Carnival Classic Half Marathon, Long Beach, Mississippi, Jan. 26, 2013: race recap

This race was completely last minute. On a running high from the race with the big bridges, I happily agreed to travel to Mississippi (Long Beach in da house) for a half marathon the next weekend.

It wasn't all about the race. My boyfriend and I usually take a trip at the end of the year. Instead, our house was packed with guests from Dec. 20 until the first week of January. We really needed a trip after that (just kidding, family ... kind of). 

So, after too long of a drive, we arrived in Mississippi on Thursday. I know so many people love road trips. I do not. I love flying. If the drive is anything more than two hours, I want a plane. But, the drive allowed us to take this crazy girl.

She's worth it ... I guess.

The race started at 8 a.m. on Saturday. That seemed late to me. I'm used to 7 a.m. starts. But, I actually got a great night's sleep, and I thought I was ready to run. I thought wrong.

The first 3 miles were completely painful. Not just as in an "I'm totally not into this," which I wasn't, but an "Ow! My calves are cramping," kind of painful. This is new. This hasn't happened before.

I think part of it was because I felt like everyone took off at the beginning of the race, and I was left by myself (this isn't completely true). I ran faster to try and keep up with the pack. And, part of it was probably due to not drinking my usual Nuun the day before. I like to drink a few tablets worth of it to up my electrolytes. Whatever the cause, my calves hurt!

Mile 1: 11:11 (Eek! Started too "fast")
Mile 2: 12:02
Mile 3: 12:09

After slowing down and grabbing some Gatorade at a water stop, the calf pain eased, and I felt better. Still not great, but at least I wasn't in pain.

Mile 4: 11:58
Mile 5: 11:47 (I took a GU gel around mile 4.5)
Mile 6: 11:47

It wasn't until mile 6 that I felt totally in the race. Prior, I had dreams of stopping, calling my boyfriend to come and pick me up and booking it to New Orleans. Not that I was going to do it, but it was fun to dream. 

I came into this race wanting a personal record (PR). I thought it was finally my time to get that PR I've been chasing for almost a year, knowing it was a super-flat course. Before mile 6, I really didn't think it was going to happen.  

Super-duper flat

Mile 7: 11:36
Mile 8: 11:46
Mile 9: 11:31 (I took another GU gel around mile 8.5)
 
I started to get more optimistic after mile 9. I finally felt great, and I wanted to get to New Orleans.

Mile 10: 11:12
Mile 11: 11:14
Mile 12: 11:07

Coming into the last 1.1 miles, I knew I had a fabulous shot at that record. I wanted it, and I hoped I could at least keep up the pace of mile 12.

Mile 13: 10:45 (Holy crap! My fastest mile of the entire race was the last full mile!)
Mile 0.1: 0:43

My official time: 2:30:54. FINALLY! I took off almost 3 minutes from my personal best. 

Super-duper happy with my PR!

Pretty sweet medal

This course was gorgeous. It was an out-and-back of this view.

Maybe the repetitive scenery made me run faster?

But, it was the same thing for 13.1 miles. I know there are worse things in life to look at for 13.1 miles, but it got boring. I need variety ... waaah, right? I'm such a baby. 

But, the after-party made up for it. 

Homemade gumbo? Yes, please.

Beer? Yes, please.

=

On the beach? Yes, please. 

Oh, they also had hot dogs and pizza ... but, why? 

This race is ideal for a "fast" time. It's super, super, super flat (yes, it deserves three "supers"). And, at the end of January, it shouldn't be too hot (for a race in the South) — it was actually warmer than I hoped, but it wasn't unbearable (70s by race-end). As an added bonus, it's only about an hour's drive to New Orleans. YES! 

Have you ever had calf pain during a run? Do you know why? What did you do to resolve it? Has it even taken you 6 miles to warm up? Ever run a race right along the coast? Ever get bored with the same scenery (no matter how beautiful) during a run?

A random Tuesday

You know those days when you have all these random thoughts and none really make a full, complete though? Yeah, that's pretty much every day for me.

• I recently bought some compression socks. They were necessary because they are pink, and I had a coupon for 50% off. I'm a sucker for a good color and a good deal. Well, I hear they do amazing things for your legs, too. I haven't tried them yet, though.  
  

I don't think I've ever bought a S/M in anything before!

• I found myself home alone this weekend (well, Chloe was there too ... she gets mad if I forget to mention her). I found myself on my couch with wine and a stack of movies to watch. None were great ... they were all OK: "My Week With Marilyn," "American Reunion" and "Moneyball." I want to watch an amazing movie. It seems like I've been watching all mediocre movies lately.
  

Did I hear you forgetting me?

