Right now, I am smack dab in the middle of two back-to-back weekend trips to Iowa. Last Friday, Aaron and I drove about 7 and a half hours to Waukon, which is in the Northeast corner of the state, so that I could be in one of my very best friend's wedding. Lacey (pictured, along with her new husband and me, playing the air fiddle to "The Devil Went Down to Georgia") was my roommate when I lived in Hastings a few years ago. We had some crazy times together and stood by each other during some rough spots. Even though we don't get to see each other very often anymore, she is still one of the best friends I've ever had. I wish her happiness in her new life with Matt.
Alamakee County, Iowa is a beautiful place - especially, I suspect, in the fall. We drove over hills and through valleys covered with trees of all colors. We went through cute little towns and over winding rivers. The park, where the wedding party took pictures on Saturday, was beautiful, too, except for the fact that we were in strapless dresses in 35 degree weather. Brrrr!!! Not to worry, though, I'm sure the photographer can photoshop the blue lips! After a whirlwind Saturday, full of hair appointments, pictures, wedding, reception, pie, and dancing, we headed back to the great state of Nebraska.
And ... I woke up Monday morning with the flu, which still hasn't gone away, and which I'm still trying to convince myself isn't the H1N1 (I'm almost positive it's NOT). This is very inconvenient because it puts a bit of a damper on the upcoming Iowa weekend... I have plans to run the Des Moines 1/2 Marathon on Sunday. I've been taking good care of myself, I think, with lots of rest (I stayed home all day Monday and since then have been leaving the house only to go to class, then come straight home again), lots of fluids, soup, etc. The thing I'm unsure about is what to eat... I sent a blog post from the No Meat Athlete (a marathon runner who just qualified for Boston) to all of my Des Moines-running Peeps, which said that you're supposed to eat a little less fat and a few more healthy carbs the whole week before the race. I have been eating less fat, I think, but doubt I've been eating more carbs, or food in general, than I normally do. If this were a normal week before a 1/2, I would probably up my calorie intake by about 200 per day, just to be sure I'm fueling well for the race. But this week, all I'm doing is laying around, so I haven't been increasing my intake any. I wonder if this is a big deal??? (Probably not.)
So, the Peeps caravan (plus Aaron, who is an honorary Peep) will be leaving for Des Moines on Saturday morning, checking into the hotel, picking up our race numbers and packets, probably walking around the pre-race expo for a while, then having a nice pasta dinner and getting to bed early. And Sunday morning is the race. My #1 goal is to start and finish the race. Second to that, I'd like to beat my previous 1/2 Marathon time. Anything beyond that, and I'll be ECSTATIC!!! : ) My #1 job between now and then??? GET HEALTHY! (Oh, and do a little homework, too.)
Good luck to all Des Moines runners, and to all of my Peeps doing the Governor's Run in Lincoln this weekend!
Oh, and expect a post-race recap next week -- hopefully with pictures!
Posts
Looks like you had a blast last weekend in Iowa. Here's to another one this weekend. You CAN do all that ... and more!
ReplyDeleteThanks!!! You, too! : ) I'm looking forward to finishing this one TOGETHER!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link! The most important thing is that you do whatever it takes to feel better as soon as you can. And it sounds like you're doing that.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about eating extra calories; a lot of people don't do that part anyway because they find that with tapering, they aren't doing as much activity. And like you said, it's even more extreme in your case since you're sick.
Good luck in the race!