Marathon #22 - Washington

My 22nd state was Washington. This was Washington-Take-Two, as last year I was injured and had to cancel my race. I could have done the Seattle Rock n Roll race, but I didn’t have the Tour Pass this year, and the RnR races are quite expensive. I decided to look for another race near the Seattle area that might be cheaper. After searching on marathonguide.com, I found the Green River Marathon. The race website stated that the race was free. FREE?? Hmm…

My goal of running a marathon in every state has become quite expensive. Each race can be up to $1,000 with airfare, hotels, race registration fees, shoes, car rental, etc. So when I saw a free race, I was very intrigued. I also noticed that the course was a Boston Qualifier, which gave me no doubts that I could count this race as part of my 50 states based on the 50 State Marathon Club requirements. 

The Race: Green River Marathon, Seattle, WA 

My Training Plan: For this race, I had about five weeks between races. I was planning on doing some speed work as well. I did one speed session, but my hamstring started bothering me halfway through. After that, I just did my normal runs and gave up on speed work, as I could feel my hamstring hurting slightly during normal runs. I ran four days a week, and my typical week was as follows: Monday – 6 miles, Tuesday – 8 miles, Thursday – 7 miles, Saturday – long run. I used the Providence Marathon and another 20 miler two weeks afterwards as my longest runs. 

Weather: The weather was nearly perfect. It started out in the 50s and ended in the 60s, but there was no humidity or wind. The skies were partly cloudy to mostly sunny the entire time – not at all what I imagined Seattle to be like. 

Running Attire: I wore a Lululemon tank, some purple Nike running shorts, and a purple Nike sports bra. I also had my yellow Delaware Marathon hat and my iFitness belt. I wore Asics shoes and Balega socks. And, as usual, a lot of Body Glide. 

Who I Ran With: I met a few people along the way, but ran by myself for most of the race. I started out at a slower pace to warm up for about two miles, then took off. I ran for a few miles with a guy from the area who was a fellow Marathon Maniac. Toward the end, I ran for a short while with another guy from the area that was nice enough to let me know when we only had a mile left. 

The Course: The course was beautiful. We ran along a lot of water and on bike paths. We were probably on bike paths 80-85% of the time. There was one part around mile 6 where the bike path was being worked on, so we were routed onto the nearby streets. 

For the 10-15% of the time on the roads, the course was completely open (no police at the intersections) , so on a couple of roads we had to cross, I had to wait for cars to pass or for the light to change before I could cross. There was one part where we crossed the road and had to run on the (very narrow, right-hand) shoulder of the road. Another part toward the end was on the roads as well. At one point, we were running next to an active train track. I could hear the train coming (although they go pretty slow in the populated areas), and had to speed up so I could cross the tracks before the train delayed me. 

Organization: I could not say better things about the organization of this race. I met the two guys who started this race. One of them told me the story about how, back in the 1990s he paid $50 for a marathon, and didn’t get much out of it. He thought to himself, “I could buy all of the Gatorade for the entire race for $50.” So he decided to start this free marathon. 

There was no expo and no race bibs to pick up. The race director did organize a “pasta lunch” at a local restaurant, where you could come and purchase pasta and pick up your shirts that were purchased at cost. The race director was there, was extremely nice and answered any questions runners had. 

The race was small (about 200 people on the course at a time including the relay runners). But the water stops were fully stocked and manned. There were a couple of times where there was just one volunteer and multiple runners at the table at the same time, so I picked the cup off the table myself. But there was water and Gatorade at each water stop. And there were multiple flavors of Gatorade too. It wasn’t just that lemon-lime stuff that tastes horrible. I also felt like the water stops were spaced well along the course. 

My only complaint about this race is the lack of bathrooms along the way. I knew it was a small race, and that bathrooms would be scarce, but I didn’t realize just how scarce until I ran it. I figured that bike paths would have some park bathrooms here and there, but I didn’t see any. Granted, not having the option to stop did improve my time, but by the end of the race, my mantra was “the faster you run the faster you get to the bathroom!” 

Swag: The marathon is free, so there are no perks. If you wanted to, you could purchase a long-sleeved technical shirt at cost ($15). Other than that, there was nothing. No metals at the end of the race. No awards for age groups or winners. No extras. But what can you expect from a free race?? 

Starting Line: At the starting line, they had two porta potties and a table for check-in. Each runner was supposed to check in at the table and find out what their number was. There were no bibs, so the volunteers wrote your number on your arm or leg with a Sharpie. The actual start line was a short walk down the bike path to a chalk line on the ground. 

Fans: With only 200 people on the course and not a lot of publicity, I didn’t expect a lot of fans cheering me on along the way. If you need fan support to run your race, don’t pick this race. The biggest fans were the runners who started early that I passed along the way and the volunteers at the water stops. Other than that, there really are no fans. Like I said, the race is mostly run on a bike path, so there aren’t many spots for any fans to wait. 

Finish Line: The last mile of the race was beautiful and frustrating at the same time. Since I had never run the race before and didn’t know the area or where the finish line actually was, the last mile felt like the longest mile I’d ever run. However, during that last mile, we were running right along the water, with a beautiful view of the Seattle skyline. Once we rounded a bend and the skyline was out of view, we came across the beaches and ran on the road along the beach until the finish line at the end of the beach. 

The actual finish line was pretty minimal, as was most of the (free) race. They had a guy with a stopwatch and a woman with a clipboard to record the times of the people who finished as they crossed a crack in the pavement that served as the finish line. There was a table with cups of water and Gatorade. And to my delight, there was a park bathroom down the stairs at the beach. 

