mental.  I needed to turn off my brain a little - now I'm just afraid I can't find the light switch to flip it back on.

Now, with no new training plan in place, I'm not really sure what to do next.

I think this translates to my little circle of the interwebs as well.  I write a lot about running and training, so if I'm not running or training, what do I write about?  My cat?  She's cute and all, but hardly the topic for a blog day in and day out.  (My apologies to any crazy cat ladies out there.)

I'm open to suggestions.

In the meantime, I'm going to take a little break from blogging here.  Who knows, I may be back tomorrow or Friday or maybe it will be next week.  I still want to tell you all about my training plan for Detroit, because a few people have asked, but other than that, I feel like my brain has gone into recovery mode as well.  

Mostly, I'm just still really tired.

See you all later.

Fitness Friday: what's next?

After coming off my awesome Detroit Marathon PR, it's hard to think about goal to chase next.

Do I work on increasing strength?  I'm notorious for not seeing lifting programs through to the end.

Do I focus on increasing speed at a shorter distance?  Perhaps that elusive sub-2 half?

Do I get back to focusing on getting my weight back down where it should be?  Because losing 10-15 pounds would really help with all these other ideas.

Or do I set my sights on another marathon?

I know I don't have to decide today, but this "not having a plan" plan really isn't working for me.  I've been on the scale more this week than I probably should be in a month.  

I do have one little race on my schedule for 2015 (although I won't register until after the new year).  This year, the Fifth Third River Bank Run 25k FINALLY revealed a new medal!  They put it up to a community vote and my choice won.  Isn't that one of the prettiest medals ever?!?  For a race that is the 25k National Championship and a huge draw for Michigan and the city of Grand Rapids, it was about time they showcased what GR has to offer on it's medal.  This one will definitely be hanging around my neck come May of 2015.  Anyone want to run it with me?

Thankful Thursday: Race Photos That Don't Suck!

How in the heck do I choose????  Anyone want to vote?

#racereport: 2014 Detroit Marathon

In case you missed yesterday's blog post - Spoiler Alert - I set a huge PR on Sunday in the Detroit Marathon!!! But, let's back the bus up a little first.  Marathons are long and this report might be too :)

Expo - I was shocked at how big the expo was.  Tons of vendors that you needed to snake through to get to packet pickup (an annoyance).  I got suckered in right away by the race merchandise.  If the expo is selling pint glasses and magnets, you must buy them.  It's the law. I actually worried that buying these things would jinx me (like wearing the shirt before the race) but I bought them anyway.

That glass worked great for my celebratory beer.

Sadly, I did not buy the 2014 Corvette Stingray, nor did I stand in line to sit in it.  Very cool that they had the car on display though since it was this year's featured USA muscle car on our medals :)

Isn't she pretty?!? 

Pre-Race:  I drove down Saturday morning, stopping for lunch at a Red Robin on the way (grilled BBQ chicken sandwich as a lettuce wrap and fries with tons of RR salt, plus a very nice pumpkin porter) and then hit the expo.  I backtracked to the Courtyard by Marriott in Dearborn, but it was only about 20-25 minutes from downtown and a nice, quiet and newly renovated (or at least some of the rooms were) place.  There was an Olive Garden right around the corner for dinner (chicken marsala with most of the sauce scraped off, roasted potatoes and salad, plus lots of water).  Early bed around 8:30 with my friend, Ambien.  The alarm went off at 4 am but I was awake around 3:30.  I had time to get ready and eat my 2 pieces of Udi bread with butter and jelly and have some coffee.  TMI alert - my coffee never really kicked in but it turned out ok.

