No Practice Makes Perfect: How I'll Run a Half Marathon with Zero Training

If you've been keeping up with my blog, you know I've been battling plantar fasciitis for over 6 months now. My podiatrist has administered 2 cortisone shots and I'm still in pain. I've also been seeing an acupuncturist and chiropractor regularly.

Still in pain. Less pain, but it's there.

I have yet to run this month.

In fact, I haven't run in over 2 weeks.  

My next half marathon is in less than 3 weeks.

Now, I haven't been a complete slug. Admittedly,  my nutrition has been spotty, I'm an emotional eater, but I've done better at consistently fasting for at least 16 hours a day. Also, I've done a nice job of working on strengthening my arms and back. I've kept up with my cardio, my husband's rowing machine, and thrown yoga in the mix a few times.  Sleep and I are getting along again (I suffer from adrenal fatigue). Hell, I've even taken to napping on the weekends.

So, can it be done?  Can I successfully run a half marathon without logging any miles or at least a minimal amount, the month prior? 

This half marathon was supposed to be all about time and pace unlike my last one which was about just getting it done. Sigh.

I think I'm going to need to find a way to push myself into leaving it all out on the course. Thankfully, it is flat and fast so my feet shouldn't get too beat up. I'm just itching to get out there and do more than "just get it done."

This will likely be my last big race for awhile as my family is getting ready to make some big changes.

I want to make it a memorable one.

How I Gave Myself High Cholesterol and It Saved My Life

I am not a doctor or a nurse or any kind of medical professional. I am simply a mom who was fat, unhealthy and staring down the barrel of developing a chronic disease like diabetes, cancer or heart disease.

When I decided I'd had enough and it was time to go back to bring low-carb and exercising again I knew it would affect my annual blood test numbers but I never knew how much until my primary care physician and nutritionist explained it to me.

Before I jump into those numbers let me tell you what changes I made. Keep in mind that none of this was done all at one time. I took baby steps and slowly changed my unhealthy ways.

First, I stopped drinking coffee and soda. I was up to 2 cups of coffee and a can of soda every day and I was still tired. I was also starting to get horrible stomach pains and thought maybe I was developing ulcers.  I decided that when I had reached a week of not drinking either than I could have one. Well, the first time I drank a coffee in a week I had instant stomach pains!  I was shocked. So I'd go another week and the same thing kept happening. Now, I did the same thing with my beloved red wine. I'd have a glass every night before bed to relax. I decided to cut it out for a week. Well, the first time I had 2 glasses at night I ended up vomiting in my sleep!  Talk about scary.

After I made those initial changes, I went back to following a low-carb/high fat diet. I started out at zero carbs per day to get my body back into ketosis so it would start burning fat for fuel instead of glycogen.

I was starting to feel better. The stomach pains happened less frequently as did the migraine headaches but I knew it wasn't enough. In May, I stumbled upon a theory called intermittent fasting.

I'm not going to lie, it was tough in the beginning and my stomach rumbled like crazy, but after a few days it seemed natural to me to eat my first meal later in the day. By fasting for 16 hours a day, I was able to loose 15 pounds rather quickly plus I was also allowing my stomach and gut to heal.

By July, my weight had stalled out and the migraines had come back. The last straw was when I had back to back debilitating migraines. Nothing I used got rid of them. I finally decided enough was enough and it was time to exercise again. Prior to my pregnancy I had worked out 5 days a week doing cardio and weights for about 10 years. Once I got pregnant that all but stopped. I got to the gym when I had the energy. I also did a session of pre-natal yoga. Of course, once I had my daughter I couldn't put her down long enough to exercise (that was just as much her fault as mine).  

Nearly 3 years after her birth, that attitude needed to change.

Long story short, I started running. Started out just going for time but quickly changed it to distance. Much to my chagrin I ran a mile straight for the first time in my life at the age of 37.

I felt great.

My body needed it so bad that I automatically started waking up early with energy to burn so I'd jump on the treadmill.

Who the hell was I?  

Those are all of the changes I made from January to July of 2015. How did they affect my blood test numbers?   Well, let me show you.

Disclaimer:  I am not a medical professional.  I definitely don't play one on TV.  Please, if you have medical concerns talk to your doctor.  

10 Miles of Pain or the NH 10 Miler

Let me just start by saying I have plantar fasciitis. I won't go into what it is now, you can find more information HERE, other than to say it causes an incredible amount of pain in your heels.  To find relief, I have tried all of the conservative methods of treatment (rest, ice and compression to name a few).  I've also been seen by a podiatrist who gave me 2 cortisone shots, one for each foot, an acupuncturist and a chiropractor.

I'm still in a fair amount of pain.

So being the smahty pants that I am, I decided I would be fine to run the New Hampshire 10 Miler, one of the hilliest races around.  If you remember I did a practice run with my Mom's Run This Town group and thought it was great, tough, but doable.  It helped that it was a relatively cool morning.  I really felt like this practice run gave me my mojo back.  What I didn't like is that it brought me down this crazy road of foot problems with no relief in sight.

Sigh.

