Hey Friends! So, I did my half!! I wanted to let you know how the day went but let's start with how the week before went. I decided to do a legit carb up, which I had never done correctly before, to be honest, I don't think I did it right this time but much better than I ever have. so let's get into what carbing up means for a runner.
So, I learned that I should have been carb-loading up to 5 days before the race, I started to add more carbs but I wasn’t really just focusing on carbs. most experts say to get 3.6-5.5 carbs per pound of bodyweight. if you are watching your calories that means that protein and fat really decrease during this period. Carbs without fat is trash, think toast no butter, baked potato to butter....yes it was sad. Next time I will be stricter about it but also be warned it throws your poop schedule off and when you get to a certain age that's all that matters in life.
The morning of the race we woke up at 330 am yes 330, because the race started at 7 am but you had to park and get a shuttle. Thankfully the race was only 30 minutes away but also I have never been there. My wife drove so I could eat breakfast while we drove, in hindsight, I could have waited to eat till we got there, we spent some time waiting, but I was worried about how my stomach would react. breakfast was challah bread, coffee with a splash of half and half with sugar (which I never have sugar in my coffee), also a banana. Have I ever told you guys I hate bananas but it’s better than heating up a potato that early.
Once we got there we parked and walked over to the shuttles, there were a lot of people. One of the reasons we don’t run the same races is so the other wife is ready to be a pack mule. I was wearing sweatpants over my running shorts and had a Mexican poncho blanket to wear, yes people were jealous and I was warm.
I wish I had taken pictures but I was too busy being in the moment and my wife was sure to take some.
I made sure to go to the porta-potty before the race started. The race started and I felt great, went past the first aid station and made my first mistake, I should f stopped for another pee break. Then I had to guess where the next porta-potty was. But I felt strong, once I got to potties I had to wait in line, try to be quick, hand sanitized, and take off, and then I had a crazy thought. Where is my phone? I hadn’t run very far from the porta-potty, so I still had my music playing. I patted myself down almost in a panic, I’m lying I was in a panic. I ran back to the potty, had to wait again cause someone was in there, no phone, I start frantically looking on the ground maybe it fell. I couldn’t find my phone. You wanna know where it was? On my fucking arm, where it was the whole race. It was one of those moments when you’re looking for your phone but you’re holding it in your hand…
All in a,ll this cost me about 15 mins but also I’m not racing to win, winners were probably half done by then. So I kept trucking, trying to keep that voice in my head that tells me I ain’t shit quiet. For the most part, I felt great the trail parts of the half were stunning and the volunteers were the most beautiful souls I’ve seen in a while. Once I got to the halfway point I started to fantasize about food hmmmmm Mexican….I started to really slow down around mile 8, my knee started to bug me and I was tired but I kept going. In the last mile, I took down my headphones cause I wanted to hear the crowd and maybe my name if they said it at the finish. There was this older grey-haired woman who yelled “ look at her go!!” when I looked over she was talking about me she then yelled, “ you’re my hero”. Now I know this lady didn’t know me from eve and she was out there showing support to everyone but I swear I could have cried. It made me think I should go and be a spectator, make fun signs, and pick someone who is doing their best to be my hero for the day. Maybe we should all do that in real life all the time.
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