Mom in the Mtns

Hi everyone!  Can you believe there’s less than 2 weeks until the Zion Half Marathon?  I can’t either!  Here’s what happened this week.  Note:  I was not only incredibly busy and stressed at work this week, I also had some kind of stomach issues going on.  And the ice situation became intense.  But I survived!

Hey, at least I can kind of see the parking lot lines again!

Monday:  I was recovering from my accidental 7 miler from last Sunday so it was a rest day.

Tuesday:  I haven’t even mentioned this on my blog yet, but on Tuesday I started coaching Girls on the Run!  More info will obviously be shared in upcoming blog posts, but basically it’s a program for 3-5 grade girls that has lessons on life skills and then some “running” (can be walking, skipping, whatever!) to prep for a 5k at the end of the 12 week program.  I was sooooo nervous considering the fact that I decided to volunteer last Friday and barely knew what was going on!  But it was a blast and my group and co-coach were so incredible.  It’s going to be an awesome season!  Afterwards I treated myself to some yoga at home.

Wednesday:  I had high hopes for today, but after getting home from work my stomach started hurting like crazy.  I skipped working out which was probably for the best because I spent half of the night awake in pain and trying not to throw up.  Fun times.

Thursday:  I almost called out of work because my stomach still hurt and I was so sleep deprived.  After work I still felt awful but I pulled it together to teach my Girls on the Run lesson.  I got to run a bunch of laps with them and had a blast!  I definitely had to skip my workout though.

Friday:  45 minutes on the treadmill with 4:1 intervals.  Finally!

Saturday:  I’ve been looking forward to Saturday ever since moving to Alaska because it was the start of Fur Rendezvous!  It’s a week long winter celebration with tons of crazy events (like outhouse races and fur auctions and The Running of the Reindeer) and it ends with the ceremonial start of the Iditarod!  Sadly because we have no snow they’re brining some in for the “start” and then instead of doing the restart in Willow they’re moving it all the way up to Fairbanks!  It only had to be moved due to snow one other time (about 10 years ago) but last year it was so dangerous with the low snow conditions that they didn’t want to do that again.  Anyways, my students and I were participating in the Fur Rondy parade and we spent a ton of time running around to keep warm and then walked the parade route waving and cheering!  I’ve never been in a parade before and it was so much fun!  My coworker’s Fitbit said she walked 10,000 steps in like 2 hours so I’m thinking that I got a pretty good workout in.

Sunday:  Despite the fact that I missed a run due to stomach issues this week, I was still on for a 10 miler.  This was my last long run of the training and I just wanted it to go well.  I thought I did everything right – I got the perfect amount of sleep, hydrated a lot, and had some carbs for lunch.  I went to Planet Fitness to get it done and it was going really well for a while.  At the halfway point I was still feeling really good and I even started to think about how I was going to post about my final long run going well and how I was so ready to rock the Zion Half.  Until my treadmill randomly cleared itself when I went to refill my water bottle, and I had no idea how much farther to go.  I guessed about 2 miles, but it was taking me forever to get there.  My legs and hips felt fine but I was starting to feel really nauseous and dizzy despite fueling up with my usual Sport Beans.  I ran until I finished those final 2 miles, and then walked to the bathroom and immediately threw up.  I have never thrown up after running and it was so incredibly embarrassing to be doing it in a public bathroom where I could hear other people getting ready to work out!  I couldn’t even think about how embarrassed I was though because I was blacking out and could barely see and I had no way to get home except for driving myself so I was really scared.  I eventually stopped throwing up and after talking to my husband I felt okay enough to drive home.  I then spent all night laying on the couch trying not to puke again.  The craziest part?  My legs felt fine and I could have kept going if it weren’t for how nauseous I felt!  Something is either still off from earlier this week or I drank/ate something wrong earlier in the day.  Whatever it is, I hope that won’t happen during the half!  This is literally how I feel right now:

A mixture of pain, fear that I’m going to puke again, and pride that I got through a 10 miler without destroying my hips.  What a crazy training cycle this has been!

This week was really…weird.  I’m hoping that next week will go well.  My taper run is 6 miles and I’m hoping I can get it done outside because I really don’t want to deal with the treadmill again.  I’m so close to the race and even though I’m more freaked out than ever about how prepared I am, I’m so excited to go to Utah!

Keeping my eye on the prize!

I also wanted to clarify a few things from my Friday Five post from last week.  I’m so glad I got to teach you all more about Alaska, but there are some questions that I got from a lot of people and I wanted to clear some things up:

2.  The main reason why we don’t have a lot of highways is that most people in Alaska live in Anchorage, and Anchorage is surrounded by mountains and water.  They were able to make a few highways heading north and south to some populated areas, but the areas that don’t have highway access just aren’t very populated or can’t physically have a road that leads there.  Mountains and winter weather conditions are a big obstacle when building roads!  And that ferry that I was talking about taking to Juneau vs. flying actually takes a day and a half to get there.  Those of you who said you wanted to take that instead of flying may want to rethink your choice if you hate boats as much as I do.  And just to remind you of the size of Alaska, here is a website that will show you how big the state is in comparison to yours!

3.  Here’s the website that lists the earthquakes we get each day.  For the record, every other state on the fault line has similar websites with similar too-tiny-to-fell earthquakes all day long.  People in California, Oregon, and Washington – prepare to totally freak out.

Thanks for taking the time to learn more about my awesome state!  I hope you all have a great week of running ahead of you!

Have you ever had the last long run before a race go terribly wrong?  When is the last time you got sick while running?  Please tell me I’m not alone here!