My friend, Molly, and her husband were staying at the same hotel and she rode into Detroit with me so Mark didn't need to be there so early.  I had pre-booked parking through ParkWhiz for a lot on the race list of spots and we left at 5am, so we figured "no problem" getting there. WRONG.  Streets were already closed at 5:20 and we got very lost trying to find the place we'd paid for already. We were both pretty unhappy about being told the roads would not close until 6 to find them closed at 5:20.  Not cool, Detroit.  Not cool.  Luckily, some wrong turns and driving around barriers got us to the MGM Grand parking structure. AWESOME parking. I'd park there next time.  We walked the 1/2 mile or so straight shot to the starting line, found gear check and hit the portapotties.  There were TONS of them. We also ducked into a People Mover station for awhile to stay warm.  It was freezing out - about 35* and I was glad for my throwaway old PJ bottoms and hoodie.  I ended up keeping my arm warmers on the entire race because it never got much warmer than the mid 40s and the wind would pick up here and there.

International race! 

I was very glad to have Molly with me before the race started because she kept me calm. We walked up and down the starting line to stay warm, but first had to take a selfie :)  We split about 30 min before the start so she could get into her uber-fast pace corral.

Cheese!

Because this race goes into Canada and I didn't want ginormous roaming charges for broadcasting data, I decided early on that my phone would be in airplane mode for this race.  I used my phone for my intervals (Runmeter) and music.  On a training run I learned that taking photos would cause Runmeter to stop, so I started everything about 15 min before the gun and then tucked my phone into my fuel belt.  I just listened to my music and the music at the start line.  I was getting pumped with everyone around me but it felt weird to not take a starting line photo.

A woman sang the Canadian and then US National Anthems, which was very moving, and then the handcycles (the winner set a record of 1:09:48!) and elites were off. There was a countdown clock for the wave starts and  I was in corral K (but inadvertently put myself in J because I couldn't see the signs) so it was about 16 minutes before I made it to the start.

Race strategy: (this is more for me so I don't forget - remember to do what works for you.) Stopped drinking water about 1 hour before the start. Chia bar 30 minutes before the gun (turned out 45 min before I started).  5 minute runs/ 30 sec walk breaks starting around mile 1.5.  Salted caramel gu at the first walk break in miles 5, 9, 13, 17, 20, 24 (this last one I took early - around mile 23).  Nuun in my 2 bottles and sips of water at aid stations.  (There was a panic the night before when I read border patrol could stop you and ask you to dump your bottles but no one got pulled out for that. Wearing your bib on your back was a huge no-no as I saw a girl get pulled out and yelled at to move her bib to the front.) I refilled my bottles with water when the Nuun ran out just after the 1/2 way point.  I wore a pace bracelet and it was a lifesaver.  I knew exactly what pace I needed to be at each mile marker to stay on goal pace.  I wasn't sure what would happen with my Garmin in the tunnel.

Race goal:  I never really talked here (or anywhere) what my race goal was going to be, partly because I didn't want to have to explain if I failed. Lack of confidence, much? A few people knew that I set a Fellow Flowers Declare It Day goal back in February to run a sub-5 marathon at Detroit, but then I didn't talk about it again. My PR from Grand Rapids in 2011 was 5:27:15.  My training had been going quite well so I knew baring any disasters that a PR was within reach.  I wanted much more than "just" a PR, though.  I wanted to beat that by 30 minutes.  This made my super-secret HUGE goal as 4:57.  I wore my Fellow Flowers turquoise Believe flower on my hat and painted my nails turquoise to remind myself to believe it would happen. I also wrote "you are stronger than you think", "keep moving forward" and "own this race" on my hands.

