Ogden Marathon Highlights

I would have to say, the marathon was a success. I had a good time, took about 37 minutes off my time, and made it basically injury free. I've been a lot more sore and stiff after other races.

I got up at 4:00am so I could eat and get to the shuttle pick up. I had chocolate flavored cream o wheat, some strawberries, and some gatorade. I took some of the strawberries with me so I didn't get hungry again before the 7:00am start time.

I didn't cry on the bus ride up this time thankfully. I did take some time to reflect on all the work and training it took to get me back up there again and I may have gotten goosebumps a little. I did get teared up a little every time I thanked volunteers at the different spots for helping. No more thanking people. Seriously, the race would not be as great if it didn't have dedicated, enthusiastic volunteers. It's a lot of work to put on a race.

It was fun seeing people I know at the start. I saw some people I was expecting to see and some I didn't know were running. I ran a mile or so with an old friend from elementary school. Kristine was not only one of the only kids I remember being nice to me in elementary school, but she was the nicest to me. That's something you don't forget. She looks awesome for a mom of two.

I ran the first mile with my favorite racing buddy Cameron. He was sick with fever and chills all week but was able to finish the race anyhow. That's amazing.

Another highlight was just the beautiful weather and scenery. The temperatures were near perfect the whole race. I stopped admiring the scenery around mile 19/20 probably but up til then it was fantastic.

I was worried about my knee but it never was really an issue. I felt some twinging occasionally but I would just take inventory on my running posture--straighten the back, tuck in the pelvis, shoulders back and relaxed, bend at the ankle--and it would go away.

It was around the 17 mile ish that I started feeling tired. I was ok, but starting to feel my pace struggle. I remember when I was just about at 19, that I thought to myself "just 19!". 19-23 were hard but I was able to dig in and keep the negativity down for the most part. It was enjoyable in a conquering a challenge sort of way.

As soon as I got out of the canyon I wanted to stop and walk for a little bit but Kelly was there and ran about a 1/2 mile with me. I had to keep running. It was actually a huge mental boost to have someone there were it was getting exponentially harder.

I wanted to stop and walk again about 3/4 mile left in the race where you get off the trail and are on the road. You know you're so close, but you don't care anymore. And it's the least fun part of the course. It's a long stretch of shadeless road. But just as I was thinking about stopping, I ran into Danielle. She had a sign with my name on it!!! I couldn't stop. That was also a huge mental boost. I ran the rest of the way.

The only times I stopped to walk was through the aid stations. That's actually recommended for most people. For one thing so you don't drown yourself as your drinking. There are also a lot of studies that have been done that show it's good for your body in a long distance event. It helps drop your heart rate and aids in refueling your muscles.

My family was about a block and a half from the finish line. The texting technology didn't work so they weren't sure when I was coming through. I'm just glad they were there anyhow. I put my nieces and nephew in the Kids K (actually one mile) so they were there to cheer for me and run. It meant a lot to me to have my dad there. He's never been to a race of mine before. He doesn't feel good after dialysis so that was cool that he came anyhow.

The kids had fun running the Kids K. I'm glad I can have at least a little positive influence on them (my bad influence: hey apple!, You're wearing a red shirt so you're an apple). Some of them may just end up crazy runners like me. :)

I did a lot of stretching and rolling on my foam roller after the race. I did not take an icy cold bath this time. The thought of sitting in freezing water was just too much. I think the stretching and massaging is more useful as witnessed by my semi-mobile state.

I am already dreaming about the next marathon. Probably not this year, but I'll be back for another try. Only 50 minutes to knock off my time to qualify for Boston....

Final prep days to marathon

I'm humoring myself that anyone is interested in what goes into training for a marathon. But in case you are interested in the epic saga that is marathon training here's what the days before my marathon look like.

Hydration
I need to drink at least 70 oz of water every day this week. To be completely hydrated for the marathon you have to start days ahead. There are, I think, 3 or 4 different kinds of cells in our bodies that require hydration. The ones that make you think you are thirsty can be refilled immediately. The other cells take whatever is left after those cells hydrate and need 3-4 days to be full.

