My First Half Marathon

I completed my first half marathon Saturday! Wooohooooo!!! It definitely wasn't my best run as I had missed several weeks of training due to injuries, but I finished! and I'm fairly happy about my time. Official time was 2:44:31 which leaves lots of room for improvement before my next race! :-)

Started off the morning in bed with a banana and half an english muffin with almond butter.

Then it was off to Boulder City where the marathon began. We started at St. Jude's Ranch and ran down to the 6 tunnel area at Lake Mead.

The race dropped 1000ft in the first 6 miles! Talk about impact! This picture was taken somewhere during the 12th mile. I was beat! My muscles were no longer working and having spasms and it was pure mind power at this point.

I finished!!! It was a small race, only about 75 people but I definitely enjoyed it. My overview of the race went like this.

Miles 1-6: la lalalala la lalalala la la la

Mile 7: if this were easy everyone would be doing it.... if this were easy everyone would be doing it.... if this were easy everyone would be doing it!!!!!!!
 
Mile 8: straight up down a mountain. knees were screEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAming!!!!!
 
Mile 9: turn around and back up that mountain. i think i can, i think i can *strike that* I KNOW I CAN!!!! push Push PUSH!!!!
 
Mile 10: jammed out to Britney and Estelle to cheer me on.
 
Mile 11: when your knees give out, go back to where you started, speed walking. pump it, pump it, pump it like a mall walker!
 
Mile 12: my mommy joined me!!!
 
Mile 13.1: I'M DONE! I'M DONE!!!!
 
Mile 13.2: Mom - "The cars just right over here." Me - "I can't walk that far." She came and picked me up!:-)

We got home and it was time to relax!

I surprisingly didn't have an appetite. I sat down and iced my knees and mom made me the tuna sandwich that is sitting next to me. I had lots of Gatorade! and a little later had some cottage cheese. 

All day I couldn't really decide on what I was hungry for and then I decided I wanted avocados! We went to the grocery store and I made this yummy guacamole with black beans and corn. 

Mom and I also snacked on some Easter treats through out the day. :-)

For dinner we had these HUGE artichokes and "tic-tac-toe" potatoes. I made a dipping sauce out of Greek yogurt, dill and lemon juice, although I ended up using a big scoop of mayo for my artichoke.

"Tic-tac-toe" potatoes were one of our favorites as kids and super easy to make. Just cut a potato lengthwise, cut slits across and lengthwise, top with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary and bake at 375 for 30 mins. Mom was worried I had not had enough protein for the day so I had a scoop of almond butter.

And accented it with some almond M&M's :-)

I'd have to say the hardest part about Saturday was how sore my knees were! I felt like a 90 year old woman. It was so hard getting up and down.

Breakfast Sunday morning was half an english muffin with Laughing Cow wedge and smoked salmon and some pineapple.

Then mom and I went back down to Lake Mead so she could see the railroad tunnels I had run through the day before. The railroad tunnels were blasted back when the Hoover Dam was being built so that supplies could be brought down to the damn. There was a total of 6 of them we ran through. I was still pretty sore from my half marathon the day before but it felt good to loosen up my muscles. We did about a 5 mile hike/walk.

A reenactment of running through the tunnel the day earlier...

After the hike we went to Lake Las Vegas for some lunch.

Kinda looks like a postcard, right? We ended up at an Irish pub where I had a Newcastle and then mom and I shared the fish & chips and blue cheese veggie burger with a salad. Yummy and filling!

Later back at the house I had some Chardonnay

And another wine spill... Luckily it was white this time! Told you all I was infamous for spilling wine!

We also snacked on the rest of the guacamole from yesterday.

I took some pictures of my fridge because it is packed! I definitely have more food than a single girl needs! But since most the food I eat is fresh and prepared by me, I'm sure this will be gone by the end of the week. What you can see, top shelf: roasted red peppers, homemade dressing in coffee mug, spinach raviolis, pineapple, leftover yellow curry, an avocado; second shelf: guacamole (now finished), Greek yogurt/dill dip, yogurt, Greek yogurt, eggs, roasted peanut butter with flax seed (from Trader Joe's, super yummy!); third shelf: Gatorade, some beers in the back that have been there since last September, 6 bean salad medley, tomatoes, asparagus, tofu, feta block, black beans and corn, an onion; fourth self: Coke Zero, bread, leftover "tic-tac-toe" potatoes, eggplant, bag of spinach.

In the top drawer: Wholly Guacamole 100 calorie packs, Laughing Cow, Italian cheese blend, sharp cheddar shredded cheese, arugula, cucumber, apple, red pepper, and hummus.

And bottom drawer: sweet potatoes, romaine lettuce, kale, onions, mushrooms. 

We were really full from lunch and snacking but I had some veggies that were ready for roasting. We chopped up some sweet potatoes, an eggplant, and the asparagus and roasted them for an hour with some rosemary. The house smelled so good! It was my moms bright idea to use the rosemary. I have bush out front and I never think to use it when I'm cooking! I need to use rosemary more often!

I feel like I had a lot of food this weekend, but I also burned around 1500 calories on Saturday, so it's all good! Hopping back on the healthy eating wagon this week! :-)

Dotting my I's and crossing my T's

Getting ready for my race! My mom flew in last night and today we've just been running errands and getting everything ready for tomorrow.

Here's my eats. Lunch yesterday was a salad and a piece of toast with Laughing Cow wedge and smoked salmon.

Salad had arugula, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, asparagus, onion, and 6 bean salad.

Then I had two squares of this as a snack.

After work I chopped up some carrots and celery to keep on hand for snacks.

And made this dip with Greek yougurt

plus these spices

And then I made some kale chips! These are amazingly delicious! You just tear the kale into bite size pieces and coat them with a little bit of olive oil.

Then you roast them at 375* for 10-15 minutes and you get these! Wow! These are great!!

For dinner I mixed up the the leftovers from the other night with a little bit of almond milk and cajun spice, added some more mushrooms and some spinach. Plus I cooked up this tuna steak.

Breakfast this morning was 1 egg + 1 egg white, half whole wheat english muffin, Laughing Cow Wedge, and smokes salmon. Yummy!

I also had some coffee. My mom had used the last of the milk so I thought maybe I'd experiment with yogurt. A little chunky... but still tasted okay.

I had a light lunch since I knew I would be having an early and big dinner. I had this green monster that I made with one banana, some frozen blueberries, big scoop of almond butter, scoop of SF Quick, 1/2 cup almond milk, and a big handful of spinach.

And the Easter Bunny (aka Mom) brought me these cute spatulas!

For my big dinner we had Thai Yellow Curry! This was so yummy and so easy! First we steamed the potatoes, carrots and onions.

We had bought some precooked shrimp.

And then we mixed some yellow curry with a can of light coconut milk.

Final outcome, served over brown rice, deliciousness!!!

I have everything laid out for tomorrow. Go 79!!! This was everything in my goodie bag.

I was actually excited to see that these FUBAR bar and drink were both organic, raw and natural. I'll let you know how it taste. And I got this sexy shirt.

I'm off to bed! Wish me luck tomorrow!!!