Miles 1-8: The start was quite crowded and there were areas that were pretty congested because the almost 4000 marathoners and 12000 international half marathoners started at the same time.  I hit the Ambassador Bridge just as the sun was rising over Windsor, ON and it was breathtaking.  I hated that my phone/camera was tucked away.  Running over the bridge was fun but didn't like having to slow down with the number of people. I had decided to keep my hoodie at least through the bridge and I'm proud to say my old purple hoodie is now Canadian :)  I tossed it right after the Canadian flag at the top of the bridge. The crowd support in Canada was awesome and even the border patrol guys were really cool, cheering and high-5ing runners.  We hit the Windsor Tunnel around mile 7 and I realized I was FLYING through the tunnel.  Didn't know the first half of the underwater mile was downhill but duh, how else are you going to get under a river?!?  I struggled to reign it in and when I hit the incline to come back out, I lost what little time I'd gained.
Splits: 10:56, 10:48, 11:44, 10:53, 10:52, 10:51, 10:51, 12:06 (probably long with the tunnel)

Picture from Molly

Miles 9-19: I don't have much to report here.  Lots of cool neighborhoods and some straight boring sections.  The crowds really thinned out after the international half marathon runners left us at mile 13.  I picked up the pace here because the crowds were great.  I kept up with my intervals and fueling strategy and it felt really good.  There were even some neighborhoods where people were handing out beer (I didn't not take any) and the party atmosphere was really fun.
Splits: 9:46 (I think this mile was short because of the tunnel), 11:21, 10:57, 10:52, 10:53, 10:34, 10:51, 10:54, 11:06, 10:56, 11:05

Miles 20-26.2: Mile 20 took us over the MacArthur Bridge and out onto Belle Isle.  It was nice to know where I was again because unless I was on the bridge, in Canada, in the tunnel or on the island I had no clue :)  I could feel myself starting to fade, but I knew based on my pace band that I was a good 6 minutes ahead of my ultimate goal time, which was reassuring.  I still didn't want to slow down as much as I did, but my calves were starting to cramp and so was my left ankle.  I'd never had my ankle cramp before.  Maybe if I'd put more Nuun in my bottles it would've been better.  Hard to say.  On the way back over the bridge I met up with a first time marathoner (their bibs were green) who was really struggling. I tried to give her a pep talk and get her running again. I'm hoping she finished.  Knowing I only had about 4 miles to go after the island spurred me on but my legs were really feeling trashed.  I started counting down the run intervals.  It helped knowing after each 5 minutes I could walk for a few seconds and then regroup.  The last few miles are along the Riverwalk, which provided some nice scenery, but also a lot of turns and a headwind.  So many people were doing the death march at that point that I passed a lot of them on my run intervals. I saw my friend Maureen cheering at mile 25 and that was a nice boost.  I didn't know she'd be there.  The end of mile 26 is up a hill and I'm sad that my body said "walk" and I did.  I should have straight run the last 1.26 but I had nothing left to give going up the hill.  I at least tried to push it a bit on the last .2 but looking at the splits it's pretty clear I was done.
Splits: 11:22, 11:14, 11:28, 11:34, 11:10, 11:36, 12:53, 3:19 (11:50 pace for last .28 on my Garmin)

Seeing the race clock and knowing I'd completely crushed my PR and my huge goal left me finishing with tears in my eyes.  I was crying when the volunteer hung my medal around my neck and when another gave me a shiny blanket.  I snapped a selfie and then wandered aimlessly trying to keep my legs from cramping up completely. I wanted to sit down so badly but I knew I'd never get up again.  I got a banana, water and chocolate milk but didn't have any of it for quite a while.  A really nice guy took my picture at the finisher backdrop and I repaid the favor for him.


After getting my sweatshirt from gear check, I tossed my blanket (mistake) and headed to the afterparty area.  I got a nice post-race massage but passed on the $8 crappy Redd's Apple Ale.  I also didn't feel like eating so I didn't visit the food trucks but I hear the hot dogs were amazing.  Instead I made the slow trek back to my van.  At one intersection, I was literally shaking from being so cold and a very nice guy (a first time marathoner) took off his space blanket and wrapped it around me.  Never underestimate the kindness of strangers.

I'm absolutely thrilled with how this race turned out.  It was a little hard not having anyone physically with me at the finish line, but based on the texts, tweets and facebook messages that came through when I turned my phone back on, I had so many people cheering me on from all over the country and your support meant the world to me.  It was disappointing to fall off so much in the last 6 miles and especially the last mile since I'd been doing great pulling out strong finishes, but in the end it didn't matter.  I crushed my goal and that felt amazing.

