Tag: mlfitness

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.

I did NOT want to get up when my alarm went off at 6:15am to run before work. I reset the alarm for 7am and said I’d find time to run later or tomorrow (despite knowing that the next 48 hours are jam packed).

Let’s keep in mind in 18 weeks of marathon training I’ve only done 2 or 3 pre-work morning runs until this past week.

I laid in bed maybe 4 minutes. I couldn’t sleep and felt guilty. 

So I got up and got running. 

4 miles with the dog before work.

AND I DON’T REGRET IT. I NEVER DO. 

I only regret my decisions NOT to run.

REGISTERED

Just registered for the Marine Corps Marathon on October 28th in my soon to be new home of Washington, DC! 

My sister and my friend Sarah both registered too – it will be their first marathons.

Meanwhile I’m a dumbass and clicked the wrong state for my billing address AK instead of AL – so I’m currently on hold with active.com to try and fix that so it doesn’t affect my registration status. Just talked with active.com – I’m good to go.

WOOOHOOO!

Edit: catchmecassie & sayhellotocindy are in – who else? 

Also heard from a former coworker from TX who is running it too!

*MCM just set the record for fastest marathon sell out in the United States 2 hours 41 minutes!

Marathon Twitter Account

Marathon Twitter Account

I’d love for you guys to follow me on Marathon Day through my Marathon-specific twitter account.

I plan to tweet whilst running (the main reason I’ve kept my Blackberry instead of get an iPhone so I can type and run semi-well). My friend and cheerleader Kelly will also be tweeting from the sidelines. 

If you have a twitter add the account and if you don’t have twitter you can just save the link and see updates throughout the day by visiting the twitter page directly. 

I guess that means the cat’s out of the bag kids, my name is Jenn. Nice to meet you! I never have used my name publicly on here, but having your support Marathon day and sharing my excitement is worth losing my psuedo-anonymity!