Results: 3:37:08, which is 3 minutes faster than my Boston Qualifying time. I also was the first place female finisher and 16th place overall! 

How I felt: I didn’t see any mile markers along the way, and I had no electronics recording my distance. This meant that at most times, I had no idea what mile I was on. I was just enjoying running, enjoying the moment. I also didn’t know how fast I was going, so I relied on my body to tell me how fast to go. I think this really helped. Sometimes, I feel like knowing how fast I’m going actually makes me slow down. If I’m going 8-minute-miles, my mind tells me that’s too fast of a pace to maintain the entire race, so I slow down. At the halfway point, one of the guys I was running with told me that I was running at a sub-3:30 pace. Instead of slowing down, I said “I feel great. Let’s see how long I can keep it up.” 

Another mind game that I played with myself during this race (and the Rhode Island one before it) was to remind myself that this is not a training run. It’s a race. I should treat it as a race, and run as fast as I can. Also, I knew that I wasn’t going to be running another marathon until October, so I really wanted to make the best of this race. 

I think that the lack of electronics, the fact that I treated it as a race, the fact that it was a small field, and trying to make the best of it, since I wouldn’t be running another for several months, all helped me win the race and qualify for Boston. 

Travel/Tourism: Seattle is very expensive. Taxes there are high. Minimum wage is high, which drives prices high as well. But the city and the surrounding area is very people-friendly. The amenities that they have encourage an active lifestyle. There are bike paths just about everywhere. People driving will stop happily for pedestrians and wave them past, even when the pedestrians are jay-walking. I’ve never seen drivers so considerate of those not in cars. If someone from Seattle moved to Atlanta, they’d probably be killed by our crazy drivers in the first week. 

I stayed with a friend (and former co-worker) of mine, so I didn’t have a hotel cost or a hotel to review. I also didn’t need a rental car, as my friend took me to and from the airport, left me his car and rode his bike to work on Friday, and took me to and from the race on Saturday. 

Kevin (my friend) lives in the Ballard area, which is a northern suburb of Seattle. Ballard used to be an old fishing village, but has recently become a trendy area because of the Amazon.com headquarters and the younger Amazon employees moving in. 

I arrived late Thursday night. On Friday, I went to the Ballard Market to buy my traditional race breakfast of a bagel, banana, and Gatorade. Then I headed down to Seattle toward the pasta lunch to pick up my shirt. I stopped in at the Hard Rock Café to buy my Seattle shirt on the way. 

The pasta lunch was at Galliano's Cucina located at 16435 Military Road not far from the Seattle airport. I prefer a hamburger for lunch the day before the race, so I opted for the meatball sandwich and sweet potato fries. This was probably not the best dish to get to provide a review of the restaurant, as you can’t do much to hurt or improve a meatball sandwich. It was very good, but nothing to write home about. 

After lunch (and a short stop at Dick’s to get some GUs), I headed back to Ballard. I was pretty tired, so I took a short nap, then decided to go for a walk. I walked over to Green Lake Park. The park has a 3-mile packed gravel loop around it for runners (and bikers). It also had a very nice view of a snow-capped mountain in the distance. 

Near Green Lake was Red Mill Burgers. I decided to try a burger, as I had heard good things about them. They only take cash, so I had to visit an ATM to get some before venturing into the restaurant. The restaurant is small. You order at the counter, and then they call your name when your food is ready. They had a lot of burger options as well as all different flavors of milkshakes. I got the most basic burger and a mint truffle shake. The burger had a “special sauce” which was some sort of mayonnaise based sauce that had a kick to it. I’m not really much of a sauce person, and really don’t like spicy food, so I had to wipe some of the sauce off. I think if I had asked for no sauce, it would have been a delicious burger. 

For dinner, Kevin, his girlfriend Lauren, and I went to my traditional pre-race dinner location, IHOP. Nothing special to report about this place; I think everyone knows how IHOP is. 

After the race on Saturday, Kevin and I went to Chinook’s at Salmon Bay, which is a self-proclaimed casual, high-energy seafood restaurant located in Seattle's Fishermen's Terminal. The tables are set up in a way that every table has a view of the Salmon Bay and the fishing boats. The bread they give you before the meal is excellent. I ordered the halibut taco (less the salsa), which was delicious. I also had the strawberry shortcake with locally grown strawberries – WOW! I don’t think I have ever tasted strawberries so delicious! 

After lunch, we went to downtown Seattle. Seattle has a Smart Car service where you can rent a Smart Car from a suburb and drive it down to the city (and vice verse). They have certain parking spaces reserved for the Smart Cars. This makes it easy to park and relatively cheap to get from the outlying areas to the city. We found one that was close to where we were and drove it down to the city. 

We went to the Space Needle first. Kevin left me to go up on my own, as he had done it plenty of times. It is actually not too expensive to go up there with General Admission (somewhere between $10 and $20). As the weather was clear, there were some beautiful views of the city from the top. 

After the Space Needle, we walked around Seattle and over to the waterfront. We went to the Pike Place Market, where the famous fish mongers are who throw fish to entertain customers.  By the time we arrived, though, the market had already closed (it was about 6:30 or 7pm by that time). We also went to the gum wall, which is exactly what it sounds like – a wall where people stick chewed gum on it. After all that, we took the bus back to Ballard. 

Seattle is a beautiful and interesting city. I really enjoyed my visit (and the only marathon that I will likely ever win)!

Marathon #21 - Rhode Island

I chose this race primarily because of the title sponsor.  I wanted to run the only marathon sponsored by my company.  And I hadn't run one in Rhode Island yet, so off I went.
 