You don't want to flush all your electrolytes out though. Friday I will drink my water and take in a bottle of gatorade.

Sleep
The plan is to get 8-9 hours of sleep all week. Last night was a bust. I tossed and turned after going to bed late. I blame it on the piece of cake I had right before bed. Hehe.

I'm going to try and get as much sleep in this week as I can. I won't sleep much the night before the race. I'm going to try and get to bed by 9:00, but I'm going to be excited and scared and my brain won't want to shut off. Maybe I'll try some light, stress relieving yoga before bed. Nothing strenuous. Just the laying down and relaxing kind.

The shuttle buses leave at 4:30 AM. That's right, 4:30!!! Ridiculous. So I'll be up at least by 4:00. There's just no way I'll get a full night's sleep.

Fueling
I can't eat anything I want all week. Some think so, but I'm trying to be scientific about it. I'll be plugging my calories in a counter to be sure at a minimum I take in at least as many as I burn. The week before the marathon is not the time to diet. So, break even all week.

What I will also try and focus on is nutrient rich food all week. I'm about to be very hard on my body. I want it in top shape. Same for the week following. Lots of vitamins and minerals to help repair the wear and tear.

I like to take in the majority of my calories/food in the morning, snacks, and lunch the day before the race. I like to give the food time to digest. I learned that the hard way on my first 1/2 marathon. I loaded at dinner and had stomach cramps the first 3 miles.

I'm already planning my meals out. Here's the plan for Friday/Saturday

Breakfast
Oatmeal (with almonds, berries, & honey or agave nectar)

Snacks
Granola bars, fresh mango slices, sugar snap peas, edamame

Lunch
Cameron's peanut satay chicken pasta, baked sweet potato on the side

Dinner--Not sure yet, going to go out with some friends who are also running. I'm going to suggest a burger or sandwich place (many runners to not like to eat fatty foods the night before, but I've eaten a burger and fries before a race and done just fine).

Saturday breakfast
1 instant oatmeal packet, 1/2 cup watermelon slices, 1/2 cup berries

I think I will take the fruit with me and eat it while waiting at the starting line. Ideally, I like to eat 1-2 hours before the run. It starts at 7:00 AM, but there will be an almost 3 hour wait time.

Workouts
I will run 3 miles today, swim 30 min Tuesday, run 2-3 miles Wednesday, Yoga Thursday, and stay as sedentary as possible Friday. Maybe some light stretching to stay limber on Friday.

My knee has felt completely fine for a couple of days now. I'm still nervous that it will flare up int he middle of the marathon. If all goes well, I am predicting a 4:30:00 marathon time. The goal is under 5 hours. We'll see. My whole family is planning to show up. This will be the first race ever my dad will be at so I really want to just finish.

It's on like flan

That may not look like it rhymes, but if you pronounce flan like my Puerto Rican friend, it does. Good news, my knee is going to be ok and I'm currently planning to run the full marathon in 3 weeks.

Insert big plug for the Salt Lake Running Company here. This is why you should go to specialty running stores and not the big chains. They are staffed by actual runners who know what they are talking about. I went in Friday. Looked at some inserts, talked over my knee issue.

The girl suspected it was tight muscles which were pulling the kneecap out of place and the tendon and bone were rubbing. She got me down on a foam roller and I rolled out the muscle. I was definitely very tight. I bought one on the spot. I started working on my quads as soon as I got home. Knee felt fine after that. (Note: She was reasonably careful not to claim to give medial advice and made suggestions only. I don't' want to get anyone in trouble for giving out medical advice. They give out reasonable tips and will even advise checking with doctors or whoever applicable.)

Saturday morning I went for an 18 miler. I had already decided if I couldn't do 18, I'd drop down to the 1/2 marathon. I rolled out before I went. I don't know if you should work you muscles right before a run, and I don't plan to in the future, but I wanted my muscles stretched out as much as possible.

