1/2 Marathon!

PRE-RACE:

I am feeling pretty nervous. But the nerves I feel now for these sorts of things is nothing compared to what I used to feel for swim meets. I wouldn't be able to sleep and I would keep replaying my victory over and over (positive imagery), even though it never happened. I'm not much of a fast athlete, just a long-endurance-type athlete. This doesn't really come in handy during races, but nonetheless, I enter races. I know tomorrow morning, when I wake up at 4:30, i'll be saying to myself "why did you sign up for this?", I do every time.

I've made sure to add new songs to my I-Pod, and washed all the clothes that i'm going to wear tomorrow, but I still have a few things to do. I've had a couple of friends ask me what my meals will be the day before the run, and I told them that I'm just going to eat what I crave and not change anything with my diet, or ill end up feeling sick the next day. Unfortunately, what I was craving was cookies. I am THE cookie monster. I had 6 cookies and then was too full to eat anything healthy, so I shoved some broccoli and spinach in my mouth just to make myself feel better. I tried going to bed early (9:30), but I didn't fall sleep until 2, which sucked for someone who had to wake up at 4:30.

Same recipe as the macadamia nut cookies, just with 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder added

RACE DAY:

I woke up instantly awake and refreshed, even with no sleep.

I'm a very peppy morning person

I got all of my stuff ready and then ate some overnight oats! I figured I would eat the same breakfast I eat all the time so that nothing new upsets my stomach.

Oats with peaches, sunflower seed butter, pumpkin seeds, almond milk,  and maple syrup.

I was supposed to meet my friend Katie at College and University for 6 am, so I hurried over there on my bike. IT WAS SOOO COLD! I had gloves, two coats, pants, and an extra sweater. I coulnd't imagine having to take my pants off and run in shorts. Since we were so cold and we were SUPER early, we went into Starbucks to get a hot drink and warm up. I had a few sips of their orange blossom green tea, I really only bought it as a hand warmer, and we waited around until it was closer to the time to head out.

The lovely Katie!

This was when I was doubting why I signed up for this

We headed over to the green corral area, which was for those wanting to do it in 2 hours. I spotted my 2 hour continuous pacer and tried to get closer to him! Everyone had the same idea, so we were all crowding around him. Who knew that he'd have to hold the pacer sign up the whole darn race! That's some crazy shoulder workout.

Green balloons for the green corral!

I was getting really nervous by this point, everyone was stretching and looking super cool in their running outfits. Im not much of a warming up or stretch-before-a-workout-person, so I just stood there shivering. Hehehe.

Finally, after the anthems of Canada and Greece, we were off!! It took about 5 minutes to get to the start line, so I guess that counted as my warmup, and then the pace quickly picked up. I thought that for sure I wouldn't be able to hold this pace, especially with all the weaving through people that you had to do to stick with the pacer. Eventually I just gave up on the pacer and found a girl that looked like she could run the same pace as me (just a guess) and stuck with her. But I had to weave in and out to stay with her too! I just gave up and ran my own way. I ended up picking up some speed. The first 10 km went by sooo fast! I think it was all the comraderie and cute outfits to look at that kept my mind off the fact that I was running. When the 10km mark hit me, I realized that my feet were hurting and that I had developed horrible blisters on the bottom of the arches of my feet. But I kept running. Also at this point, my inner things started chaffing (darn shorts) and I kept looking down thinking I was going to see blood. I knew that if I stopped running for even a second that I wouldn't be able to start back up, so I just kept going, no water break, nothing. The kilometers kept going by, and the crowd had so much energy that it really kept me going. I wasn't paying much attention to my music either. I felt like I was on a training run, I didn't feel too much pressure, other than to finish. I saw a great poster that said "You're feet are hurting a lot because you're kicking so much ass". It was a very nice experience. 15 km hit and I started to get tired, I knew that I only had a bit more and I told myself that I would keep this slower pace until I reached 19 or 20 km, then I would pick it up. But no one told me that the 19th KM was the LONGEST KM EVER!!!! There was an uphill and I swear it was longer. My feet were aching, my posture was slacking, and I was starting to get really tired out, and for some reason my playlist was on really sappy songs that did nothing to motivate me. I saw the 20 km mark and then picked it up a bit. But thinking that this km would be as long as the last one, I didn't start sprinting until the 500 m mark. I really booked it, it was a slight elevation, so my legs felt like bricks. Everyone was cheering and I finally made it in 1:56:51. My goal was to do it in 2 hours so I beat my goal!!!

I'm in the pink sweater and black shorts!

I was so relieved to be done, I still can't believe that I did it. Chaffed thighs and blistered feet are nothing compared to the way I feel! I am so proud of myself for doing this. Katie asked me if I will try a marathon next, but I'm not too sure about it, it just seems so long. When we were at 18 km, the marathoner's veered right while we went left and I felt sooo bad for them. I know that if I was in the marathon group I would have been longing to go with my group. I will stick with 1/2 marathons for a little while longer and then maybe attempt a full marathon when I'm ready to tackle that sort of distance.

I had to change out of my sweaty wet clothes and then Katie and I were off to Fressen for brunch. Since it wasn't open yet, we stopped at David's Tea and I had a delicious toasted walnut green tea (sounds disgusting but it was sooooo amazing).

Then we were at Fressen. I started with an apple, ginger, and lemon juice that was beyond great. It was the best tasting fresh juice i've ever had, Katie tried it and said she thought it was great too. We had the spicy lentil balls with fresh bread, and then I had the tofu scramble, while Katie had the omelette. All in all, a very satisfying meal.

Greatest juice in the world

Lentil balls

Katie's meal

My meal, of course it came with an indigestible kale salad, yuk!

Today was such a great day! And it's only 1 in the afternoon! And it gets even better when I remembered that my mom is visiting tomorrow!!


I just want to say a special thank-you to Katie! I would not have been able to do this race without you. Thank-you so so so so much, I owe you big time. You're the best.