The Race:  Cox Providence Marathon, Providence, RI

My Training Plan:  For this race, I had eight weeks to train after my last marathon.  I didn’t do a lot of speed work.  Pretty much the only speed work I did were some unintended tempo runs where I was running with co-workers who are faster than I am.  I ran four days a week, and my typical week was as follows:  Monday – 6 miles, Tuesday – 8 miles, Thursday – 7 miles, Saturday – long run.  My longest run was a 22-miler three weeks before the race. 

Weather:  The weather was nearly perfect.  It started out in the low 50s and ended in the high 50s.  The skies were partly cloudy, with clouds slowly rolling in (it rained that night).  It wasn’t humid at all, but there were some pretty high wind gusts.  That would be my biggest complaint – the wind.  There were times when I was running with my head down so my hat wouldn’t blow off.

Running Attire:  I wore a custom LIZ shirt with Digeez (Cox’s mascot) running on the back, some purple Nike running shorts, and a purple Nike sports bra.  I also had my yellow Delaware Marathon hat and my iFitness belt.  I wore Asics shoes and Balega socks.  And, as usual, a lot of Body Glide.

 Who I Ran With:  I met a few people along the way, but ran by myself for most of the race.  I started out slow to warm up, and was running with a girl I met at the start named Latisha.  It was her first marathon, so I gave her some tips to use later in the race.  She was pretty much the only person that I ran with for any length of time.

The Course:  The course was beautiful.  We ran along a lot of water and on bike paths.  We passed parks and golf courses.  Some of the roads were a little rough (there are a lot of potholes in the northern states).  There was one road toward the beginning that had a slight bank to it (but it didn’t last long), and there was a small part toward the end where you had to run on an old brick path (or maybe it was cobblestone) and had to watch your footing. 

I don’t know how they got the elevation chart, but I don’t think the second half was very accurate.  The elevation chart basically showed a short uphill and a long downhill between miles 6-9 (which was there), and a mirror of that on the back side (around mile 20).  I did not notice the hills toward the end, except for one hill at mile 22 that was super steep (but not very long – maybe a quarter of a mile).  It just didn’t seem like what I remembered the elevation chart to depict.

Organization:  The organization was excellent.  They kept us informed ahead of time with the appropriate number of emails.  Their website is very good and provides a lot of information you may want to know.  Their facebook page was very informative, and they answered your questions right away.

The expo was smaller than I expected.  It was set up along a hallway inside the conference center.  You picked up your bib on one end, then walked through the hall past all the vendors, to the other end to pick up your shirt.  Pretty smart design, actually, because you had to pass by all the vendors to get the two things you want (bib and shirt).  But they just didn’t have a lot of vendors.  I guess I expected it to be a lot bigger than it was.

The water stations on the course were about every 2 miles, and a little more frequent toward the end.  I felt like they were appropriately spaced and mostly well manned.  There was one spot (around mile 3) where there were some cups and some gallon jugs of water with no one there manning it.  I’m not sure if that was really supposed to be a water station there on the way out.  I think the stuff had just been delivered for the water station at mile 23 (which went past that same place).  The hydration on the course was water (of course) and Gatorade.  The Gatorade was in different flavors at the different water stations.  Over the course of the race, I had blue, yellow, and red Gatorade at different stations.  They also had Boom gels, and after the halfway mark, they had them at almost every water station, along with bananas (cut in half).   There were about two porta-potties at each water station also.

Swag:  The swag wasn’t anything special.  The shirt is a unisex technical shirt.  Both the shirt and the medal did have 26.2 on it, so you can tell you ran the marathon.  The swag bag did have some samples in it that I ate after the race, but nothing special.

The best swag at this race are the free pictures.  They have cameras set up as often as other races, but all of the pictures are completely free to download afterwards if you "Like" the facebook page of the photographer.

Starting Line:  One of my favorite things about this race was an amenity at the starting line.  They had “mobile lockers” that you could rent to put your stuff in.  This is so helpful when you are driving a rental car with a huge set of keys that don’t fit in your running belt, but that you don’t want to leave them in a bag that could potentially be compromised (at the bag check).  The $5 locker was small, but I was able to fit a pair of pants, a light jacket, my rental car keys, and a protein bar.  The starting line also had plenty of porta-potties.

Fans:  The fans were sporadic, but when they were there, they cheered on all the runners (not just the one they came to see).  If you require fan support for motivation, though, I wouldn't choose this race.  As the race is a medium sized race, there are a "medium sized" amount of fans.  So there were plenty of places (especially along the bike trail) where there were no fans.
The runners acted like fans during some of the course, as there seemed to be a lot of little out-and-back shoots off the main course.  There were several times that I high-fived another runner going the opposite direction that I was passing.

Finish Line:  One opportunity for improvement is the finish line.  While the volunteers were fabulous as they put your medal and mylar blanket on and gave you bottled water, they had very limited food choices.  I believe there was Gatorade, bananas and some very unappetizing-looking vegetable wraps.  Other than that, there wasn't much of anything.  And I finished under 4 hours.  So it wasn't like the food was all gone once I got there.  Maybe I just missed it??  That's another thing - there weren't any signs or direction as to where you were supposed to go to get the food.

Results:  3:56:30.  Sub-4.  Rhode Island - check!

How I felt:  I felt pretty good for most of the race.  I started out slow, but then gradually increased my speed until I was practically "racing" the last 20 miles of the race.  I caught up to the 4:30 pace group around mile 10, then the 4:45 group around mile 15, and finally passed the 4:00 pace group around mile 22.  

