Day 126 - Half Marathon Success!!

I'm the one in pink and my daughter is on the far right
I did it! I finished my first half marathon in 2:04:16!! A way better time than I was even hoping for (my goal was 2:10!)... but the "race magic" kicked in! At the end when I was expecting to be pretty tired, there were crowds cheering us on, and a marching band along the race course, and I got all goosebumpy and I just gave 'er! I sprinted the last 1/2 kilometer, and I felt great!

Diane asked me to talk a little about my nutrition before and after the race. I'm no expert, but a lot of people (in my view) go overboard with the carbo-loading before big races. It's important to make sure you have enough fuel to get you through, but in my experience, if I eat a lot more food than what I am used to, it can lead to a bad tummy during the run, and that is just not a pleasant feeling.

On Saturday evening before the race, I ate a dinner that was higher in calories than normal, but not that much bigger in volume. I had ricotta and spinach ravioli with primavera sauce, with a side salad and two slices of whole wheat baguette with roasted mashed garlic spread on them. I drank lots of water throughout the day Saturday.

Sunday morning I got up about 2.5 hours before the race to eat a good breakfast. I needed time for it to settle before the run. I had a big bowl of oatbran with a mashed banana, peanut butter and honey with half a grapefruit and 2 cups of coffee.

During the race I only drank water and an electrolyte replacement drink (not gatorade - blech!). The one I buy doesn't have sugar, it is just powdered crystals that you dump into your water bottle.

After the race, they give out tons of free snacks - bagels, orange wedges and bananas. I wasn't actually feeling hungry, so I had only an orange wedge and decided to wait for my lunch to eat more. My office building was close by, so we were able to go grab a quick shower before we headed down to the pub where our husbands/kids were waiting.

For lunch, on Susan's advice I didn't go crazy. I ordered a Beef Boxty with a side salad. That is a large potato pancake folded "omelet style" around some hearty beef stew. It was a perfect post race meal! I estimated that my lunch ran about 800-1000 calories(?). I burned through about 1350 in the race (according to my garmin heartrate monitor).

For dinner I ate lighter, grilled chicken breast with steamed bokchoy, carrots and baked potato with salsa and a scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert! If I was running a 10km (and I am signed up for two in October!), I would still do the really big breakfast before the race, but I wouldn't eat such a big lunch after... I'd maybe just snack on a really yummy granola bar or muffin after the race, before my normal lunch.

Also, I wanted to report that I have lost a bit more weight this past week, even though I am officially on "maintenance", so I am upping my calories again this week to 1500 per day (although I ate significantly more than that both Saturday and Sunday because of my race). I weighed 126.8 this morning... that will even back out though - a half marathon burns a lot and results in some fluid loss too...

Oh - and I had a request for some progress pictures. I will post some this week, I have been having trouble finding some "honest" before pics, because I guess I became very adept and avoiding the camera, or making sure I was always the one BEHIND it, whenever I was bigger....