I did pretty good. I met up with a friend at miles 10-16. I'm actually really thankful she met me cause at about mile 12 I got tight again and my knee was killing. It helped to have that extra motivation of having someone there. I did some stretches and massaged my quad and it helped. Every 2-3 miles after that I had to stretch and massage.

Actually I got some really strange looks from some solar astronomy group (they had posters up that's why I know it was solar astronomy). I used the park bench to dig in and stretch out my quad. I leaned forward on the edge and used it to pull the muscle out. I won't say what I think it probably looked like, but it was weird enough that people were staring. I didn't care cause it helped.

I ended up going 19.5 miles. I felt ok at 17 so I went just a smidgen further. I stretched and rolled out a lot throughout the day Saturday & Sunday. I'm a bit sore today, but I've been worse.

Two weeks of tapering and then the marathon!

Cupcakes!!!

In an effort to raise some money without directly asking for money which I uncomfortable doing, I decided to have a bake sale. I picked cupcakes. Who doesn't like cupcakes? I made chocolate peanut butter and coconut lime cupcakes.

I was very happy with the results. I was a little sad I didn't get more people at the actual event cause I like to socialize, but I had a lot of "to go" orders. I ended up raising about 50% of my total needed to qualify to ride, so I was please in the end.

I'm still raising money for the Tour de Cure. My new tactic is to challenge everyone who knows someone with diabetes to donate $5. Feel free to visit my Tour de Cure page and donate or get more information. The money goes to the American Diabetes Association for research.

http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/TourdeCure/TDC530148030?px=3304181&pg=personal&fr_id=6894

There are cute pics of my dad as a kid on the website. Did I mention I'm doing the ride for my dad? Pretty much all of his health issues come from complications from diabetes. I'll have fun, but I'm taking the ride very seriously, needless to say.

Cameron was the dearest friend and helped me make some of the cupcakes. He made the chocolate with dark chocolate frosting and white beady things ones and the chocolate with vanilla icing and peanut butter with chocolate drizzles.

I made the chocolate with peanut butter frosting and mini chocolate chip sprinkles and the coconut vanilla with coconut lime icing ones. Mmmmm. They were all wonderful. I sampled them all as witnessed by my ever expanding waistline.

Our friend Brian dropped in and helped us wrap all the to go plates. What the two gentlemen didn't know is that I totally teared up on my way home because I was so touched by their support for my cause.

I continue to be touched and tear up with every donation and words of support that come in. You're not just helping me to qualify for a bike ride or supporting research for diabetes. You're giving me hope for a better future for my dad, everyone else I know with diabetes, and any future progeny I might have that are at risk.

XOXO --Amy

Speedbump on the road to glory

I can vouch for the waterproof properties of the KT Tape. I've been taped up since Saturday and am limited to pool activities as I seem to have developed an acute case of chondromalacia, or Runner's Knee. 12 miles into my 20 mile run Saturday I felt enough discomfort that I stopped my run and limped 2 miles back to the car.

I am extremely nervous that I may not be able to even do the marathon. I've always said one race isn't worth not be able to run for the long term. But, now that I'm facing the possibility, I'm terribly disappointed. I've never quit a race (one time in high school cross country, I almost past out, I was so upset I nearly cried in public). My head tells me it is the prudent thing to do, but my heart tells my head to shut up and think positive.

One tip for anyone with this problem that has to sit for work all day (you would think sitting is good, but the position is bad for the knee), find a paper box, set it up tall side up, and prop your leg up under your desk. Feels so much better. I'm bringing a little pillow in tomorrow for comfort.

This week is a no run week. It's my rest week anyhow. I've been to the pool and it actually felt better after that. I've discovered sitting all day at my desk does not make it feel better.

Marathons and Munchies

I thought I'd share a little phenomenon I've noticed in my marathon training. It's funny because so many people comment about how I'll lose so much weight training for a marathon. This is not my experience. The opposite in fact. I always tell people who say they want to run a marathon to lose weight to train for a 1/2 marathon instead.