I've had a nagging hamstring issue the past several marathons.  Sometimes, usually when I go fast (8:00 minute miles or faster), my knee will want to lock up, my leg will start to get numb, and I will lose control of the leg.  (I've been tested for Multiple Sclerosis, but the test came back negative, so I have no idea why my leg does this.)  My leg acted up again in this race, but it wasn't too bad.  It actually started early (around mile 7) when I started running fast and then again around mile 12.  After those episodes, though, I was mostly able to control it through the rest of the race.

Travel/Tourism:  Rhode Island is a beautiful state, and Providence is a nice sized city (not too big, and not too small).  Since the state is small, I could see most of it during the two days I was there.  I flew into Providence airport (not too big - only 20ish gates) and went to my hotel to check in.  

I stayed at the Ramada Seekonk hotel, which was about 15 minutes from downtown and actually located in Massachusetts.  The hotel was a recent purchase of Ramada, and it looked like the room was recently renovated.  I was chosen for an upgrade to an Executive Suite.  My room had an enormous walk-in closet.  I have no idea what any traveler needs with a closet that big, so it seemed like a waste of space to me.  The bathroom was your standard bathroom and was pretty small.  The bed was located toward the back of the room with a door that closed it off from the other part of the room (thus the "suite").   It was nice, but nothing really special.  The hotel had complimentary breakfast, which consisted of cereal, yogurt, waffles that were prepared ahead of time and put into a warmer (I do no suggest this, as the outside of the waffles just get really dry and crunchy), and other pastry/bread type items.  There was also a small gym with two treadmills (among other things).

The Expo was located in the Rhode Island Convention Center.  There is very limited non-paid parking in downtown Providence.  In fact, I had to pay $12 just to pick up my race number (I was probably in there for an hour max) and $13 to park on race day.  There really should be some other option for the runners at least!
 
After picking up my race number, I went to my normal pre-race meal location - the IHOP.  This IHOP was actually the best IHOP I've been to.  It look like it had been either recently built or recently renovated with very modern features, like an area that looks like a bar.  I'm not sure why IHOP would have a bar, but the design was neat anyway.  Both the service and the food were very good.
 
After the race, icing, and a shower, I headed to Newport. For dinner, at the recommendation of co-workers, I ate at The Mooring Seafood Kitchen.  It was delicious, but expensive.  I had the special, which was a salmon over creamed cauliflower with green beans.  They also provide warm bread, which is soft on the inside and slightly crunchy on the outside.  For dessert I had the Devil Dog chocolate cake.



Newport, RI is famous for its cliff walk.  The cliff walk is a paved path along the Atlantic Ocean.  On the non-ocean side of the path are beautiful mansions.  Some are hidden behind a fence and the overgrown greenery (vines, trees, bushes) that grow near the fence, but there are some that are easily seen from the path.  Unfortunately, some of the cliff walk was closed due to construction to repair damage from Hurricane Sandy, but I was still able to get some good pictures.

 

On Monday, my flight was late in the day, so I went to the Cox office to meet some of the co-workers that I work with on a regular basis, but have never met in person.  Our security manager was nice enough to take me around to meet various different people, and then drive me around to see some of the other sights of the state.  We drove our to Narragansett Beach and to the Point Judith Lighthouse.
I'm sure this isn't how it normally is, but when we parked near the lighthouse, the car was smothered by mosquitoes.  I had to wave them all away before getting back into the car, and still some got in. 

 












After the lighthouse, we drove up the coast and back to Providence.  We arrived back at Federal Hill in Providence around lunch time.  Federal Hill is an old Italian community (possibly a meeting place for some Italian families traveling between Boston and NYC back in the day...if you know what I mean.)   For lunch we ate at Andinos Italian Restaurant.  It was very good, authentic Italian food, and not as pricey as the place in Newport.

Although I don't have to return to RI, since I got my sub-4 hour marathon, it is definitely a state I would love visiting again.

Gluten Free April

The challenge for April was to go gluten-free.  I learned a lot during this challenge.  I do not have celiac disease or a gluten allergy, so I wasn’t as strict as I would have to be if I had either of those issues.  If I went out to eat, I would consider myself “gluten free” if I got a burger and just didn’t eat the bun.  In some cases, I would eat foods that were made in a facility with gluten products, so it could have traces of gluten, but no gluten ingredients (Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food ice cream, for example).

People who have celiac disease cannot have any traces of gluten, or it messes up their stomach for months.  A co-worker of mine says she hardly ever goes out to eat, because if the restaurant prepares her food on the same counter as they prepared other food with gluten, she suffers.  Also, I found that a lot of servers and people taking orders at restaurants don’t even know what has gluten and what doesn’t. 

I started out with two mistakes, but after that, I made it the rest of the month with no problems.  It wasn’t easy, by any means, but it was doable.

On April 3^rd, I was walking by one of our Admin’s desks and saw an open box of Samoa Girl Scout cookies.  Not even thinking, I picked up one of the cookies and ate it.  I then went to a meeting, and it wasn’t until I returned to my office that I realized what I had done.  There is no doubt that cookies have gluten in them.  But I was so used to being able to eat them because the month before was vegetarian month, and they don’t have meat.  That was my first fail.