• My half marathon training group is partially sponsored by Nuun. By partially sponsored, it means there is always Nuun around to drink. I'm not sad about this at all. I never liked Gatorade or other sports drinks, but I can drink Nuun all day long. Yum!
• After getting an email about an amazing iPhone deal through my wireless company, and realizing that I had my renew-your-contract credit available, I finally took the plunge. As of this evening, I'll be an iPhone-carrying girl. 

Join in the randomness with me: Do you have compression socks? Do you like them? Are they a fun color? Watch any amazing movies lately? Have you tried Nuun? Do you like Nuun? Do you have an iPhone (or am I the only one without one)?

How I gained 10 pounds while training for a half marathon

I hesitated for a long time about writing this because, well, it’s embarrassing.

Yes, I trained for a half marathon. I trained for 14 weeks and ran countless miles. Yes, I burned many calories. No, I didn't lose weight. Instead, I gained weight ... 10 pounds.

Woo-hoo for running 13.1 miles. Boo for gaining 10 pounds!

How does this happen?, you ask. I wondered the same thing. I actually went into training thinking I'd lose a few pounds. It seems like you should, right? Well, not if you're eating too much, I learned the hard way.

Here are the reasons why I gained weight while training for a half marathon, as well as how to prevent this from happening again:
 
I just ran 10 miles! I can eat whatever I want.

When I’d first complete a long run, food was repelling. I just wanted liquid. Lots and lots of delicious Gatorade and water, and I don’t even like Gatorade (thank goodness I found Nuun). 

 

Eventually my hunger came around, though. As in I-can-eat-a-buffalo-and-still-be-hungry type of hunger. This led to eating massive quantities of food with no regard for calories because hey, I just ran 10 (or insert any number here) miles. Not cool. 

Fix: Even though I ran 10 (insert any number here) miles, it doesn't give me free reign to eat anything I want. I still need to make smart choices.

I wasn’t burning as many calories as I thought.

I’ve always been active. Before I started running on a regular basis, gyms, walking, softball and beach volleyball (a lot of beach volleyball) were my exercise methods of choice. All came pretty easy to me. So, when I started running and thought it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, I knew I had to be burning crazy calories, way more than I did with my other activities. Right? Right?! Please tell me I was right.
 

This level of difficulty and sweat = bunches of
calories burned, right?

You don’t have to lie to me. I was wrong. I realize that now.

How wrong? Well, I know the calories you burn can be difficult to determine. But, using a self.com calculator, an hour of beach volleyball burned exactly the same amount of calories as running for an hour at my slow pace. The same?!? Yikes. I ate a lot more after running than after playing hours of beach volleyball.

Fix: Keep in mind that I didn't burn endless calories. Yes, I can splurge a little more on a long run day, but nothing crazy. 

I took fueling for a run too far.

I had a long run that was absolutely, completely miserable. I didn't have much to eat the day before and determined that I wasn't fueled properly for my run. I was probably right. But, I took it to the extreme before each next long run, eating more than enough to make sure I never felt like that again.

Fix: I need to fuel for runs, but I need to do it the smart way: right quantities of healthy foods. I need to work on this to see what works best, but I need to emphasize quality over quantity.  

Things that rock Thursday

Thursday is by far my least favorite day of the workweek. My lack of sleep from earlier in the week catches up to me, so I’m miserably tired. And work-wise, it’s craziness. I guess it’s the rush before the weekend. We even started the I Hate Thursday club at work. It’s that bad.

I’ve tried thinking of it as Friday Eve. I’ve tried telling myself it’s close to the weekend. Nothing seems to work.

So, in another effort to make Thursdays more bearable, I decided to post about things that rock (even though Thursdays don’t). More positivity will cancel the negativity, right? Right?!? Please tell me I’m right.

I need this every week, so I think this is going to become a weekly feature.

Here are this week’s things that rock (even though Thursdays don’t):

Nuun

You know that feeling that everyone else has tried something except for you and you’re left behind while everyone else raves about it. That happens to me a lot. You’d think I live in a cave. This happened again with Nuun. It seemed like everyone else tried it and loved it while Cavewoman Jina wondered what it was all about. But, thanks to a fabulous giveaway, I’m the proud owner of Nuun. Thanks, Bean, for pulling me out of my cave. 

Now I can jump on the Nuun train with everyone else and proclaim that this tasty, fizzy, 8-calorie electrolyte-loaded beverage is delicious and awesome. It’ll be a standard running hydration tool from now on. Take that, cave. 

Watermelon

Holy yum. I cannot get enough of this. I may need an intervention.

I even sacrificed and bought the seeded variety because the store was out
of seedless. I hate dealing with seeds, but I hate living without watermelon more.

Die In Your Arms

Yes, I’m a 30-something woman that likes Justin Bieber. I used to be embarrassed, but not anymore. The kid is good. This song rocks my Thursday (and every other day of the week). Give me more sugary pop goodness, JB.