Eat Well, Run Hard, Love Yourself: Update!

Alright, so... I SUCK at doing this blog thing. I keep promising that I am going to keep up with it, but as we have seen, my last post was in July. Epic fail. So - I am not going to promise that I will update daily or weekly, but I will promise to make a better effort to post cool things and recipes on here.

Post race - sitting down because I
can't walk

So, last weekend, I ran my FIRST half marathon!! I never thought I could do it. If you have looked at the 'My Struggle' tab, you will know that I have struggled with my weight for most of my life. I finally got in control and lost 50 lbs (and have kept it off!) about 3 years ago. While I was losing my weight, a friend from college suggested to me that I run the Broad Street Run. At that point, I couldn't run a mile straight. This was a TEN miler. For whatever reason, I guess I just believed in myself, I accepted the challenge and signed up. I stuck to a training program and got my runs in pretty religiously. It came to race day and I ran 6 miles straight but then had some crazy
hip pain. I stopped and stretched a bunch of times. I finished the race - doing a lot of walking - sat down and couldn't get up to walk. I had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital, because I couldn't walk to get to the car which was a mile away, where they said I probably just pulled my hip flexor. It turns out the bones were inflamed and I had a pre-stress fracture.

It took a long time to heal - crutches and rest - but it healed up and I was slowly able to run again. So, I decided to try about Broad Street again for 2013. I signed up with the American Cancer Society DetermiNation group. I raised $500 for the ACS and secured my spot for the run. I ran a bit faster than the previous year, since I wasn't injured!, but not as fast as I would have liked. I did slack off on my training a bit because I was scared of another injury. But I made it through and my fiancé ran the last 2.5 miles with me! How sweet is that!

This year, I decided to run the Nike Women's Half in D.C. I had never even thought I could run a half marathon, but I figured what's an extra 3.1 miles further than Broad Street? I was nervous, but that Tiffany's necklace that was promised at the finish line was a HUGE motivation! So, I signed up and began training. I work with little kids all day, so of course I got sick like 3 times and had some delays with my training. I also had some problems with shin splints (that I remedied by pre-run stretches, ice baths, and strengthening my hips and leg muscles) that messed with my training. So when it came to raceway, I was SUPER nervous. I was nervous that I was going to get injured. I was nervous I wouldn't finish. I was just nervous. I only knew a few people running, but I wasn't close with these people, so I didn't contact them to meet up before the race.

Alan and I at the Expo

EXCEPT for 2 beautiful crazy ladies that I met on instagram. Now, some of you may think it's crazy, but ever since I created my healthy insta to post about my accomplishments and all my foooood, I have realized how AWESOME the FitFam community is. There are soooo many people on there of all different abilities and backgrounds and they are all SO super supportive of people wanting to lead a healthier lifestyle! So, after Alan and I went to the expo, we ran (read: drove) over to Arlington National Cemetery to pay respects to my grandfather and late grandmother. It was a super emotional time there, but I am glad we went. We had dinner plans with my girls from IG Nathaly and Denise in Georgetown. We had never met before in person, but it was like we had been friends forever. We all had the same sense of humor and were just laughing and enjoying each others company throughout the whole dinner! Denise was running the half the next day and Nathaly was being an awesome friend and supporting, just like my fiancé.

Running towards Arlington
National Cemetery

Running over the bridge
back to the Lincoln Memorial

So race day finally came and I was about to crap my pants because I was so nervous. My fiancé and I had utilized the code that Nike provided us with and a code from my friend to take UBER from her apartment to the race. Let me tell you - that was SO much easier than taking a crowded metro into the city at that time. AND because of using 2 $10 codes, we only had to pay a little more than ONE dollar! WINNING. (Ps - if you use Uber and need a code: cwj0k and get $10 off!). I stood at the start line for what seemed like FOREVER, then it was finally go time. I waved goodbye to my fiancé and started running. The first 7 miles were pretty easy - we passed the Capitol building, the White House, GW University, Watergate, Arlington National Cemetery, The Vietnam Memorial, The Lincoln Memorial (you can view the course map here).. SO many cool things. It was around mile 8 when we were running by the East Potomac Golf Course where things got really hard. There were't any cheering sections and there wasn't much to look at besides water. I walked a lot here, I think I was getting a little discouraged. I got a second wind around mile 10 after seeing that we were almost there (It was a 5k with a 10 mile warm up!! haha)! But that second wind got overpowered by pain in my glutes around mile 11. I was getting nervous I may not finish because I was scared that the pain meant injury. I told myself no matter WHAT, you've run farther than ever at this point, you can be proud of that - and I was, but I kept pushing. It was around mile 12 where I got my final wind - we were running back through the 9th street tunnel (we had run through it at mile 2) and I saw the wall we had signed at the expo and the "WE RUN" sign and it just made me so happy and helped me push through. When we got out of the tunnel, there was a HUUUUUUGE screen that was flashing our names and giving us that final excitement. I tried to get a picture but the names were going SO fast that I couldn't. As I came around and hit mile 13, I SPRINTED to the finish and crossed the line at 2:37:38. I was hoping for a 2:30 finish, but I will take it all things considered. Don't worry, I will conquer and BEAT that time!!