onward!

post-marathon assessments

i was sore for two whole days after the marathon. i actually had to work the day after the marathon and the day after that. my boss had pity on me and sent me home early on monday, but i still spent 6 hours on my feet, waddling like a newborn baby calf. on tuesday, i worked the entire shift. but after work that day, i got my ridiculously good massage (that i got for 20% off) and all was right with the world the next morning. i got to sleep in and take it easy and my body doesn't even remember the pain involved at all. i should have taken the cue to run, but i didn't. :)

my official marathon finishing time: 6:12:53. not a stellar time, even by first marathon standards, but i finished. and i really am truly proud of that. even me, the most undertrained, chubby marathoner in the history of mankind, finished. and with a time that slow, borne of what i consider to be lackluster training, means i will most likely PR my second marathon (barring extreme disaster) and oh yes, there will be a second marathon my friends. and hopefully more to come after.

in a perfect world, i would love to run the mardi gras marathon in late february. but as it is not a prefect world, i will most likely wait until next fall. i've got other priorities that need major attention so my second marathon will have to wait, even though i'm itching to go back out there!

the greatest lesson i've learned from my training is that things are never so bad that i can't survive them. i know it sounds obvious, and i should be old enough to know this, but it's true. the task of running 26.2 miles sounds so freakin' daunting. the work required to get there definitely ain't easy either. but i learned that it is doable. a 16, 18 mile training run sounded so daunting, so time consuming, so god damned sucky that i really did dread them. but once i was done, i often felt, well that wasn't so bad now was it? sure it was hard and tough at spots, but you got through it! it makes other tasks in life seem not so hard. and it definitely helps me realize that it's much easier and more pleasant to attain a goal if you 1. learn to enjoy what it takes to get there and 2. don't obsess about how fast you get there. on the road of life, like running, it's not about the destination, but the journey.

so where am i headed next?

to skinny jeans, USA.

my weight has always been an "issue". never a pressing issue, as i've always maintained good health and i've usually always nipped things in the bud before they got way out of hand. but as we all know, it gets harder to rein things in the older we get.

i lost a good amount of weight when i first started running about 20 months ago, all of which has found its way back to me. i chalked it up to stress, which is partly true, but it's mostly due to laziness regarding my eating habits. back when i trained for my first half marathon, i was so excited about my running and training that healthy habits came practically naturally. my new found running habit spurred an excellent eating habit. around that time i started eating organic and took great joy and pride in making my meals.

what's different now? i've found i can eat poorly and still get away with running decently. a year after i started running, i PRed in every distance even though i was heavier, but it probably had more to do with me being better conditioned.

also, i never had junk food in the house. not that i didn't eat junk food, but i ate it far less, because it required an extra trip to the store if i got the munchies. and like i said i'm lazy so i rarely made it out to the store to fulfill my cravings. what's different now? i share a kitchen with my parents. who stock it with crap, despite the fact that my parents suffer from heart disease and diabetes. (they have made some good changes, but not nearly enough in my mind. i could write a whole diatribe about this, but i've resigned to letting my parents live how they want to live. i've tried intervening and it's practically futile.) and crap isn't the right word. we eat lots of vegetables, and fish, and healthy things, but we also eat a lot of red meat, baked goods and other luscious treats. we just eat a lot in general.

and i hate, hate, hate talking about weight loss. i hate being that girl "on a diet". i'd rather talk about my bowel movements than talk about calorie consumption. it's just so boring and tedious and cliche. nothing is more grating than a chick on a diet who talks about her diet. and i am not a numbers person. i would rather eat nothing than have to calculate my portions and calories and carbs and fats etc. it just makes my head spin. and it takes the joy out of eating. and taking the joy out of eating is taking the joy out of life.

and maybe that's part of my problem. equating eating with joy. people say food is just fuel. but in my life, it's just so not. delicious food is like a luxury. sharing meals with family has always been important. creating meals is a creative outlet. and finding exactly what sates you on a particularly bad day can be a lifesaver. food is never just fuel and i feel like people who say that must lead a very grey life. a skinny life, perhaps. but totally dull.

so now that you've heard all about my food issues, where does this leave me? with a new training program and some new rules about eating to prepare me for the new year (coming in only 9 weeks! have you started your christmas shopping?)

the number of training runs i missed during marathon training is quite embarrassing. and i'd like to be more consistent. runner's world training coach has devised a 9 week schedule for a faux half-marathon race right before the new year. it has me running 4 days a week, and let me just say having my longest long run be only 10 miles is so refreshing. in addition, i'm adding 2 days of strength training. i haven't hired a personal trainer, but i have downloaded this. it seems like a very cost effective substitute. i'm aiming for 2 days of spin, but my gym has been changing the rules about how to sign up for the class that it's really annoying me. it's hard to count on getting a spot. if that turns out to be the case, i might download some spin classes and do them on my own in the wee hours of the morning when the studio isn't being used by a class.

on the eating front, i'm not even going to lay out grand plans for being a virtuous eater. for now, my rule will be i will only eat if i'm sitting down at a table, with my food on a plate, where i can actually sit and enjoy my food. sure i could fill my plate with fried chicken and gravy, but i do that now anyway. my extra calories come from sitting on the couch, eating while bored or eating so mindlessly and quickly, that i don't stop when i'm full. hopefully, just knowing i can eat whatever i want will maintain my sanity and i can focus on portion control.

so that's it peeps. in 9 weeks i hope to be 9-18 pounds lighter. and i can live up to my petite moniker.