Bayshore or Bust

Ok, I'm just going to do it.  I committed to this race in December, hoping I'd have a solid 5 months of training, eating right, getting my body "right" again after a brief (ok, 9-12 month long) hiatus.  As you know, life happens, I'm not always the best at rebounding from it, and here I am, not really much further along than I was in December...

After much vacillation, I'm just going to try my best.  My PR will be nowhere in site, but having accomplished one of Michigan's best races offered, is pretty important to me, too.  I'm getting more and more excited as the date comes closer and I receive updated correspondence from the TCTC Bayshore Marathon organizers.  The process, pictures of the views, not to mention Race Day forecast looks pretty perfect! My sister who lives there is pretty excited to have us up again, even though she has to work all weekend.  She's an ER nurse at Munson Hospital, so I joked she might end up seeing me anyway! HA! Seriously, not planning on it... I won't be running the whole thing like the first Half, but am believing to be pretty solid at a run/walk approach.  I know it's a pretty competitive race, but I'm not competing against anyone else this time, just me.  And maybe obscure things that have tried to take me down at some point over the last 6 months... I plan on beating that, too.  *snarky grin*

A positive coming out of my rapid, focused "training" these last 6 weeks was a renewed vigor for why I wanted to do this stuff in the first place.  Pushing myself daily (or whatever, you know, close enough), making the commitment to do SOMEthing each day and actually doing it has been a wonderful side effect for me.  I lost that somewhere along the way and it feels like it's mine again.  I'm slow to be back where I "was," but I feel in a better groove again.  Maybe I never will be, but I won't be sedentary either, so I'm holding on to that.  DD checks in with me daily and continues to do her part in maintaining her own efforts in our quest to be at the least, fit moms, and tire out playing with our kids.  Knowing, even virtually, someone is trying to do the same thing is a great motivator and provides accountability.  My baby sister has also re-harnessed her desire to eat better and get more active.  In fact, she's the one that sent me the reminder that our Detroit Women's Half Marathon & 5K is in 4 months already, so she's on it! Ann is working on her own efforts with her own sort of approach, and Midge recently met a goal she set back in December, so I know so many I care about around me are sharing my sentiments about trying to be healthier, more fit, for a myriad of our reasons, and I'm not alone.

So, I went with friends to the Cheesecake Factory in Novi this weekend.  I know, right??  The slice I chose boasts (I found out later, of course) one of the highest content in calories at 1530.  Yes, for one slice.  It took me 4 days to eat it all, so I broke it up and ran 2-4 miles each of those days to account for it.  I'm hoping for no gain this week, but a pretty solid NSV would be that I actually tried to work off my consumption this time, instead of just dismissing it as a loss (or, more accurately a gain, but you get it).  Aside from this and a handful of other purposeful indulgences, I've been eating pretty clean for 4 weeks now.  I can't say a lot about it yet, but I can say that my digestive system is starting to work more efficiently, and supposedly it's supposed to minimizes flare-ups or relapses, say some.  We'll see.  I even have "clean" supplements/gels/etc. for my long runs now! HA!

Assuming I survive Bayshore, I'll give a full report shortly after.  *high five*