reflections **language warning**

I am sure you have all seen my barrage of posts and photos from the Women’s half this weekend in Nashville.  Well this post is more of notes to self and reflections for the next half.  A) I have caught the bug and I am ready for another half!  B) Train harder and do a hell of a lot of hill work!!! and C) start dieting harder.  After about two hours post race I felt great.  I took a little cat nap and I was ready to go.  Prior to this race I had been dealing with nausea after running and I finally found the perfect combo.  I run fasting and it works for me.  I use the GU chews and not the gel, and then one thing that helped a ton this time was at mile 9 I took three salt packets the race volunteers were handing out and poured them in.  The salt stopped the cramping. I also took advantage of all but the first water stations plus I carried water.  When I finished I had a granola bar and some OJ and I was gravy! The hills (hills of hell) of Nashville were not something that I had thought about.  I was worried yes but I felt prepared.  Nowhere close.  I know where to focus my training.  Also I have decided to cross train by biking more.  I need a stronger core too so planks (curse you) here I come.  One thing that I am amazed at?! My feet, they felt awesome, no pain, except my toe nails!  My big toe nails hurt, and are bruised.  I  wore my compression sleeves and socks and wore my Hokas (my moon shoes) and I was impressed with the fact that my feet never crossed my mind while running! On to the C). I saw the photos of my running and lets just say I will not buy a single one!  I am a big girl and honestly my photos scare me, they are not flattering and do nothing for the self esteem.  Imagine looking at the hulk meets chunk from the Goonies and you will have a good mental image of what I look like running. I have not been the best at making good meal choices but I want to be lighter for the next half, so I plan on journal-ling my food choices.  Not a problem for most people but a real challenge for me. I am so self-aware of my weight it consumes me. Society is so focused on outer beauty, forget that personalities are ugly, right? As long as we are beautiful we can be a bunch of assholes. So my newest challenge to myself has been set. Lose the weight fatass!  In all seriousness  I am proud that I did the race, I set a goal and I accomplished it, which is more motivation.  My advice is be the person you want to be, and don’t let anyone dull your spark, if a person doesn’t appreciate you and see you for what you are, then they have no point in your life. Also don’t let your mind limit your life, push the limits!