Onwards and upwards, right?  After doing everything I could this month to ease my foot pain, I spent the week before this race prepping just like I would, hydrating and eating the right foods.  I woke up at 6:45 am on the morning of the race feeling calm, cool and collected.  The nice part about going into a race with an injury is your expectations are really, really low.  I wasn't going to PR.  My goal #1 was to just get it done.  Goal #2 was to avoid further injury.

I succeeded in both those goals.

I started out feeling great.  I was trying to keep to an 11 mm even though I knew I could have cranked it up a notch.  I had to keep some energy for those killer hills and I didn't want to risk injury early on.  I was afraid if I really pushed my speed, my Achilles would give out.  It was definitely aching by the end.

 I made sure to wave a friendly "hello" to every face I recognized from my running group and gave out words of encouragement when I saw one struggling.  For most of the race, I was able to get in the zone and just enjoy the ride as I like to describe it.  It's a beautiful thing to just enjoy running.

Then the hills hit.  The worst is at mile 4.  I didn't even try to run it.  I just walked.  My body and my foot needed it.  My game plan was to hit every water stop and dump it on my head.  It was hot at the 9 am start, 72 degrees and climbed to 80 by the time I was done.  Thankfully, the humidity was low so I wasn't miserably uncomfortable.

I hit the 5 mile split at 1:02:21 and was pleased with my time.  My best 5 miler time was 54 minutes at the Boston's Run to Remember which was flat and I just had fun with.  All things considered, being 8 minutes behind that wasn't terrible.

Thankfully, most of the second half of the race was in the shade.  The hard part for me at this point was my body felt great, I had fueled properly and I was hydrated, but my foot was starting to scream in pain.  By mile 7, I was overjoyed that I just had a 5K left, but I was really having to slow down because the pain was only getting worse.  There was a nice downhill around this time too that I would have loved to sprint down, but my foot wasn't having it.  It was a fight all the way down.  Last time I ran this, I lost my left hip and quad.  I didn't want to suffer that pain again as it through out my back in the process.

Like I mentioned, it was a burning hot day, with low humidity thankfully.  As always, I packed my hydration pack backpack which holds 2 liters of water.  It was so hot and the course was so hilly that this was the first time I'd ever drained it!  I still can't believe I drank 2 liters of water that day!

The last 2 miles were in the sun, up a hill and there was a crazy amount of traffic going by including about 100 motorcycles.  The race traffic got so tight that if the person in front of you was walking then you were too because there was no room to pass.  I ran most of the last mile and even turned on my Facebook Live to stream myself going over the finish line.


I wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone who supported me in the last few weeks while trying to heal myself.  I feel like it was a group effort to get me across it so I wanted everyone to experience that finish with me.  Getting all the extra encouragement floating across my stream while I ran was great too and lead me to a strong finish.

My daughter waiting to cheer me on.

I was especially thankful to my husband who insisted on driving me there because he was afraid I wouldn't be able to drive myself home with my injured foot.  As always, I love seeing him and my daughter at the finish line.  It is something that I look forward to the whole race.  My 3 year old even gave me a butterfly tattoo that morning so I could think of her while I ran.  It brought a smile to my face when I looked at it.  I'm sure I looked like a loon to the other runners.

Overall, this wasn't the worst race that I've ever run.  I'm proud for getting it done even though, in retrospect, I shouldn't have done since it will set me back in my recovery process.  But I'm a stubborn Irish woman who makes a commitment and sees it through.  As usual, I'm trying not to beat myself up over the fact that the rest of my body felt great and just wanted to RUN.  My mind and body HATED having to walk, but I had to play it smart and safe to get it done.  Besides, I got a really sweet medal at the end.

15 Deliciously Low Carb Casserole Recipes

Fall is almost here!  Can you believe it?  I feel like I was just planning our summer adventures yesterday.

Now it's time for cozy sweatshirts, bright, colorful leaves, pumpkin picking and casseroles.  Casseroles?  Yes, this time of the year tends to be incredibly busy for parents.  The easiest dinners I know how to make that don't involve my crock-pot are casseroles.  I love being able to just toss a bunch of ingredients in a baking dish to cook in the oven while I get other things done.

Back to School shopping with my new Preschooler!

  My daughter is entering preschool this fall so I know there will be some activities and skills that we'll need to reinforce at home so that will eat up our free time.  If I can spend just a few less minutes standing at the stove then I'll do it.  For me, the answer is casseroles!  

And without further adieu, here is a round-up of 15 deliciously low carb casseroles!

• Grain-Free Chicken Enchilada Casserole
• Paleo Cauliflower Hamburger Casserole
• Smoked Gouda Cabbage and Bacon Casserole 
• Philly Cheesesteak Casserole 
• Spiralized Zucchini Casserole 
• Not Mac and Cheese 
• Spinach Artichoke Egg Casserole 
• Roasted Cauliflower Beef Marinara 
• Primal Pizza Pie Layer Casserole 
• Creamy Chicken Mushroom Casserole 
• Chicken Stella Scarpariello 
• Easy Baked Pesto Chicken 
• Cheesy Bacon Brussel Sprouts Casserole 
• Beefy and Cheesy Low Carb Green Chile Bake 
• Cheesy Veggie Bake