Last Long Run

I had my last long run before my half-marathon this past Saturday morning.  I chose to do 8 miles easy, not only because I’d been feeling very tired lately, but also because I had a full packed day ahead of me.   I was supposed to run with my friend Carrie, but she ended up cancelling because it was cold and damp when we were planning to start (a little before 8am).  She hadn’t been feeling well and was worried about getting sick from running in that kind of weather in her already-weakened state.  I couldn’t blame her—you all know how I feel about running in the rain!

It was barely misting when I started, so I went ahead and took the route I’d planned…and of course, it began to rain in earnest about half-way through. 😛  Oh well.  I took it easy and stopped to take pictures of the beautiful fall foliage, although the dreary skies really don’t do it justice.

 

 

The rain really drove me crazy, as did the wind (ugh), but I braved through it and even managed a race pace mile for my last lap.  Mostly because I wanted to be done!

 

 

There was very little time to recuperate (and warm up!) when I was done, because Jamie had a hockey game about an hour away at 12pm. (They lost, unfortunately.)  Then we had to rush home so I could finish my preparations for the annual school auction.

I was actually in charge of the auction for three years in a row, and during my last stint as chairperson, I really let myself get both run down and unhealthy.  I didn’t gain a ton of weight, but I remember feeling very fat and unhealthy, not to mention exhausted.

 

 

That’s me in November 2011 at the auction. It was actually all the work I did for the auction that year that finally made me realize I needed to stop doing so much for others and take time to focus on myself and, most importantly, my health.  A week after the auction was done, I started my drive to become healthy and have never looked back!

Clearly, helping others is a great thing to do, but knowing your limits is important, too.  I’m so thankful that I chose to run that big event for three years, because it helped me make great friends and really become involved in my children’s school.  But I’m also grateful that I’m now only in charge of one thing (dinner tickets), which is much less work.  Well, except for the night of the auction, when I’m frantically trying to get bidder cards and last-minute ticket orders organized, lol!

At any rate, I wore my favorite non-formal dress (which is actually one of the few dresses I own, period!).  I was too busy to get a picture on auction night, so here it is in my “before and after” picture.

 

 

I’m happy to say that it still fits comfortably…so comfortably, in fact, that I never even paid attention to how it fit all night. 😉 We had a great time, and I actually didn’t eat anything—not even dessert!  That’s the result of being busy (although I did find time for wine, lol).

Speaking of eating, I was very good in following the program and in also keeping with my goal of using only half my activity points, and it showed up on the scale this week.

 

 

Down two full pounds—yay! I’m hoping I can keep this up and finally get back below 117 next week.  I haven’t seen the 116s since July 22nd—wow, three and a half months!  I’m tapering this week, so I just did 3 easy miles yesterday, am skipping my normal Tuesday run today, and only plan 4 miles on Thursday, so there’s less of a calorie burn, obviously.  On the bright side, I’m running 13 miles on Sunday. 😀  However, I’ve discovered that I don’t have a good weigh-in the day after a half-marathon, most likely because I tend to eat every activity point the night before my weigh-in (darn these Sunday races!).  My goal this week will be to be judicious in my post-race treat.  I hope I can resist the temptation! 😉

So, if you’re a runner, do you tend to splurge after a big race? Do you pay for it on the scale later, or have you found a good compromise?  I could sure use some advice on this front…because right now, a big bowl of white chicken chili with homemade bread sounds delightful! 😉

Thanks for reading!