Month: March 2012

To visor or not to visor

Greeting from Santa Monica. I’m sitting at some cute outdoor cafe staring at the Pacific and palm trees. The weather today is a little chilly, but still lovely.

I’m trying to mentally prepare for running the marathon in the rain. I need tips and advice. Especially when it comes to wearing a visor. Many folks recommend it, but I’ve NEVER worn one running (or a hat and I KNOW a hat would really annoy me). In fact I’d need to buy a visor while out here if I opt for one. I’m very wary of trying anything new on race day, but I also want to give myself the best race experience possible against the rain.

So give me your rainy race day tips please!

LA Bound

After a hectic few days and very little sleep I am sitting on my flight to LAX waiting to take off.

I packed my most important race stuff in my carry on. I made sure to leave room in my luggage for all my race SWAG!

I hope to give some updates throughout my trip here and on my Marathon twitter – twitter.com/jennmarathon

26.2 or bust!

Last Dance

Today was my last day at my gym.

The gym where I went to for nearly 4 years.

The gym where I started running on a treadmill.

The gym where I committed to myself.

The gym where I fell in love with spin class.

The gym where I lost 45+ pounds.

I didn’t realize how emotional I’d get when I was leaving. 

I came to realize that the next gym I join I’ll be a fit girl, instead of a fat girl.

There’s nothing wrong with being either of those girls. Over the last few months when I’ve seen overweight people at the gym – in my mind I’ve wished them luck and success. I hope they find what I found there. 

Play to Win

I was at a work conference that had me up early on Friday and driving 1 of 3 vans of students to Charlotte.

Friday was a day of POOR eating, some of which I regret, some of which I didn’t. One thing I surely don’t regret is the “going away” dessert party at the Crepe Cellar in the NoDa district of Charlotte. AMAZING. We started with 4 orders of Pesto-Brie Fries and then all got crepes. Y-U-M!

However Saturday I woke up feeling huge from all the naughty things I ate the day before – and lots be honest Thursday was dangerous too. 

So Saturday there were 6 blocks of educational sessions to go to on top of other meetings and events throughout the day. I brought running stuff with me and missed one event and ed session to run 8 miles. I changed in the rental van which was an experience. As I changed I realized I didn’t think to pack any GUs – I was stressed, but pushed myself out to run anyway despite being EXHAUSTED. 

I don’t know how I literally ran, that’s how tiring these conferences are, but I did. Thankfully the UNC Charlotte’s campus and surround area had some PHENOMENAL running/biking trails. I really enjoyed the run and felt much less gross/bloated which improved my mood drastically! 

My run was time crunched because I had to get back to watch 4 of my student present at education session. So I grabbed my bag from the rental van after and changed in the bathroom of the building. Somehow I managed to look somewhat presentable, but I’m pretty sure I was the smelly kid. Not that I care. I ran dammit. 

I only have itty bitty baby runs this week leading up to THE MARATHON on Sunday. I have so much on my mind with work/moving/life that the Marathon is not overrunning (no pun intended) my thoughts, but I do want to make sure I’m able to focus and be ready for race day MENTALLY.