Welcome!! A little background . . . I have struggled with my weight for 14 years now and I don't want to do it anymore. I have gained and lost 75 pounds twice and I'd like to lose it one more time and never gain it again. I'm trying a blog to help me stay on track with my goals, accountability, and my life along the way.
I've had an on and off problem with my feet swelling. Being a side effect of hypothyroidism, I do experience it from time to time but most often during travel or heat. My feet started swelling on day two of my road trip at the end of June. We spent 17 hours in the car that day and covered A LOT of ground. I then walked Seattle for a few days and got back in the car, then walked Vancouver and got on a plane. My feet kept getting bigger and bigger. Then the heat wave hit and I noticed that even my lower calves were retaining water. I could actually make a dent. I was constantly trying to keep them elevated to alleviate. I felt like my whole lower half was larger than normal because my jeans that were fine, suddenly became tight.
I started counting my points last Tuesday and weighed in at 215.4. Two days ago, the heat wave broke for a couple days and I noticed things were starting to feel better. My jeans were looser and I could actually get my sandals on my feet. This morning I weighed in at 207.0. 8.4 pounds! I would bet that was 7 pounds of water and 1.4 pounds of actual weight. Here is a before and after of my feet. These pics are only two weeks apart. My pregnant friend messaged me that her feet were super swollen so I took a picture of my foot and said mine too. She replied with "Holy Sh*t! Why is that happening?" Haha - I said "Probably because I'm fat and it's hot."
SERIOUSLY!!
In activity news, our new session of work classes started up and I'm loving it. I even got another friend to try the classes and she signed up for two a week. Love that I have one more friend going. I go Tuesday (Sculpt), Wednesday (Core & More), Thursday (Zumba). I also joined a 10 km clinic at the Running Room that started tonight so I cranked out just over 4 kms. Had to get back into running REGULARLY. Not just sporadic 5 & 10 km races everywhere. The heat has really killed me. Plus the foot swelling didn't really make it comfortable to lace up my runners and pound the pavement. Seems like a great group and the beauty of this clinic is that it will start off in heat (tonight was 27C/81F), and it will just progressively get cooler until it's Fall which is my favourite running time of the year. :)
We are in the middle of a crazy heat wave. Days and days. In fact Saturday, it was 45c/113f with the humidity. Unbelievable. Thankfully it wasn't quite that bad for the River Run on Thursday evening. It was still bad though - for me anyway. It was 33c/92f. I slogged along and told myself I would just be happy with not being last and being under 45 minutes. Mission accomplished. I was not last. Close but not last and I finished in 43:17.
My face was beet red for hours.
After that, I raced home to shower because my sister is in town with my adorable niece and they were coming over for a late supper.
My next race is speeding towards me on September 8th. A 10 km. Gulp. I don't have really high hopes for a new personal best because the weather this week is such that I'm pretty sure I won't be running. 30+ every single day. I could weep!
Thankfully with my lunch classes at work, i'm able to keep a base fitness level happening. At the race on Thursday I was able to run at least 5 minutes at a time so at least I wasn't back to running one minute walking one minute! I know some people love it but I can't wait till the end of this heat wave!
I've spent the last few weeks in a fog. Eating like it's an Olympic sport and I made the trials. Gaining weight like it's also an Olympic sport and I've won the gold medal. And couching like it's also, you got it, an Olympic sport. The new triathlon. Eat Gain Couch.
BUT!!! Today was a good day. It started off like all the others. But then I got to work to an early morning email that the race dates and course for the Fargo Marathon had changed. GULP! In an instant flurry, I was booking a new room at the hotel I had already booked at. Then thought about it for a moment, reviewed the new course and then hunted for a new hotel. Within moments I'd booked another one. Just in time to watch that hotel climb in price by $85 over 8 hours. I got in there just in time. Nothing like the feeling of getting a hotel walking distance to the start & finish line for badass price. Then I started getting excited about the race. It's a ways off and I have other races before it but this one got me excited again. I will be registering for the half marathon again. Definitely hope to better my time. DEFINITELY.
