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Half Marathon Recap!

On Sunday I did the Oro Valley Arizona Distance Class Half Marathon. I registed for it 2 weeks ago, so jumping in to this was mildly nerve-wracking. Especially since a vacation was thrown in the middle of my 2 week-prep.

(Just a little FYI...it's not like I just randomly signed up completely. I was up to running 9-10 miles comfortably, and decided "Hey, a race is coming up! What's 3 more miles?! I'll sign up!" So, I'm really not completely insane.)

So here's a little run-down on Abby's ritualistic build up to the race and the big event!

We returned from our vacation Sunday, so Monday I headed for an easy 10 mile run. I say easy, because I did not push myself. I like my joints and knees, so took a nice moderate pace on it! Then my week was spent doing some TLC to my muscles, lots of leg massaging, icing, and good nutrition and hydration! A few easy 3-4 mile runs and I was ready to race!

Friday I took a light 4 mile jog, and drank so much water I thought I was going to drown myself. My Saturday pre-race diet consisted of a mix of good protein carbs. I felt like I was snacking all day on apples, cereal, carrot sticks, etc.

My pre-race meal was a brand new invention, which is a new favorite and I will share the recipe in the near future. I had a Quinoa pasta with grilled salmon. My evening routine is always to snack on graham crackers and have a cup of green tea with lime.

Now here's where I made a BIG MISTAKE on this race! (I am sharing this, for I know a few of my readers are runners. And I would hate for this to happen to ANYONE!! Learn from my mistakes!)

Thursday, Friday, AND Saturday I ate seafood, seafood, and seafood. Salmon is excellent for omega-3's and GREAT for your joints. However.......

My diet had NO IRON! Which resulted in me getting verrrry verrrrrrry sick post race. After finally calling my doctor Monday afternoon, it turned out that I had mild "Colonic Ischemia". Which basically means your large intestines are not getting blood.

(Iron is involved in the oxygen-carrying in your body. So if you're really low on iron, you become anemic, obvoiusly. Now, normally if you don't have much iron for a few days you won't become drastically anemic. But, if you go burn 1500 calories during a 1/2 marathon -- this becomes an issue!) (Ps....I may be explaining this wrong. Maybe after I have critical care/ICU nursing I will understand this better...)

I'm not going to get into the signs and symptoms. You will know something is up if this happens! Let's just say that Sunday, I didn't want Ryan to go to the grocery store without me, because I thought he'd come home and I'd be passed out/or dead on the floor. (I know, kinda morbid, but I was scared! And I'm pretty dramatic)

So, take home message: Balance in your daily diet is ESSENTIAL. Get calcium, take in iron, get your vegetables, protein = living, carbs = energy, and eat clean!!! :)

I ended up running it the fastest I've ran a race. My time was 1:50 (and like 15 seconds or something...). So my average pace/mile was 8:25, and that was even with stopping at mile 10 to go the bathroom! Last race (the 10 miler in October) my pace was 8:40-ish. So I feel pretty darn pleased!! :)

Here are some photos from the event!



Pre-race. Freezing my booty off! When we left our house at 5:45am (south of Tucson) it was 52 degrees. When we arrived to the race start in Oro Valley, the temp read "38 degrees". We live in AZ, folks. That is really cold for my bones!!

Sweatshirts (yes, plural. I was wearing 2) have come off. And I am trying to stay postive, happy, and loose. (.....and I look like I'm a 12 year old.)



Coming in! I'm on the left of the red-shirted person.
Crossing the finish line. Felt amazing!!!
Sporting my new medal. Notice on the other side of the flag there is a photographer charging $12/picture. We said "screw that" and moved to the other side of the flag & snapped a photo. I live on the edge.

Comments

Cherry Blossoms said…
Boo on getting sick but awesome job on running an amazing race!!
Well done, Abs! So proud of you. sorry you got sick, though. I also got realy sick after my 1/2 in October. Thinking back, I bet I didn't have any iron either! so I need to fix that for my next race.

I had quinoa pasta for the first time this week and loved it!! It is SO good! Def the very best GF option out there!
Mama Nastase said…
Great job on beating your previous race time! I feel terrible that you got so sick, but at least you now know what you need to do to be healthy for the next race.
Unknown said…
Very interesting! Good job, Abby! Love the pictures. How nice to have a personal photographer!!!
Marlys said…
Just fitting a quick half-marathon in while going to college? No small feat and you did awesome! I'm glad you got over the sickness, but it was not fun! I was so worried about you! Once more, congratulations!

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