2612/3993 overall, 965/1740 women, 134/258 AG

Takeaways: If you put in the work - you will get paid.  I think the training plan my friend and I came up with was a definite winner.  (I'll talk about it in a future blog post.)  Having a cold temperature and light breeze certainly helped make this my race, as did the use of that pace bracelet!  I would most definitely consider running this one again - although maybe only the international half next time.  26.2 miles is a long way but sometimes it takes training for and executing a race of that distance to believe how strong you really are.

Hate the color but love the back of the shirt - it's all the landmarks we passed.

Thank you first and foremost to God for giving me the ability to run and keeping me healthy through training and the race. Thank you to my family for putting up with long training runs, fend-for-yourself nights, and me sleeping in on Sundays because it was my only day off.   Thank you to my friends who helped me come up with a training plan that worked and gave me results (even when I didn't believe it was possible to run the prescribed paces).   Thank you to all of you.  Everyone who has read, commented, encouraged me here or on Daily Mile/Facebook/Twitter.   Each and every one of you helped make Sunday a success for me and for that, I am forever grateful.

Motivation Monday: YES, YOU can run a marathon!

Spoiler Alert: HUGE PR!

If I can train for and finish 26.2 miles with a nearly 35 min PR and blow my goal time out of the water, so can YOU!  More on this later when I have time to write a real race report.

What's your big, scary goal? Make it a reality.

Fitness Friday: decisions!

Throw away hoodie or arm warmers?

Extra tablets of Nuun or switch to water when those run out?

New extra battery case for my phone (which I haven't run with) or the battery stick that takes up more space but I know will work?

Wear my Fellow Flowers Believe flower on my hat or my bib?

White hat or black hat?

I'm starting to panic a little bit for this weekend and I haven't started packing yet - probably because I'm too scattered.  I still need to get in one more run tonight and then get to packing (or at least set everything out) before tonight's football game.  The last home game for my marching band seniors.  Last night was senior night for my divegirl.

The senior moments this week have been rough.

Probably another reason why I can't seem to make a decision.

#tbt : my gymnast turned divegirl

Today's Throwback Thursday is in honor of tonight's Senior Night at the last home swim & dive meet. I'm so proud of this girl.

THEN

AND NOW

LOVE

Semi-Wordless Wednesday & a Weigh-in

Good advice from Marathon Don on the GR Marathon blog today.

My friend, Beki, posted this on FB yesterday.  Anyone else relate?

Looks like I'm right where I was a year ago. *sigh*

This made me smile. The Oatmeal rocks.

I hope everyone has a Wonderful Wednesday!

Training Tuesday: Next Stop, the Detroit Marathon!

It's kind of hard to believe that I'm running my 2nd full marathon in less than a week!  The training is done (except for 2 more short runs this week) and I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

Monday: RUN 3.2 watchless miles in the crisp, fall air.

Tuesday: A 60 minute massage.  Dude. She beat me up so I'm totally counting it.  I had DOMS for about 2 days.

Wednesday: RUN 4 mile progressive at a 9:37 pace.  Where the heck is this speed coming from?

Thursday: BIKE 20 minutes.  STRETCH/STRENGTH 25 minutes.

Friday: NADA

Saturday: RUN 12 miles in 2:09:xx (10:45 pace). I ran the first 8 with about an 11 m/m pace and then the last 4 with paces around 10 m/m.  Crazy awesome 32* run and just what I needed going into race week.!  Now, if the temperature can be in the mid to high 30s next Sunday, I'll be thrilled.

Sunday: NADA (maybe some rolling and such)

To paraphrase Forrest, taper is as taper does.  I've had the usual sniffles, sore throat, aches, pains, etc. I've freaked out over my car not starting on Sunday - it now has a new battery after it left me stranded at the grocery store.  I'm trying not to go stir-crazy and make my loves ones crazy in the process.  So far, I'd say I haven't done a very good job on that front.