Twenty minutes later . . . because I was doing this blog post and I went to get that screen shot from the site, I noticed that the dates were different. I quickly went to the Fargo FB page and saw they just announced that they changed the dates back!!! OMG! So much for my good deal hotel room! Thankful that I didn't book an even cheaper NON-REFUNDABLE rate. I got the same hotel for a good price. Not as good as originally but still good. Phew. I'm not canceling the other one for months. Till I'm sure this is the last change.
Anyhow, so where was I - yes! I was getting all excited about running again and then I went to a workout class at lunch, Core & More. It felt so good to be active. It was hard, I felt huge, it's humid and hot here. But I felt good. Looking forward to Zumba at lunch tomorrow.
I also made some changes to my race schedule for the rest of the year. I added a 5 km and a couple 10 km's and I scrapped the half marathon and am doing the 10 km instead in October. I wouldn't be ready and it was a relief to change it. I feel good again. And tomorrow evening is my next 5 km race. It will be tough because I haven't run in a month and it will be hot but I'll get it done and it will only help my confidence.
My 26 year old sister just announced that she's pregnant. Ouch. For the second time. Ouch. With twins. Ouch f*cking ouch. You know what I've got? 40. I'm turning 40 in 4 months. I have no idea why some people get what they do and why others don't. But it's a pill so hard to swallow, it leaves a giant lump in my throat. I'm happy for her if she's happy. And don't get me wrong, I will be the Auntie that loves them the hardest, like I do this little sweet pea to the left as you've all known. My FB page leaves no doubt. And this is going to feel like shit for a while so in the meantime . . .
Shorter this time, I promise. I forgot to mention this race in my catchup post. It wasn't until I transferring my Garmin info into dailymile that I remembered. This was the Manitoba Marathon on June 16th. I did this race as a relay in 2009 and it was a horrible, terribly hot experience and I swore I would never register for the half or more on this race. But here I go in my excitement to do 13 races in 2013 and I registered for the half in a moment of weakness. After my experience at the Fargo Half, I was so dreading this race. I was still doing it but dreading it. Then a few days before the race, a co-worker came up to me and asked if I knew about race kit pickup. We looked it up together and I noticed under the FAQ that that afternoon was the last chance to change events. OMG. I checked the forecast yet again and saw that it was supposed to be hot, humid, rainy. Same as Fargo. I thought about it for an hour and called and changed my race from the half to the 10km. I instantly felt overwhelming relief. I was now looking forward to this race. And it turned out to be the right decision.
My speedy friend Nicole picked me up that morning and we headed across town to the race. It started off a little gray and by the time we got there, it was bright and sunny. This year, they only had shuttle access to the site. We parked and the line for the shuttle was so incredible long, we weren't waiting. We opted to walk in. Add 3 kms. We figured we'd take the shuttle back after.
Again, I was hoping for a personal best here. I was actually hoping for 1:15. I was on target to do that and then the sun hit me. This is a flat and shadeless course. What little bits of shade there was, I took advantage of. The last 2 km's though was wide open and I kept getting slower and slower. I ended up finishing in 1:21:02. Not 1:15 but still a personal best by about 4 minutes or so. I'm okay with that!!! My friend Nicole finished her half in an amazing 1:42. WTF!!! She is such a motivator for me. She is this totally fit, running, bike riding, spinning, weight lifting little dynamo. She's in fantastic shape and she's earned every little bit. Once I crossed the finish line, I made my way up to the stands and kept my eyes peeled for her so I could record her crossing the finish line. She blew past about 6 people in the last 30 feet of the race!! We then watched until the first female and male marathon finishers crossed. It was actually emotional watching people cross because this race is on Father's Day every year and there's a lot of kids running with their fathers and they cross the line holding hands, arms in the air. What a fantastic moment for the Dad and an awesome memory for the child. We walked out to the shuttle buses and again, the lines were crazy so we actually walked back out to the car again! Add another 3 kms! Great day though.