It seems like in my training when my long runs get over somewhere in the 15-16 mile mark (that puts my weekly running miles around 23-26+) I start to get the munchies. I want to constantly be eating. And the cravings are usually for sweets. I could drown in chocolate today and die happy. Sometimes I crave spinach too.

Oh crap. They just put cookies out in the break room. Yes, I'm eating them. That's right, more than one.

I don't know exactly what causes this. I know I am burning more calories than usual, but I toy dangerously with taking in many more calories than I am burning. Especially if there is any inconsistency in my training.

I suspect the trigger could be a nutritional deficiency. Do I need more protein, iron, fiber??? I'm going to experiment a little. I'm going to try and up my vegetable intake. Also, for some snacks, I'm going to try popcorn and cut vegis. I don't usually buy the vegi trays but maybe I should as a readily available food source to jam down my pie hole when I'm feeling like I want to chew my arm off. When I get like that I've very susceptible to all the crap that gets past around in the office.

Anyone have better solutions to curb insatiable munchies?

Muse part 2

Muse was possibly the best concert I've ever been too. It was the perfect concert but it was pretty awesome. First, it was Muse playing all Muse music. How can that not be awesome? Second they had an incredible laser/video showing going on.

The lighted piano was pretty cool. I think I was expecting a little more from it from all the hype I'd heard.

The band wasn't very interactive with the audience. There was the token, we're so glad to be in _Utah_. The _Salt Lake City__ crowd is the best. I'm ok with it though. Better that than they shoot their mouths off and I find out they're a bunch of tools. What's the old saying I never heed, better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt. Kind of like that.

They opened with these 3 high rise building screen things. Cool video/light show, then the fabric part came down and the band was on raised platforms in the middle of the buildings. I was so excited I was waving my hands like a little girl. I may have squealed.

Apparently all the douchebags in General Admissions were two rows of bodies in front of us. A bunch of drunk guys started moshing (not even necessarily to music that was appropriate for moshing, so 90's). I was a little alarmed at being pushed around but the guys right in front of me were pretty solid. Some chick lost her beer all over her and the lady's hair in front of her.

I kept smelling smoke and was kind of surprised people were lighting up indoors. I am getting so old. I noticed the bass player was totally taking smoke breaks between sets too. So funny. I didn't really want to inhale 2nd hand smoke, but it was amusing. When you're a super rock band, nobody tells you where you can't smoke.

The one thing I would have changed about it was just have it in a smaller venue. I am sooooo kicking myself for missing the last show a couple of years ago at Saltair. I like smaller shows better. Just more intimate. People watching is fun and all, but i just want me and Muse.

This is embarrassing to say, but the craziest loud, frenzied crowd I've ever seen was David Archuleta in SLC. I thought the E-Center was going to crumble. It helps to have 10,000 12 year old girls screaming, but seriously, I've never seen a crowd like that. This crowd did ok. This group just had more stupid, drunk young guys. They do dum stuff.

Pics to be added as soon as I can figure out how to get them from my phone.

They played most of the Uprising songs. The others were just all great songs. Everyone in our group got their favorites played--Starlight, Uprising, Super Massive Black Hole. And the final song of the evening. Oh what is that. I can't tell where they're going with that intro. Is it, is it....It is!!!! Knights of Cydonia. Not their absolute best song ever, though arguable, but they made the best music video ever, for the whole planet, for any music, forever and always.

I just watched the making of the video video clip. Russ Bain is the name of the finely mustached future kungfu cowboy. Did you know he's British? Ya, so he has a British accent. So hot. I'm in love. And they used real horse poop for the scene where he's in the stocks. Yuck.

I can't end this blog entry with a sentence about horse poop. To summarize, the Muse concert was awesome. Beyond awesome. If I wasn't running 20 miles Saturday morning, I'd be heading down to Vegas to the Muse show there. Hmmm.......