Two Weeks, One Day...

Two weeks from tomorrow, and I hope that by this time on that day, I will have long crossed that glorious finish line.  Medal proudly worn as I earned that! 

Tomorrow is my last long walk before the race.  This should give me ample time to continue my short walks, and some shorter long walks, yet not completely fatigue myself before the big day.  One thing I will be doing is making sure I am more healthy before going into the race. 

Let's go on a trip back to late August of this year...
I spent one week living as a human test subject in a sleep laboratory for an area university to study effects of fatigue on mental processing. Yes, I got paid for this, and fairly well.  To be honest, this whole experience should just be blogged sometime.  Eating was a huge issue while in this lab.  All things were controlled, down to what we could eat and when.  I have some food allergies and preferences, so I have learned that if I have to let someone else feed me, I am safest by telling that person I eat a vegan diet.  Truthfully, I have a severe dairy and hazelnut allergy, and avoid most meats, but I do eat fish.  So while residing in the laboratory, everyone was fed microwave dinners.  I cook about 85% from scratch, so eating so much processed food for this week was terribly difficult!  I was barely eating.  I am used to whole foods and having fruit and vegetables at every meal.  I can go into the ugly details, but I will spare you.  What I will say is that by the end of this experience, I had a horrible electrolyte imbalance, and would cramp so bad that you could watch my muscles clamp down and contort my legs, down to my feet and toes.  I also had trouble eating.  I needed my whole foods.  I needed more protein.  I needed more produce.  I just couldn't consume enough to be making a total difference right away.  And one week after getting out of the sleep lab, I was doing my first half marathon.  Yes, you can say it.  Even I will say it, "Idiot!"  I swear I do not have a death wish, lol.

This time is different!  I am not doing a sleep study prior to the race.  Eating is no problem when Thanksgiving is just days before the race.  I will not be running at such a horrible nutritional deficit going into the race.  I will not pretend I have some perfect diet, trust me, I love some mac and cheese (well, my vegan version of it) and pizza.  Oh and pasta!  I LOVE pasta!  I will make sure to pay attention to my hydration and electrolyte needs.  And most of all, protein and fresh veggies and fruit will not be forgotten.  I feel that this will help me significantly in my race.

Two weeks one day and counting down...