Diary of a 1/2 Marathon Mommy! I DID IT!!

 The evening before the race I was a nervous wreck! My stomach hurt so bad due to a nice case of nerves. This is my go to friend when I know I won't be able to sleep and ridden with anxiety. All I need is two pills of Tylenol PM. at 9:00 pm and I was out like a light! I don't know about you but when I need to wake up early for something important like a race or an airplane flight I would have a hard time sleeping so the Tylenol PM helps me get through the night. 

I like to have everything for a big day set up ahead of time so I made sure my bib, shoes and all the gear I was bringing was set up and ready to go. One less thing to stress about!

I woke up before my alarm at 5:00 am. I am happy to say I was able to take care of bathroom business (come on runners you know that this is a critical part of having a successful run). I don't normally eat before I run but I knew I would need fuel so I had a peanut butter toast sandwich (and of course I was stuck with the two ends of the bread because my kids had most of the loaf yesterday). It did the trick in helping any nervous acid in my stomach. I also knew I would need to finish waking up and would be a little groggy so I took a nice morning soak in the tub. 

Today was really important to me so I am not embarrassed to say I put a few curls in my bed head fine hair ponytail and put on some (okay my normal make up routine). Yes, I don't put on my make up during the week some days, but yes I decided to put on make up to go sweat. It may not make sense to you but for me it made me feel good. And on a 13.1 day whatever makes you feel good is key.

I am happy I had my husband and a running friend buddy with me today. We got to the race in plenty of time (it helps when it is a local race and so close to the house). After a quick double gear check I was debating too sunglass or not? I am so glad I brought them with and had them because it was a beautiful 55 degree sunny morning. 

The Fox Valley 1/2 Marathon has a picturesque course winding around the Fox River, through the woods, and through St. Charles, Geneva and Batavia. I am glad I did some practice runs with the group because the course was oddly familiar and I felt very comfortable.



My buddy and I had planned on having a few warm up miles of 10 minutes each. To our surprise our splits were much faster than we anticipated. 

The funny thing was we felt like we were running slow so it really was a fine warm up pace. It's ironic when you try to go slow you go fast and when you want to fast (like at the end of the race when I had nothing left) you go slower than you want. We were around the 9 minute 30 second mile group but we ended up going much faster. 

I am amazed at how wonderful I felt (especially because of the chest cold, ear infections, myself included that we suffered two weeks before). I felt strong, healthy and appreciative of life. 

One thing that really got me through was my amazing playlist I put together. It was just the right mix of new and older songs. There are a few I will delete for my next race (gulp) because they just didn't give me the oomph I needed when I needed it. 

Another thing that got me through was being confident in the training I had done over the last four months. I knew I did everything I could do to prepare myself for this moment. It was so important to me that I kept thinking in my head that I really wanted to crush this and this was the time to give it my all.

My group did amazing on their race. Check out my results below. I couldn't be happy with finishing under 2 hours.

Stay tuned for my post 1/2 marathon recovery plan and my training tips.

Aches & Pains Oh My!

I woke up today wondering how I would feel. Let's first talk about how good I slept. All that running yesterday agreed with me! I am as sore as to be expected. A few more aches and pains than normal (knees, quads and calves). It is not bad enough that I can't resume normal life so back to painting my kitchen cabinets, taking kids to story time at the library and getting more Halloween books. Maybe I can squeeze in a massage later??

Weekend of the the 1/2 Marathon

I started training for my first 1/2 marathon about 4 months ago. I feel strong. I feel determined. Do I feel ready to run 13.1 miles yet? Nope!! 

About month ago, a friend and I ran 8 miles and it was tough. I don't know about adding another 5 miles onto those 8 miles. I don't know if it made a difference but we ran in the pouring rain. I love running in the rain but I am sure it contributed to the nasty chest cold I got a few weeks later.

My back was really killing afterwards after the 8 mile run. Since it was my birthday my hubby surprised me with a 90 minute massage. I realized that this was the missing piece in my training. I have never felt better after that massage. The next day I ran a super fast 3 miles and felt as light as air. I most definitely have more appointments scheduled to help keep my body loose in the last month before the race.