On April 5^th, I was eating dinner at my in-law’s house.  We were having burgers from the grill, fruit salad, and chips.  I knew I could have the fruit salad, because there is no threat of gluten there.  I looked at the Cheetos Puffs bag, and they are gluten free (made from corn instead of wheat).  And I thought that if I ate a burger without a bun, I would be okay.  Well, I like veggie burgers, and had been eating them a lot the previous month for Meatless March, so I brought them along, not even thinking to look to see if they were gluten free.  I mean, they’re veggie burgers…they’re supposed to be healthy, right?  I ate it without the bun.  The next day, I thought to myself…hmm…maybe I should look at the package and see if that burger was gluten free.  Sure enough, they are not.  Second fail.

After those two mistakes, I made a point of looking on every package.  If I was going out somewhere that wouldn’t have a package to look at, I looked it up online. 

I actually traveled for three days for work, and told them about my gluten-free diet.  They were able to accommodate, but I had to constantly ask what was in various foods, as they often forgot and gave me the normal meal.  For example, they gave us boxed lunches to go on the last day.  They supposedly made a gluten-free boxed lunch for me.  But when I opened it up, there was a cookie that was packaged just like everyone else’s.  It may have been gluten free, but it sure didn’t look like it.  So I avoided it, along with the (possibly gluten-free) bread that was on the sandwich just in case.

Kroger was a big help in going gluten free.  They have little brown indicators on all of their price tags that will tell you when the food is gluten free.  I hadn’t really been much of a Greek yogurt fan until this month.  It is much creamier and has way more protein than regular yogurt.  Greek Yogurt was pretty much the only yogurt I could find that was labeled gluten free, and I typically eat yogurt every week day.  Chobani Greek Yogurt is gluten free, and very yummy.

A few great things that I found during this month include Sally’s Bakery and Pamela’s baking mix.  Sally’s Bakery is located on Roswell Road near Whole Foods and not far from I-285.  The Bakery is completely gluten-free, but makes delicious bread, frozen pizza, cupcakes, cookies, cakes, pies, and other goodies.  The bread is very good…the first couple of days.  After that, it starts to smell and taste funny.  The cupcakes were delicious – very moist and chocolaty.  The cookies were okay, but a little too crunchy for my liking.  It is a little pricey, but not too bad.  Pretty much what you would expect if you were buying bread from an actual bakery.

Pamela’s baking mixes was a find at Kroger.  They are located in the Natural Food area of the store and are in black packaging.  I tried the brownie mix.  There are several ways to make it listed on the package, and I made it the fudgy brownie way.  They are the best brownies I have ever tasted!  In fact, going forward, I may just make those instead of regular brownies (for me…I know Rob loves my regular brownies).  I never tried the other baking mixes, but after the delicious brownies, I would be willing to try anything else made by the same company.

Some things that I tried that I didn’t like are gluten free bagels, gluten free pizza (if you like thin crust, it tastes fine, but I prefer thick crust), gluten free bread (after about three days), and gluten free pasta.  Gluten free pasta isn’t bad as long as you cook it about 2-3 minutes less than regular pasta.  I made the mistake of cooking it the same length of time as I normally would, and it was mushy.

So, I had two mistakes in a 30-day month, and I learned a lot.  I would call that a success.  Thankfully, I can let my diet get back to normal, as May is Conscious Cardio month.

Meatless March

I am three months into my month-by-month New Years Resolution challenge.  January was 10 minutes of ab exercises every day, and I managed to do it 28 of the 31 days.  The February challenge was to eat a multivitamin and drink more water every day.  I am still continuing the multivitamin without missing a day yet.

March was by far the hardest challenge.  I love meat.  Filet mignon and hot dogs both make my top five foods list. (I know; there's quite a big difference between the two.) So giving up meat was not easy.  I also had one major trip during this month, which meant I had to find places to eat out that offered vegetarian options.

I found some great recipes online that helped me through the month.  I made a casserole each week, and brought the leftovers in for my lunches at work.  For protein throughout the month, I had a protein breakfast bar most days, yogurt, eggs, skim milk and other dairy products.  I had beans every now and then in my meals as well.

Here are some of the recipes I used:

- broccoli potato bake - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Broccoli-Potato-Bake/Detail.aspx

- spinach pasta casserole - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cheryls-Spinach-Cheesy-Pasta-Casserole/Detail.aspx

- eggplant and tomato bake - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Eggplant-and-Tomato-Bake/Detail.aspx

- asparagus breakfast casserole - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Overnight-Asparagus-Mushroom-Strata/Detail.aspx

I definitely had my share of veggie burgers too.  While it is probably my least favorite one, in a pinch Burger King has a veggie burger.  It is a little too spicy for my taste.  Hard Rock Cafe has one as well, but it had too many red peppers for my liking.  My favorite veggie burger is one I bought at the store and made at home.  It is Morningstar Farms Griller Originals (available at Kroger).

My biggest challenge was eating at the airport in Washington DC before coming home from the marathon.  They didn't have very many vegetarian-friendly places. I ended up at Max and Ermas,where everything on their menu has meat in it (except the desserts).  I had them modify a salad to take off the chicken and add more eggs instead.  It was good, and very big and filling.

Interestingly, I actually gained 7 pounds during this month.  I attribute that to a few different factors.  1) It's Easter candy season, and it's hard to resist Cadberry eggs.  2)  I didn't feel nearly as full after eating a meat-free meal as I do when I eat meat.  3) I think it's a mental thing that if I'm depriving myself of one kind of food, I feel like I have to eat more to get the needed nutrients.

My next challenge will probably be my hardest of the year.  April is gluten-free month.  Wish me luck...

Faith in action

My husband and I have been faithful tithes since we got married six years ago.  As a Christian, we believe that everything we have on earth is just loaned to us by God.  God owns everything, and we are just stewards of those worldly possessions.  Tithing is giving back to God 10% of what he has so generously allowed us to manage here on earth.  We're not rich by any means, but we've always had the money we needed, so I've never had a really good story about the benefits of tithing until now.