But, as for the running piece?  I'm ready.

Motivation Monday: Inspiration

Yesterday was the Chicago Marathon. I had several friends running and they all did great. I also got to read posts from a few of my Couch to 5k runners who ran their first 5ks this weekend.  Thinking everyone racing gets me motivated and excited for next weekend.  Congrats to any of you who raced!


This will be my view on Sunday morning! Less than a week until runner 1990 runs across the Ambassador Bridge!

Did you race this weekend?

Fitness Friday: goals

I haven't posted here what my Detroit Marathon goal happens to be.  I don't know if I will.  Maybe that is fear - if I don't hit it, then I have to come back here and tell everyone I failed.  

In any case, the goal is a big one.  At least for me it is.  This race is going way beyond "finish".  I've worked harder for this race than probably any other race.  I'm hoping I put enough money in the bank for it to accrue some serious interest.  I want a big check next week Sunday.

source

I set my marathon goal way back on February 1st when I got together with a bunch of girlfriends for the Fellow Flowers Declare It Day.  At the time, I may have posted something about it, so if you really want to know, you can dig :)

I made a plan - 22 weeks of official marathon training, plus rebuilding my miles after the winter.  I did 5 20 mile training runs (I think that's 4 more than for my first marathon). Speed work.  Tempo runs and intervals. When things got in the way, I moved days around.  I rarely missed a run.

I got to work - Since Declare It Day, I've run 670 miles (and I'll run at least another 15-20 before race day).  I've biked over 400 miles.  I've even swam and lifted.  Stretched and Rolled.  I definitely put in the work.

Stick to it?  Yah, see above.

All that's left is to reach the goal on October 19th.  I'm excited and I'm ready to cash my check.

To my friends running the Chicago Marathon this Sunday - have a great race, enjoy the miles and KICK ASSPHALT!

#TTT Three Things Thursday: random thoughts

1.  I'm having a very hard focusing lately.  Chalk it up to taper crazies or just having too much going on in my life or sleeping like poop.  Speaking of poop - I think my stomach already thinks it's race day. Sorry, TMI and keeping it real.

2.  Saw a video on Facebook from the Detroit Marathon page this morning and had a mini freakout.  I can't get the video to post but you can watch it here. Then I went searching youtube for more course videos and I found this one.



It's long, like a marathon, but shows the entire course.

3.  I'm wearing heels today, because what else would someone with foot problems do 10 days before her goal marathon?

At least I look cute :)  Also - I really need to clean that mirror.

Happy Thursday, people!

#WIAW and a better weigh-in

First off, I finally found a paleo-ish Chicken Parm recipe that tastes almost as good as regular Chicken Parm.  You can find it here but basically, it's just chicken breasts dunked in egg, then seasoned (oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper) almond flour and baked on a parchment-lined cookie sheet at 375 until done (about 30 min).  I served it over zoodles with my favorite Rao's sauce and a little bit of mozzarella.  

I lost nearly all of the weight I gained last week, which is shocking since not pictured in the WIAW picture is all the candy and GF brownies with ice cream I've had this week.  Taper...the struggle is real, people!

If there's one benefit to needing to get up extra early to present an inservice to staff at 7:15 in the morning, it's being awake to see the Bloodmoon.  Pretty cool stuff that my iPhone camera can't really do justice.  Even better than the moon was the number of stars I saw.  Very pretty sky.

Did you see the lunar eclipse this morning?

Training Tuesday: Detroit Marathon T - 2 weeks!

I read a post yesterday on Women's Running written by one of my running/blog heroines, Dorothy Beal from Mile Posts.  In the post, she discussed how so many runners - pros and mere mortals alike - doubt their fitness during taper.  I was just discussing with one of my friends how 12 days now, I'm going to find out if I worked hard enough.  I'm notorious for questioning my abilities and doubting my ability to reach my goal, so seeing this post pop up in my Facebook feed on Monday was so timely.  You can read the entire post here.

