jessspurr Member

You will absolutely be crossing the finish line of your first half marathon on Sunday. Did you take your temp again? Has it risen any higher? I say follow through with your taper or whatever you have planned. If you wake up tomorrow feeling like crap maybe take the day off work? Even if you aren't 100% on Sunday the…

Congrats on your first half! I don't really have any advice because I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. Nothing to train for and it's bumming me out a bit, I gotta say! I think I'm going to do a half three weeks from now and besides that I'm just going to try to PR on the shorter distances! If you have any desire to…

Thanks everyone for your kind words. Still feeling pretty good about the whole thing! I definitely want to try a "regular" marathon course and see how I fare with that!

You will do great! Have so much fun! It feels pretty darn good to be in the marathon finisher group!

I feel like I'm really over the road. After I started training on trails (which I didn't do until towards the end of training) I came to be kind of bored with asphalt plus the dirt feels SOOOO good!

You know, I kept thinking about that as I saw many who ran the 40 mile ultra finish LONG before me. My mom walked the course (ran some of the downhill) and finished in 9:16. I was so tired when I was done but she was at least two hours MORE tired than I was. I guess since I know I can be moving for over 7 hours all I need…

I KNOW. How was that even possible that day???? I remember joking with people on the course that no course records would be set that day FOR SURE then we have at least TWO? Those people are just super human. Although, I will say, the mud probably was not nearly as bad for them as they were the first ones over the trails.

Thanks so much for the advice everyone. So, I will keep the same intensity of my training runs just shorten the duration and will stick with 12 and 8 mile long runs the last two weeks and possibly increase them a little if I feel good. Oh man I'm so excited! I am actually really looking forward to those weekends, maybe be…

Ok, so I'm gathering generally consensus is taper. It's somewhat nerve wracking your first time! I imagine after you've done a couple of tapers and experimented a bit you would kind of learn what works best for you but it really feels like I'm just closing my eyes and crossing my fingers that I don't lose fitness in 2…

You are going to LOVE running! I was in the same boat as you last year and now I've got my first marathon coming up in September! Running, if you let it, will change your life. It's just soooooo good. DOGS! DOGS! I've got two big ones and they SUCK at running. They can hike 8 miles with 3,000 ft. elevation gain and run…

Lame. I love me my water! I will try the NUUN. Now, you say that if you are overhydrated it tastes like pee? How is that possible?? Is that like a feature of the product? To help people avoid overhydrating? If so, that's kind of awesome. If not, then I'm pretty sure that should be invented. What do people think about the…

Really that was the first time I had felt crappy after a run. Well, crappy as in headachey and energy-wisey.

You think cut back on the day to day drinking or the amount I'm drinking during runs or both?

This gets to the root of my question about the "cumulative effect" I guess.

Are you saying I look like a chick? :frown: Jokes. Yes, I'm way female :laugh: Really though, thanks everyone for the replies and really the only reason I drink that much water is because I enjoy the taste of water. I just wanted to see if it seemed like an excessive amount (I couldn't find anywhere on the internet what…

I resonate with this. I am definitely still obese even after losing 50 pounds (gained 10 back since I started seriously training for my marathon), however, I feel much MUCH less ashamed of the fat on my body because of my accomplishments in running. (Maybe THAT has something to do with why I've let myself gain a few…

Eww what a creep. I think this is a very good distinction of what makes a "runner" (the debate regarding running vs. jogging set aside). Many people hesitate to call themselves "runners" because they aren't super fast or they have just recently taken up the sport. I think that a runner is anyone who runs for the joy of…

I will be 30 on Saturday! Eep. Am I supposed to feel weirded out by that? I don't know how I feel about it. I just know that all I care about is spending this decade fit and happy. I feel like I spent my 20's unhappy with my body and I don't want to waste anymore of my life feeling unhappy about anything. Feel free to add…

Good question. I also think that is what it comes down to. But do elite runners call other, non-elite runners "joggers"? My family used to call sweatpants "runninjoggins" - I thought that was actually a real word for sweatpants until like a year ago when I said it in front of someone who was like "WHAT?" and then I…

Profoundly sad and true.

I think all of your replies have helped me narrow my question down. Which is more important- Is it more important to have trail shoes for trails or road shoes for roads?

I know ONE person that has completed the race and I have a text out to them but haven't heard back yet! I will take their advice to heart for sure but thought some of you all might be able to share some experiences if you've had any. The race website is also somewhat lacking.

The trail sections are very technical. It's a "only" a marathon so I'm not sure it would be worth changing shoes, but perhaps it is. I think that is what I'm trying to figure out. I'm leaning towards wearing trail shoes for the whole thing since I think it is more trail than road.

Ok, whatever you do...think long and hard about taking Gatorade directly after a GU. For some reason I did that last long run. It wasn't...fun... I'm getting to the point that I really despise gels/chews/etc. No matter what I do I cannot make myself believe I like the taste! I'm thinking about switching to real food, like…

Awesome post! Isn't that like the coolest thing ever? Feeling "wimpy" after running 13.1 miles then realizing that it is a HALF MARATHON!!!! Not that I have had that particular feeling yet, but I ran a 13.1 mile training run a couple weekends ago and I had to stop and remind myself a couple times "you just ran a HALF…

Thanks for the replies everyone. I didn't get them really to improve performance while running but the recovery afterward so that's great. I guess my question was just, for recovery afterward do you need to wear them while you are running or just afterward?? I wore them during my 13 mile long run on Saturday and took them…

It's going to be a challenge for absolute sure. I'm not above walking which I'm sure I will do a fair amount of! I got a half marathon under my belt this weekend and I'm feeling pretty good! I do wish I had picked a more "reasonable" course for my first, but it got stuck in my stubborn head that I was doing it!

Actually, blinding labeling people with arbitrary adjectives is pretty much meaningless. I didn't say that being a heavier drinker was meaningless.

They are trying to put you in a "box" and label you. It is meaningless.

I would consider someone who had 8 drinks a week to be a heavy drinker (regardless of division). The only reason I think that though is because I personally only have maybe 8 drinks every 3 or 4 months. So I guess you have to have something to compare it with to classify anything as "heavy" or "light". To someone who…