Over the past month we have had two snow/ice storms in Georgia.  Usually we might get one snow during a winter, but it doesn't really stick, and it's usually gone by the afternoon.  With the mild winter and the rainy and mild summer last year, I knew this winter would be rough.  We have already had two shut-the-state-down snow storms, and there may be more to come before it's all over.

When a snow storm shuts the state down, both of our offices close too.  For me, I'm salaried and I can work from home, so I don't miss anything.  But for Rob, who is hourly and can't bring work home, if he doesn't go to the office, he doesn't get paid.  For four days over the past month, Rob's office was closed, so we were losing money.  

With the increased cost of healthcare this year, as well as general inflation cost, we were already on a tight budget.  I've been trying to cut corners where I can by making more meals at home, because eating out was one of our big monthly expenses.  We knew we were going on a cruise for vacation this year, and had saved and planned for it already (along with the help of our cruise points from our credit card).

We open our mail once a month when I pay all the bills all at one time.  This morning I opened our mail so I could pay bills on the plane on the way to Miami for the cruise.  In the mail, was a check from our mortgage company for the exact amount we had estimated that we were losing from the four days our offices were closed.  To top it off, we usually have to pay extra for our escrow account, so I had already budgeted for that expense.  So now, we have the cash we needed, and we have one less expense.  All I could think was, "God is so good."

If we are faithful to God, he will be faithful to us.  He will provide for all our needs.

January resolution

Well, the month of January 2014 has come and gone.  In those 31 days, my resolution was to do ten minutes of abs every day.

How did it go?  For 28 of the 31 days, I did it.  So I didn't 100% meet the goal, but I did a pretty good job.  Seeing as at least one month of the yearhas only 28 days, I would call that a success.

Where did I fail?  Two of the days I missed was when I was traveling to do the back-to-back marathons.  I missed that Friday, because I got up early and drove to Mississippi, and then just forgot to do it at the end of the day when we finally got to our hotel.  The second time was after the two marathons when I was driving back from Mobile and didn't get in until 10pm.  The third time, I just forgot.  This was a day that Rob was out of town.  I hadn't gone to the gym that morning because it was a weekend, and I just totally forgot at the end of the day.

How did I do it?  There are several aspects to this question.  The first aspect is "when did I find time?" On days that I went to the gym, I did my ten minutes at the gym.  When I didn't go to the gym, I did my ten minutes in my room before bed.  The best thing about a goal of doing ten minutes of abs a day is that you can really do it anywhere.

The second aspect of the "how did I do it" question is what ab workouts I used.  I have found several workouts apps that work very well.

My favorite app is the Workouts app (pictured in the middle of the top row above).  If you search for "workouts" in the App Store, it will most definitely come up.  This app is great for ab workouts.  It provides two different workouts and three different time options (5 mins, 8 mins, or 10 mins).  The video shows you exactly how to do it and the voice will tell you when to switch exercises.  Bonus is that it me also has arm, butt, leg, and cardio workouts too.

My second favorite workout app is the Workout for Women app.  It is similar to the workouts app, but doesn't show you a video of the workout.  Instead it shows a picture (in dynamic mode) and describes the exercise for you.  The voice also talks you through when you're supposed to change exercises and lets you know when you only have 5 seconds left.

I also used the Ab Workout X, which is the men's alternative to the Workout for Women app.  It lets you download videos of the workouts, but for some reason, they never work for me.

The last one I used was the V Abs Free app.  I rarely used this one, though, because it was my least favorite.

Typically I would switch around which workout I would do.  So one day I would use one of the ab workouts in the Workouts app.  The next day I would do the Workouts for Women app.  The next day I would do the second ab workout in the Workouts app. And the fourth day I would do the Ab Workout X, etc.  switchi them up seemed to help keep it from becoming boring.

I will continue to do abs, but probably not every day.  I hope to continue it at least three to four times a week.

February is my multivitamin month.  Along with that, I am going to try to drink more water.  On to the next adventure.

The Runs: Marathon #19 - Alabama

As I said in my last blog, Alabama became my 19th state because a fellow 50-Stater convinced me to try marathons on back-to-back days, and Mississippi/Alabama actually had an official back-to-back event (complete with a shirt and plaque) that logistically allowed for the races to be run in the same weekend very easily.  Even though the race cities are 188 miles apart (about a 3-hour drive), the Alabama race expo stayed open until 9pm so back-to-backers had time to get between the cities and pick up their race packets.

This would have been a great race if it weren't for the free pasta buffet at the expo.  There was something in the buffet that made more than a dozen runners (that I talked to) end up with food poisoning.  I was up most of the night Saturday night, every hour (from about midnight on), in the bathroom.  My roommate and I were basically alternating.  I was in there, then she was in there.  I don't think either one of us got much sleep.

When we got to the start line area (after stopping at a gas station for some Imodium), we discussed with some other runners and found out that a lot of the other runners had the same problem.  Everyone who we talked to who had the stomach issues had eaten at the pasta buffet at the expo.

The Race:  Servis1st First Light Marathon, Mobile, AL, January 12, 2014.

My Training Plan:  Since this was the second of two races on consecutive days, I had no time to train in between races.  So my training plan was the same as the one for the Mississippi race, which was explained in my last blog.

Weather:  The weather started out cold - low 40s - but ended up quite nice - mid-50s.  It was sunny with a very light wind.

