The Details

These past few days I have just been high on life, obviously it is because I ran my first half marathon and I am still thinking I am a rock star. Oh and that I can eat anything I want because what the heck I burned like 1519 calories.

If you want to see some pictures click here. But today we are going to talk the race day. Some do’s and don’ts (is that a word?) for my future races. Where I am sore as eff. What I ate before. What I have eaten after (did I mention I have eaten the whole fridge?) . I will bitch about how sore I am. Oh and just to humor you all I will give you some sexy details on long distance running and where to apply that special glide stick. (Things get a little spicy after I explain 2:20 AM- post race, so you may want to click that little X) So lets get to it:

2:20 AM – ready to wake up. Wide awake. Tried the counting sheep thing about 50 times. I have accepted I won’t fall back asleep.

4:00 AM – God sent a miracle my way, I fell asleep.

4:30 AM – alarm one went off. I decided I needed more sleep.

4:30-5:30 – every 15 minutes that lovely alarm would go off and I pushed snooze. I didn’t want to get up.

5:30 AM – got up. Started this whole big breakfast, carb loading, something I really don’t care for. Walk around the house and do some squats so I can use the restroom (if you get my drift).

7:00 AM – yell at family for making me late.

7:30 AM – meet Catherine’s family. Get stuck in major traffic. Jump out of the car at 8:00 am, run to start line, freak out about bathroom.

8:00 AM – try to find bathroom. Too bad we are girls and 593 girls also need to use the restroom. Run to nearest outhouse.

8:25 AM – give Catherine a goodbye hug. I held back the tears, good lord I felt like she was my mom saying “see ya later gater” at college.

8:27 AM- look at phone. 58% battery. Have mini heart attack that my phone will die half way through race.

8:30 AM – horn goes off. People start running. I find my lady that’s holding the 10:18 pace sign. She was my home girl, she just didn’t know it. Oh and she was also about to be my BFF for the next 2 hours or so.

Mile 7 – go up hill. My home girl is getting a little faster and as every second passes she also gets further and further away. My dreams of finishing are coming to an end as that sign gets further and further away. I thought I could catch her on the flip side when we were going down that major ass hill. NOPE.

Ok, I get in my own groove, have an energy thing I packed around mile 8. I cruise down a hill – every time I went downhill I was thinking I was on cloud 9. I only wanted to quit about 3 times now. But I prayed to God. I just knew that my next goal was to finish in 2 hours 30 minutes.

Mile 11– another lady with a sign comes flying by me. Swear words form in my head as I think that she’s the 2 hours and 30 minute pace group. Crush those new dreams I had of finishing in under 2:30. Then that sign turned around and it read 2:20! I can do it! I can still finish in under 2:30!! Buckle up peeps running next to me because this bitch is about to take off. For a total of .045 seconds, then my legs were like hold it chick.

Mile 12 – Longest mile of my life. I sent my sister a text that said ‘last’ aka get your butt to the finish line because I want you to snap some pics of me. This is also when I cranked “Eye Of The Tiger” and put it on repeat.

Mile 13.1 – cruise through that finish line with a cheesy ass smile on my face. Ran around looking for water. Apparently it’s not the in thing to have in right by the finish line?? Cray cray.

Then we took some pictures. I literally was freezing. Had the chills and my legs were cramping and tightening.

Then we went to Catherine’s for a little after party.

But lets talk PRE-RACE  food. I wasn’t going to carb load because I usually don’t but one thing led to another and I ended up having Donatelli’s. So good. But soo very bad. I was in the bathroom all night. This added to my biggest fear of going to the bathroom in my pants as I was running. The morning of I had oatmeal with almond butter, a protein shake and a banana. After I had a protein shake within 5 minutes of finishing, then a tasty meal at Catherine’s for lunch. I had ice cream twice Saturday and deep dish pizza. Weigh in should be fun this week at boot camp.

For energy supplements- WME before (2 servings), E-shot, Ionix {all Isagenix}, Catherine gave me a pudding guu thing that was tasty (I probably just messed that name up, but lets roll with it), then I had some jelly bean energy things. I believe they all helped and would use all the same products next time.

The special glide stick – I applied it under my boobs and around my heart rate monitor area at about 6:30 am. Also by my crotch and the line that my pants was  going to be at (so my waist line). NEXT TIME – I would do a better job of getting my inner/upper thigh, I have been in pain there since Saturday.

I got off Amazon. Cheap and totally worth it

Currently I am taking donations to anyone who wants to pay for a 60 minute much needed massage. Saturday and Sunday my back was sore along with my legs. My legs were so sore yesterday I either sat down for half the day or I stayed standing, because once I am down don’t be expecting me to get up anytime soon folks. The pain is better today. I am able to move, bend, sleep, etc. Still needing a massage though.

I feel like I covered it all. If anyone has any questions please ask! Email me at baileymckenziejohnson@gmail.com or comment below. :)