Loving this cake!! Whimsy makes me happy!

the marathon

was

the

worst experience of his life. I feel bad for him because, while it was an extreme test to be sure, I had a great time! He will support me if I ever run another one, but I just don’t think so. Running for four hours is just fun for me either. The half is manageable. So we’re off to va beach! It’s going to be a blast!

This morning I was finally in a situation where I could get my morning long run in. I made it exactly three miles and finally caved to the humidity. I was grouchy, hot, lazy and it got worse with each step. I finally tuned around and walked home.

I was ready to chalk it up to a bad run and start over next week but then I saw a girl running down the street about three hours later and immediately felt like a great big baby. What a waste of a perfectly good opportunity this morning. I have considered the things that most affected my run this morning and the steps I can take to have a successful long run next week:

• Eat more calories the day before- I have cut out grains, legumes, and most the sugar that I would typically eat on a Friday. No more pasta for this girl! I will focus on more carbs via vegetables the day before. I ate a banana this morning so carbs the day of shouldn’t be an issue
• Take more ice with me in my water bottle. The little bit I had with me this morning melted in no time at all.
• Hydrate better the day before. My new job keeps me really busy and it’s difficult to go get more water once I finish it because I am pulled in a hundred different directions.
• I ran two miles yesterday. Not only that, but I did a full body workout to include RDLs and barbell squats. I should have rested. Really.
• I slept in. I should have gotten up at least two hours earlier and hit the pavement before sun even came up.
• When I run on the street, I don’t wear earphones. If I change my route, I will be able to run with earphones to avoid focusing on the heat and humidity and how miserable I am. I even downloaded some new tunes! woot!

This week. I will have to do my runs on a treadmill because my hours are nuts and it’s the best way for me to get my runs in. Next week I can hit it in the am because I will be yet on another schedule. I feel success in my future.

Wrong.

The last week has been more than I can bear, in a completely good way. You don’t hear that very often, do you?

The friendboy and I had a marvelous 6 days in glorious San Diego. We did as much as two limping people can do the first four and then spent the final two at the Hotel Del Coronado. Just for kicks!

Our primary purpose for going to San Diego was to run our very first marathon : Rock N Roll San Diego. We really like the series.  It’s well organized, easy to navigate, and tons of fun. If ever you want to run a race in your life, run this one. They take place in many other cities if you can’t get to San Diego. I finished my marathon in 4:24:33 and my friendboy came in at 4:45:59.  I smoked him by 20 minutes, if you want to call a 10:05 pace smoking someone. I’ll take it!

In the days after the race, we limped through the Zoo, Seaport Village, El Embarcadero (make sure to visit Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion Bistro-so delicious!), Old Town, the Gaslamp quarter, and other places I’m sure I don’t remember. By the time we took the ferry to Coronado, we were exhausted and ready to just soak in the sun while drinking cocktails.  The first night we were at the resort, my friendboy made reservations at 1500 Ocean.  We enjoyed a bottle  of wine, ate some squash blossoms (who knew those were edible?) and seafood, and then right before we got our dessert (mmmm…buttercake….), he started saying wonderful things to me. It was sweet. However, it made me completely uncomfortable because duh, I KNOW we’re best friends and we’re comfortable around each other and you love me and then, excuse me, “why are you getting out of your chair? Go back to your side of the table, wierdo.”

Then, he got on one knee.

And he asked me to marry him.

I was speechless.

Of course I said yes. How could I not? He did everything right and he’s the most wonderful person I know.

So, now I get to plan a wedding and I’m completely overwhelmed at the thought. There are so many possibilities and it’s bewildering. I will just chip away at it piece by piece and hope I don’t turn into Bridezilla.

A few weeks ago, I attended a Women in the Outdoors Event which was organized by the National Wild Turkey Federation. By the way, I was the only female there that had not one item in the mossy oak camo pattern. True story.  It was two nights in the woods where we signed up for 4 sessions that we wanted to participate in. The first session was kayaking. Not exactly the most hardcore thing I could have chosen, but I have never tried it before. What a treat it was!! I am excited to do it again!

The second session was a bit more gut wrenching: Ziplining!  I conquered the zipline on a vacation 8 years ago, but what a number time has done on me. I was absolutely fine with ziplining until I climbed the ladder to the platform. I immediately fell apart (in my mind). I don’t even really like roller coasters so what the hell was I thinking? As it turns out, it was amazing! Maybe I need to do that every so often so I don’t forget what I am capable of facing. I honestly thought I was going to have to climb the ladder back down from the platform, but the shame that I knew I would feel was too much to endure. Dramatic, I know, but I have a flair for it.

The final two sessions were beekeeping and hiking. I am terribly interested in beekeeping and I have a better idea of what it entails. I don’t know that I am ready to commit, but I am interested in learning more about it and doing what I can for the little dudes. I am working on plans for a bee garden (and butterflies too! I can’t leave them out). I am looking forward to getting some of those things done.

In one week, I will be running my very first marathon! I have run a couple few half-marathons and I really enjoy them. It seemed to be a natural progression to run a marathon. The training went really well up until our 20 mile run. It was the most terrible run ever. There were a few extra weeks of lower mileage runs (around 10 miles a pop) and I am guessing that really did me no favors on the 20 mile run. That is the exact day I became disenchanted with the marathon. We will be travelling to San Diego California for the Rock N Roll Marathon and so there is still a chance enchant me once more. It’s likely because the Rock N Roll series is usually a wonderful time and San Diego is a great city, so I will see how it shakes out.

On the other hand, I really like running for two  hours or less. It’s pretty demoralizing to run for two hours and know that I am only half way done. I start thinking about all the things I could be doing and the whole thing ceases to be fun.

The final change I am making is that we have an official start date for when we will become a Paleo household. I got my boyfriend on board but he won’t give up his lunch sandwiches and I’m okay with that because they aren’t nearly as frequent since he usually has leftovers from dinner the night before. We didn’t want to make any changes before the marathon because we see it as setting ourselves up for failure.  I am not happy being hungry all the time. I can only think about what I am going to eat next. I haven’t met my weight goals, which is fine because I am not that heavy, but I feel that the return on the investment of the time I have put into my diet is terrible. I should be a svelte athlete but after hours of running, I just want a stack of pancakes and I sure as hell don’t feel like lifting weights.  In the meantime, I will enjoy one final irish coffee cheesecake and read The Paleo Diet for Athletes and Everyday Paleo.