Running Attire:  It always frustrates me when the weather changes from long pants/long-sleeved shirt weather to shorts/t-shirt weather over the course of a marathon.  I never know what to wear.  I ended up wearing running tights and a long sleeved shirt with a t-shirt underneath.  I got warm by around mile 3, but stuck it out until my first porta potty stop at around mile 5 (I can't believe I made it to mile 5 before having to stop- more on that later).  While I was stopping anyway, I took off the long-sleeved shirt and tied it around my waist.  I also completely discarded my gloves that I was wearing, which I regretted a little later when we got into a cool, shady spot a little further down the course.

Who I Ran With:  This time around, I was mostly by myself, although I ran with a few people for short parts of the race.  Toward the beginning, I ran with a fellow Marathon Maniac who was carrying a tambourine on his back.  I also ran with a guy from Nashville off and on for a few miles toward the end.

The Course:  Don't come to Mobile expecting a flat race.  The course wasn't nearly as hilly as Jackson the previous day, but it wasn't flat either.  The first 10 miles or so were rather flat, with very minor hills here and there.  But miles 10 through 20 had some decent rolling hills.  There are two hills throughout that span that are pretty significant.  I believe the first was around mile 11 where it goes straight up into a neighborhood.  There was another hill in mile 14 that was memorable.  Mile 18 is around the botanical gardens and has a huge hill which also includes a heavily banked curve.  Running straight up, around a curve, on a slanted road was probably my least favorite part.

The roads in Mobile are much better than Jackson, although there were some parts where the asphalt looked like they took gravel and glued it all together.  There was almost always a spot on the road that was flat enough to run on without fear of IT band issues in your future.  Sometimes, however, this was in the inner lane of a four lane road where the coned off lane they wanted you to run in was slightly more slanted, but the traffic was light enough that you could run right around the cones on the flatter part of the road and still feel safe (if that makes sense).

As far as scenery goes, there really isn't anything memorable.  There were some nice neighborhoods, a college campus, and the botanical gardens, but nothing that really stood out.

Organization:  The organization for this race was good.  I say good, because for the most part, the race was great, but there were some water stops that didn't seem to have enough volunteers, and because my mind is tainted by the contaminated pasta bar.  The thing that really got me was after the race, the race director was asking us how it went, and we told him about the stomach issues with the pasta bar.  He completely denied responsibility and basically told us that is wasn't the expo food that made us sick.  In fact, the initial email that I got back from him after the race when I reported it said that they weren't even going to look into it further because they determined that it was a virus and not connected to the food.

******* Soap Box *******
A virus??  Really?!?  That is a ridiculous assessment!  There is no way that that many people from so many different areas of the country could have contracted a virus in that short of a time frame if it wasn't connected to the food.  We had only gotten into town an hour before going to the expo.  Viruses take time before the symptoms show.  Every person that I talked to that got sick, ate at the expo.

(Note that after I reported it to the Alabama health department, they seemed to take it a little more seriously and sent out a survey to all runners to find out how many were affected.)
******** Stepping off Soap Box.  Back to your regular race review *********

The expo was very small, but that's to be expected from a race that only has about 1,200 runners.  The volunteers were great, and it was easy to navigate through the expo with the signage and volunteer instructions.

I mentioned earlier that the back-to-back was an official event.  They even had a sign at the expo that listed the names of all the runners that were doing both marathons.  I think there were about 150-200 that were doing it.  I was very impressed by the little extra touches they put into welcoming the back-to-back runners.

The water stops were spaced out well.   I think they had Powerade instead of Gatorade, which made me very happy.  I don't like lemon-lime (which seems to be the signature flavor at every race), but the Powerade lemon-lime is a lot better tasting than the Gatorade version.  There were even some stations that had different flavors.  I got red at one of them.

They also had two porta potties at every water station, which probably would have been more than enough if there wasn't the food poisoning issue going on.  My roommate said that she had to stand in several long lines to wait for porta potties along the course.  I didn't have as bad of a time.  I had to wait for the first one, but the second one I stopped at was open.

I mentioned that there were some aid stations that didn't seem to be fully staffed.  There was one that I had to grab the cup off the table myself.  The first one that had food (bananas and some other things), I didn't even know there was food until I was already passed it - there wasn't anyone actually handing the food out.  They were just sitting on a table.  At the second one that had bananas, I had to ask for a banana, and one of the volunteers went to the table to get it for me.  The third one with food (mile 18, I think) was very well staffed and had just about anything you could want (gummy bears, M&Ms, pretzels, bananas, oranges), although I don't remember if they had gels.

Another opportunity for improvement is the pre-race communications.  The emails that went out before the race were a little confusing, as it had registration information at the top of it.  It made me wonder if I had forgotten to register.  The website, however, did offer a little more information than the Mississippi website.

One thing I can't forget to mention is that this race is not chip timed.  This is the first marathon I've done that isn't chip timed.  The race is very small, so it doesn't take much time to get from the very back of the start line to the actual start, but if you're looking for every second, you may want to start toward the front.

The race course was well marked out.  There wasn't a single time that I didn't know where to go.  At the cross streets the police were good about ensuring the runners had priority over the cars.  Although it is not a closed course, I never felt unsafe or unsure of where I was going.

Swag:  One of my favorite things about smaller races is the swag.  For whatever reason, the smaller races always have better swag than the big, expensive races.  This race had your typical (long-sleeved unisex) technical shirt.  The medal was handmade by the organization who benefits from the proceeds of the race.  It's not fancy, but has such a nice personal touch.

