Rock ‘n’ Roll recap

I was on the blog showing Jenn what my hair looked like back in December and then I started looking through all of my old posts & you know what?
I really miss blogging.
I feel like I never do it anymore (because I kind of don’t get around to it anymore) and it’s making me really sad now

Honestly though, I have no idea how bloggers like Caitlin, Tina, Meghann, etc. have the time to blog as much as they do.  Just to give you an idea of how out of the loop I am with the blog world right now, I didn’t even know Meghann got a new blog until just now.  Seriously, when did that happen?

With all the excitement of school, hanging out with friends, & schoolwork, I really don’t have the time to blog.

Speaking of work, I haven’t done that in way too long.  My bank account is slowly dwindling away and it’s kind of freaking me out a bit.  I really need to start working again.
This is going to be a short post because I’m working on a homework assignment right now; however, I need to post about the big event.

I did it! I ran my first half marathon!

Virginia Beach Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon. Oh wow.
Finish time: 2:22:13

I’m going to be smart about this and say something.
I should not have ran the half marathon in that condition.
That being said, I am glad that I did it and extremely proud of myself.

At points, I really didn’t think that I was going to finish & later on, my dad told me that he had his doubts about me finishing as well.
I felt horrible.
I woke up the morning of the race and felt completely sick.  While I was making breakfast, I even took my temperature because I thought I had a fever.  I felt like I was going to throw up, but still didn’t want to miss out on the race and was hoping it was just pre-race jitters.

During the race, I had to stop a few times because I couldn’t breathe.  Taking a gu at mile 6.7 was a stupid idea considering I already felt like my throat was covered in goo from being sick [gross, but it's life].  I would come to a complete stop, bend over and basically hyperventilate.   There were a few times that I started crying out of frustration, but I quickly learned that doing so only made it even harder to breathe.
Thankfully, I only really consider myself having walked once.  The other times that I stopped was because of being sick.  I also started to stop and walk at the water stations because it was too difficult to drink while running and I knew that I really needed to hydrate as much as possible.  There was one water station that I actually drank 3 cups of water/cytomax.

The race itself was a really nice one.  It was pretty flat, other than the bridge that was had to go over – not fun.  I ended up bringing my phone so I could listen to my pandora application during the run, which I ended up being really thankful for even though there were several bands along the route.

Pain. My legs hurt like crazy.  I sat down after the race and seriously wondered how I was going to manage standing back up.
Gross: I had the typical “I can’t go to the bathroom” problem that I usually have race morning.  Thankfully, it ended up not being a problem at all during the race.
Uh-oh: My right foot is messed up.  Seriously, messed up.  I’m not sure what I did to it.  I went to the doctor a few days after the race because of my sickness and I brought up my foot to the nurse practitioner.  She told me that it sounded to her like a tendon problem.  There’s no swelling or bruising in the area; however, I’m not ruling out the possibility of it being a stress fracture.  Right now I’m just trying to wear really supportive shoes and stay off of it as much as possible.  She gave me medicine to help with the pain, but it hasn’t made the pain go away completely.
The worst part about my foot is probably the fact that I can’t really exercise like I would like to.  As I mentioned since I got to school, my eating habits are HORRIBLE.  Way too much ice cream & carbs are being consumed for me to not be running.  People have suggested for me to try out the elliptical, but I don’t want to chance hurting my foot even more. I really need to start doing something though.  Lifting weights? Floor exercises? Gosh. I’m too lazy for this!

Well. I really need to get back to my homework now!

Question:

What do you do when you can’t do your normal exercise activity?

Almost race time!

At 6:30 tomorrow morning, I’ll be finding my spot in corral 17 of the Virginia Beach Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon. 

What’s going through my mind right now?

• I did not train as well as I should have
• I kind of have a cold right now

I’m confident that things will work out though.

My plan for the race is to start off around a 10 minute pace and try to stay at that speed for as long as possible.

Time for some honesty:

I’ve been eating way too much ice cream. This definitely needs to change asap.  It’s like I think that I have to eat it at every meal because I’ll never be able to eat ice cream ever again.  I don’t even know.  It’s ridiculous.

For the most part, I’ve been eating grocery type food for breakfast, but occasionally I get something from the dining hall.  No, I didn’t eat all of that bacon.

Jennifer and I went out to Cold Stone one day (for lunch…)

My willpower is horrible, I know.  I got the peach cobbler ice cream : )

There’s a chick fil a on campus that takes dining dollars, so Jenn & I decided to go there one night when the dining halls were closed.

Sickness:

This isn’t a new thing.  I’ve actually been sick for quite a while now, and it’s not fun.  I went to the doctor on the 24th and nothing was really determined when it comes to what I have.  She did put me on antibiotics though just in case it’s some sort of infection… well, I’m guessing that wasn’t it.

Instead of going back to campus, I went to my house to make some real food.

Toast & a scrambled egg burrito.

With a side of antibiotics.
You know what really doesn’t make sense? The directions are to take one capsule every 8 hours for 10 days.  Every eight hours?? That’s like 3 am one morning, 5 am another… what in the world?

Dining hall food… enough said.

More dining hall food… saturday’s and sunday’s they have brunch rather than breakfast & lunch so I’ve been going to those with some friends since we don’t have class.

Garlic bread, some sort of chicken alfredo, mashed potatoes & green beans.

Visitor:

Jordan just moved back to VA from Georgia and she came to visit me!

She brought Cooper and we went out to PetSmart to buy him a new crate.

We also stopped at Taco Bell for lunch.  I could resist trying their Frozen Margarita.  It actually tasted pretty good : )

Chicken Chalupa Supreme (no tomatoes)

Another night, I went home so I could do laundry.  Obviously, I texted my dad asked him what was for dinner.

Venison Cheeseburger and Asparagus

More college food.

I have actually been doing a pretty good job when it comes to eating veggies.  If only I can stop myself from gorging on ice cream at every meal.

Friend time:

Jenn, Robert & Troy

Troy, Robert & Matt

Isaiah

Joey & Johnny
Johnny & Jenn

Robert & me
Matt, Robert, Sean & Troy

As you can see, Jenn & I mainly just hang out with the guys; however, I do have more chick friends than what is pictured.  Guys are just way easier to get along with.

My roommate is great, but I’m never there.  Everyone in those pictures lives in the same building, so I spend all my time over there.  I’m actually going to put in a transfer to move over there sometime this week.

Classes:

Monday/Wednesday/Friday is a workout for me.  I have 10 minutes to walk from Philosophy to Business Statistics and then 10 minutes to walk from Busn Stat to German.  It takes about 8 minutes speedwalking to get to those destinations.  I actually kind of feel myself getting shin splints from the walk.  Not good.  Tomorrow after the race, I’m going to stop by my sister’s and pick up my bike so I can get around more quickly.
Tuesday/Thursday I have plenty of time in between classes; however, they’re my least favorite classes.  Applied Calculus & my 300 level Philosophy class.

Tonight:

I’m going to get all of my gear together, plug in my garmin, & get ready for bed.

Sleep is probably going to be impossible tonight.  The mixture of my cold & the pre-race nerves are going to make me restless mess.

Question:

What would you do if you had a cold when you are registered for a big race?