The last month I did as many different Beachbody workouts and ran as consistently as I could. It is not always easy with 4 kids and a busy life. And to make matters worse we entered ear infection season. Yes, we have a name for this nasty bacteria in our house of kids and a Mom with oddly shaped ear channels that breed bacteria. You would think ear infections are contagious with the number of ear infections we have had in the last month. Not 1. Not 2. Not 3. Not 4. BUT 5 people, including me (seriously a Mom getting an ear infection? That is just absurd!). I had a weird chest cold which left me feeling great and unable to breathe. I am sure the kids were miserable too but this is my feeling sorry for myself rant. That was a lot of time spent getting Doctor appointments, going to Doctor appointments and getting prescriptions. 

The most mileage I ran pre-race was 10 miles. And.it.was.tough! There are not words to describe how I felt at the end except I just laid down on my sidewalk outside my house (I know, I know your not supposed to sit or lay after running) but I felt fatigued. My daughter asked my husband, "Is Mommy dead?" And I am sure I looked like that just laying there but it felt so wonderful! I think the tough feeling was the cold I had. 

So here I am the Friday before the race. I get to do the fun things like pick up the race packet (and try not to buy any extra not needed but always wanted sweatshirts, shirts, etc), get my clothes ready (check), chiropractor adjustment (check, thanks Dr. Curt) and just eat healthy for the rest of the weekend. 

If I'm not ready now I won't ever be ready. So wish me luck as I cross off my first item on my before turning 40 bucket list (I'm 37 so I have a few years that I can think of some really good bucket list wishes). 

Good luck to all my fellow 1/2 and full marathon crazy runners!

Morning snack ideas

Now that the kids (and you busy working mom's) are back in school I thought I would share our favorite morning snacks for quick and easy packing:

• Stonyfield yogurt & organic granola (the containers were a fabulous freebie given away at a Dirty Girl race)
• carrots & ranch
• apple slices
• organic fruit strips (Costco is now carrying them)
• Annie's granola bars
• cut up peach (or for the matter any kind of fruit washed and ready to eat...the possibilities are endless...grapes, watermelon, cantaloupe)

The things that I stay away from as they are processed and don't have nutritional value:

• crackers (think Goldfish and cheese-its)
• anything sweet (kids and Mom's should have treats in moderation and having a "treat" as a morning snack is not away to start your day

No matter what you pick, think of feeding your brain and fueling your body! Make the healthiest snack you can pack!

Are you a hamburger or apple?

I wish scientists would figure out the correlation between eating healthy and fighting disease. There is so much research that surrounds this but it is not publicly known. How many times have you heard of someone diagnosed with cancer and they adopt an all organic diet? If we just could change the ingredients in our restaurants, meals and diets to just "be healthy" than couldn't we eliminate some of these diseases that are killing our loved ones?

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Even kids love Shakeology!

One of the top questions I get asked as a Beachbody Coach is can my kids drink Shakeology? YES, they can!

I started drinking Shakeology when my son was 1 years old. I was looking for a way to help lose the extra baby weight I couldn't shake. In my pursuit of healthiness, I discovered that I was not the only one who loved it! The minute my kids would hear the blender they would all gather at the table and eagerly wait for their turn to get a shake. Even the 1 year old!!! He recognized my Shakeology cup and would try to get it. I was not comfortable giving them something without more research so my first stop was to my Pedatrician. My Pedatrician said 1/2 scoop was the perfect amount for their little growing bodies. In fact, to my surprise, she was giving it to her children as well. I found something that I loved giving them because it is HEALTHY!

****Added bonus, my 3rd daughter would border on anemia when she was 4. We were instructed to give her iron pills. Instead I upped her green veggies in her diet (at the time she was still considered a picky eater) and started giving her Shakeology once a day. When we went for her repeat blood work test her levels were normal. Proper nutrition is key but I am convinced Shakeology helped her.