The back-to-back runners got some additional swag.  We got another long-sleeved unisex technical shirt with the back-to-back logo and the two states.  We also got a plaque that was handmade by someone from the same organization that benefits from the race.  On the back, it has more information and a picture of the person that made the plaque.

Starting Line:  The starting line was right in front of the Holiday Inn.  I highly recommend the Holiday Inn as your hotel if you decide to do this race.  It is so convenient to both the expo and the race start.  It is also easy to find your way back to the hotel from the finish line, since the building is easy to spot from a distance.  The runners were able to hang around in the lobby to stay warm before the start.

The start was very low-key.  They didn't have an arch that you run under or anything like most races.  There were some banners on the side of the road (the same banners that directed you to the expo the day before), and a chalk line on the road that indicated where the actual start was.

Fans:  Fans are lacking at this race.  While there were fans here and there along the course, there really weren't a lot of them.  But if you come to a race of a thousand runners expecting to see huge crowds of people, you have the wrong idea anyway.  The fans that were out did seem to cheer for all the runners instead of just looking for their runner.

Finish Line:  For a low-key, small race, I was impressed by the finish line.  They had an announcer cheering for the runners as they came in and calling out the times.  The photographers were at the finish to get that shot of the runner crossing the finish line.  They did the old-school tracking of runners by tearing off the bottom of the bib as you went through the finish shoot.

As far as hydration and food goes, they had cups of water and Powerade at the end.  They also had a buffet line with barbecue sandwiches, red beans and rice, and coleslaw (although I was very hesitant to eat any of it after the food poisoning issue from the food the prior day).  They also had oranges, bagels, and toast.

There was a little concert going on when I was going through the food line, but I couldn't tell if it was an official concert or if it was just some guy who set up shop and was playing his guitar and singing.

The thing I was most happy about was that the medical truck had Pepto-Bismol.  Isn't that sad?  The thing I remember being the happiest about (other than my time) was the anti-diarrhea medicine!

Results:  3:55:05 - Yeah, that's right:  I did a sub-4 hour marathon with food poisoning the day after running a marathon.  I never thought that would be possible!  Maybe I should do 26-mile easy training runs the day before every marathon.

How I felt:  Well, you've already heard about the food poisoning stomach issues.  I won't go into the gory details, but I did have to visit the porta potty at around mile 5 and again at mile 18.  I was actually surprised that I didn't have to go more often after the night I had, but I guess the Imodium worked well for me.

Other than stomach cramping along the course, I felt pretty good.  I did have my tendinitis issue start to bother me around mile 8, but it didn't flare up as bad as it had the day before.  At that point, I decided that I was going to run every even mile all-out and use ever odd mile as a recovery mile.  The strategy paid off, as I was really able to focus on one mile at a time instead of thinking about how much further I had to still run.  By the end of the race, my "all-out" was probably much slower than at first, but I felt good enough to do the last two miles at a pretty good pace.

Travel/Tourism:  I wasn't in Mobile long enough to really tell you much about the tourism of the city.  This was my second visit to Mobile and my third visit to the area.  I visited Mobile back in 1999 when ECU played TCU in a bowl game there.  From what I remember, Mobile is supposedly the city to hold the first Mardi Gras, and there was a lot of Mardi Gras stuff around this time (Christmas tree decorated in Mardi Gras colors, a Mardi Gras mask on a sign at one of the water stops, etc.).

Like I mentioned before, if you are coming for the race, I would recommend the Holiday Inn from a location standpoint, as it seemed to be the best location for both the start and expo.  I can't say for sure how nice the rooms are, since we didn't stay there.  But the lobby area was nice.

We stayed at the Wingate by Wyndham, which was nice and pretty accommodating.  They are about 15 minutes (5 miles or so) from the expo/start area and are right off the interstate.  They allowed us to have a 2pm checkout, and didn't push us too hard to get out by 2 when we were still finishing getting ready.  They have an airport shuttle, so my roommate was able to take that back to the airport.

Mobile is an easy drive from Atlanta.  The normal drive time (if you aren't stopping due to food poisoning or to stretch your legs after running two marathons) is about 5 and a half hours, and it's all interstate.  I was driving on a Sunday afternoon/evening, so I can't say what traffic would be like during normal time, but I didn't have any traffic problems.

I didn't use the airport, but my roommate did, so I know there is one that at least has some sort of flight toward San Diego.  I have no idea how big the airport is or how easy it is to get in and out though.

Overall, I really enjoyed my back-to-back experience, although I wish I had more time to explore the cities and states where I was running.  At least exploring a city for 26 miles on foot is a pretty good way to see the immediate area.   And between the two - Jackson or Mobile - I would choose Mobile in a heartbeat.

*******************Update since posting**************************
Since this post was first published, a few things have happened.

The race director sent out a mass email to all participants with a survey from the health department to find out how many runners were affected by the pasta dinner issue.

The race director called me personally to reassure me that they were taking the complaints from the runners seriously.  He mentioned that my email to him was one of the first he had gotten about the incident, and he wasn't prepared to answer questions at that time, as they didn't have any definitive information and were just starting to investigate.  Apparently, there was a virus going around Mobile the same time as the race that had similar symptoms, and some people from the Mobile area who had not eaten at the pasta bar were getting those symptoms as well.  They were trying to figure out if they were two different incidents or the same incident.

The health department is actively investigating to find out of it was the fault of the expo vendor or perhaps a manufacturer that they used to purchase ingredients for the pasta dinner.

With the race director's attention to this and his reassurance that they were taking it seriously, I feel a lot better about the organization of the race, and believe this will likely not happen in the future.