Guide Runner & Blind Runner --and I could only keep up with them for the first few km's.
Consider me your fair weather blogger. For you semi-anonymous bloggers, do you ever find that sometimes you think "sh*t, I wish I hadn't told 'insert name here' about my blog?" I do. Every once in a while. And it delays me sometimes from posting or maybe just not saying what I would otherwise. I don't even know if she reads it anymore. Hehe - I hope not. Anyhow, on with the business. I'm not going to catch you up on the last 2 1/2 months entirely, just the main highlights. So after my last race recap about the Wpg Police Relay, two weeks later was the Fargo Go Far Challenge. Gulp. That would the 5 km on Friday night and the half marathon on Saturday morning. Silly? Yes. Glad I did it? Yes. Would I do it again? Probably not. It was a pain in the ass.
Friday afternoon, we drive out to the States and get there in time to hit the expo and check stuff out. I was looking for shoes, compression capris, and dual layer socks. I left with Toms. Go figure! I picked up my race kits for both races, headed to the hotel to check in and change and head right back. I was dreading it because I didn't know anyone else who was doing it. That was short-lived. I pulled in, wandered towards the start line and instantly found a group of about 10 people from my local run club. I was so happy to see them!!! I instantly felt better. We knocked out the 5 km which was super slow going because the majority of people were walkers and there was about 10,000. Wowsers. That would be medal #1.
Note my Boston Strong headband!
Here's where my regret for the Friday night run kicks in. Trying to get out of the parking lot. Not one person directing traffic. I pulled out of my parking spot and then moved one car length in 40 minutes. I was starving. My friend was waiting in the hotel room raiding the vending machine because I had my car and she was starving. Finally, I kept seeing North Dakota plates heading in the opposite direction as all the out of towner plates. I spotted a cute guy in a truck heading the opposite direction and I yelled "HEY!" into his open window. I said "what don't I know?" and he winked and said "follow me". I pulled back into the spot I pulled out of 40 minutes prior and backed out in the other direction and followed him to a back exit to the parking lot. C'mon now!!! Mental note for next year. I got back to the hotel and changed quickly and then we headed out for supper. There we were at the Olive Garden, eating supper at 10 pm the night before the half. Ouch.
We wake up bright & early. 5:30am I think. We check the ever changing forecast and it just says "current condition: HEAVY RAIN". OH hell no. I run down the hallway of the hotel in my pj's to look out the exterior door and it's raining lightly and there are huge puddles. Ran into the maintenance man and he said the rain had been coming down hard. I did the best i could to prepare. We also got stuck in traffic on the way to the race. The interstate was backed up for miles and miles. I did some crazy little things to get past a whole bunch of cars to get my friend there because her 10 km started earlier. Again, next year, I'm not getting on the interstate. I'm going through town. I guarantee not one local was on that interstate.
Okay, the race. When we started it was cloudy and it was raining. Not really hard but enough to get wet. Then it stopped after about 20 minutes. It stayed cloudy for the next while. Part of the course is a bit out & back so when I was at mile 3, this roar of cheering starts and running towards us super fast and looking awesome is the first place male. We turned around to watch him go and I note that my sign says mile 3 and his says mile 9. HOLY SH*T. Then a smidge later, there comes the first place female. She looked amazing. AMAZING. I often thing that really elite female runners tend to look just way too skinny and this woman just looked amazing. Healthy, strong, fit, fast, amazing. She was a machine. I felt like I was doing fairly well. I was looking forward to a PR. At mile 10, the sun came out. And it came out hard. I felt like I was being steamed. With everything including the people being wet, the humidity was insane. This was the first time I ever felt like I wouldn't finish a race. Shortly after that, I started walking and judging by my distance on my Garmin, I did the math and figured out how fast I would have to walk the last three miles to get under three hours. I booked it, I kept to that time and under for the rest of the time and it wasn't until I entered the parking lot of the Fargodome that I realized I wasn't going to do it. You see, you have to stick the shortest distance possible on the course for you to travel 21.1 km. I don't always do that because I sort of abide by the "slower traffic keep right" so many of my turns, I'm swinging wide and so on. I hit 21.1 on my Garmin as I was entering the parking lot. I also hit 3 hours seconds after that. I still had to run around the Fargodome and down into the dome to the finish line. I was so sad at that moment. If only I'd run a little bit longer before deciding to walk. This was also the first race that I felt actually sick when finishing. I ran across that finish line so hard, in a daze, hearing my name being yelled by people's faces that I couldn't focus on. My eyes were scanning for the medal people as I did my drunken where's my medal stumble while taking note of where the garbage cans were so I wouldn't just barf on the pavement.