Dorothy likened training for a marathon to banking.  She said, "The money is in the bank.  It's time to cash the check."  All of your workouts leading up to race day are deposits into your account and on race day, you get to withdraw all you've saved.  If you go nuts in the week or two leading up to your race and try to overtax the system with extra ATM deposits, you're going to find your ATM machine "out of service" for a couple weeks.  Not what you need.

I think I've done a pretty good job this time around "managing my money" (at least where marathon training is concerned - actual cash is an entirely different post).  I've run a ton of miles - easy, speed and long.  Strength trained more this time around than every before.  Cross trained.  It's almost time to cash that check.

I'm almost done writing these Training Tuesday updates.  Last week was my last "long" week before taper.  I finished my 5th 20 miler on Saturday and I'm hoping I worked out some of the kinks.  The money is in the bank, baby.  Just a few more small deposits and it's time to cash that check.

Monday 9-29-14 RUN 2.25 miles (11 m/m pace) then YOGA for 60 minutes. I actually ran TO yoga.  Who the eff am I???

Tuesday 9-30-14 BIKE 12 miles (15.6 mph) with squats and lunges every 3 miles.

Wednesday 10-1-14 RUN 7.25 miles of intervals (10:27 ave).

Thursday 10-2-14 WALK 2 miles of fresh air.

Friday 10-3-14 STRENGTH mostly stretching and rolling, some glute work.

Saturday 10-4-14 RUN 20 miles in 3:57:37 (11:52 pace).  3 bathroom stops killed my average pace, but I ended with 3 very fast miles to at least get in under 4 hours.

Sunday 10-5-14 RECOVER and REST

Motivation Monday: taper time!

Let the taper madness begin!

#TBT: My First Marathon - Grand Rapids 2011

In a little over 2 weeks, I'm going to be running my second marathon, so I took a walk down memory lane this morning and decided to share it with you.

My kids ran the finish with me :)

My friend Judi gave me my medal and lots of hugs while we both cried.

This race made me a marathoner.

You can read my full race report here.  There's even some video of me running and crossing the finish line, which was kind of interesting to watch (hello straight robot legs!).  It makes me wonder what I look like now as I run since I think my running style has changed a lot over the past 3 years.  I know I'm faster - at least most days :)

I'm going to miss having that escort down the finishing shoot in Detroit.

What are you remembering today?

ps-congrats to Corey, Nicole and Ginger who won some cool Breast Cancer Awareness headbands and sweatbands in my giveaway!  Check your emails, ladies :)

Weigh In and #WIAW: bad sign or wake-up call?

So, it would appear stress plus THIS

equals THIS

Yes, that would be a 3.2 pound gain this week.  Add that to the 1.4 pound gain last week and I've managed to pack on 4.6 pounds in 2 weeks.  Just the other day I was watching the Biggest Loser and commented to a friend how I couldn't believe the 18 year old (Blake is her name I think) could gain so much weight in one year.  Then, this morning, it hit me.  4.6 pounds every two weeks would result in about a 120 pound gain over the course of the year.

Now, do I really believe that this time next year I'll weigh 270 pounds? Absolutely not.  But it's scary how fast weight comes back on.

It doesn't matter if you bike for an hour, do 100 squats and lunges, or spend 4 hours running on the weekend.  What you put in your mouth counts more than the exercise.

If you treat every day like long run day, you WILL gain weight.  Even a 20 mile run doesn't entitle you to to eat all the things.  I ate and drank entirely too much this weekend and last weekend.  That was very clear.  I'm terrified that this trend will continue after race day.  I was so proud of myself for getting back into my "skinny" jeans and now I'm disappointed for blowing it all so quickly.

I wasn't even sure if I should post this today but I'm just trying to keep it real.  And right now, reality sucks.