Finally, I round the corner and spot the medal lady. I stopped in my tracks about 10 feet from her and said "you're going to have to come to me". She laughed and came to me and gave me my medals. I rounded another corner and my friend Steph hollered my name. I smiled, don't remember what I said and headed to the food. All of the food looked like something I couldn't do so I grabbed two chocolate milks and some cookies (which I later dropped). I chugged the first chocolate milk and started to feel better almost immediately. Incidentally, at the time I finished, emergency workers were busy treating more people for heat related running issues in that 30 minutes than they ever had before.
So one of these photos - the guy actually got my attention and that's why my arms are up in the air and I look so happy. And the other one where I'm smiling is right near the end and I said to them "i suppose you want me to look like i'm having an awesome time?" so then I did a super awesome chariots of fire slow motion run. Super funny.
I actually got three medals. One for the 5 km, one for the half, and then the Go Far challenge medal for doing both. Again, I don't need to do this challenge again! Next time, I would much rather take my time at the expo, have a nice relaxing evening and supper and be in bed early enough.
We went back to the hotel and showered and got ready to then go walk like crazy doing the shopping marathon portion of the weekend. After all the cursing of the race that I did, our first stop was Scheel's and I bought some new runners and some Under Armor compression capris. Say whaaaat?? I don't need those, I'm never running again remember?? Pfft.
Love them!!!
The next day, we settled in with our carload of shopping for the two hour drive home and let me tell you. I was moving okay. Slowly, but okay when I got in the car. However, we stopped to hit one more store and grab a bite about halfway home and when I tried to get out of the car, I realized I'd aged about 80 years in 60 minutes of sitting in the car. Holy crap.
So what I learned . . .
1. Life Savers in a roll don't work well for fueling if it's raining out. Way too sticky. They need to be individually wrapped.
2. Nuun doesn't like me. I wanted to like it so bad because so many people do but it gives me terrible bloating and gas. TERRIBLE. Through trial and error, I realized that my body does not like sugar alcohols, namely malitol and sorbitol. Booo.
3. Don't trust the Garmin. Allow for that extra distance when calculating my time because I do not run the route of the front runner.
Oh and to add insult to injury, this was the flight of stairs I had to walk up after feeling like I'd been hit by a train just to get out of the dome. Mean people.
HILARIOUS!!!!
I promise the future updates won't be this long!! Thanks for sticking with me! Oh and I should mention, this half marathon was a PR but the slightest time. I really wanted under 3 hours but I should be happy that it was the teeniest fraction faster than the last. And I have another opportunity in September and if I can't get out of that race, then I'm registered for one in October too. :)
Oh and this is my dear friend Heather who recently just moved away from me. sniff sniff. She would come over on Monday nights for supper and wine and Bachelor/Bachelorette. This was her expression when I told I ran not once, but twice, that weekend. Hehe - this is why I do it . . . to horrify/impress people.
Other than apathy and laziness, I don't think I have a reason. I just started catching up on some blogs I loved yesterday and wondered when & why I stopped. So I'm catching back up . . . things I would have blogged about and will likely blog about shortly . . .
The Fargo Half Marathon Go Far Challenge in May
The Biebs before he started to lose it.
Impromptu road trip in June/July to Seattle, Vancouver, then Calgary.
