Day 17
Day 17 got off to a really bad start. Imagine a tough morning and then smack it against a wall. That's what kind of bad morning we had.
It started at 4am. The dog started barking. She sometimes does this if she hears another dog or random scary thing in the middle of the night. It's usually nothing so I got her to stop. She still kept doing this gruff, low bark though... and then I realized there was someone knocking on the dog. I instantly got terrified. I thought maybe someone was knocking to see if we were home to try to break it - it was 4am afterall and if you're going to break into someone's place, that would be the time. So Dan went to open the door.. and it was a bunch of Federal agents. They were looking for someone who apparently used to live in our apartment. They quickly realized Dan wasn't their guy and left. We were a bit shaken up but wanted to go back to sleep. I was planning my longest training run for that morning and really wanted a solid night of sleep. So we got all comfortable to head back to dreamland.
And then they knocked again... this time at 4:30. Dan went to answer again and this time they asked him more questions and tried to figure out if we were at all connected to the person they were looking for. We were not. Eventually they left and we got to try to sleep again. Something that is basically impossible when federal agents decked out in tactical gear show up at your door in the middle of the night. It took me another hour to fall asleep and I knew my run would have to wait a day.
I definitely was happy to sleep in a little later when my alarm went off that morning. When I eventually did get up though, I didn't feel as bad as I thought I would. I was definitely a little more tired that usual and a little shooken up, but I still felt pretty good overall. I decided I wanted to have an active but low impact day so that I could keep up with my activities but not do anything that would tire me out before my long run. I decided to take Harley on a long walk to the dog park so we could play fetch and run around together.
It started pretty well - she was being chased by a dog but she looked like she was having fun. Next thing I know, she is surrounded by big dogs trying to aggressively bite her. I jumped in and tried to pull the dogs off of her. One person half heartedly called her dog but no one really tried to help me. I managed to get the dogs off of Harley and carry her out of the way so I could make sure she wasn't hurt. Once I saw she was fine, I looked over to the other side of the park and saw that there was a little kid picking up someone's puppy. The mom yelled at him and the kid threw the puppy into the dirt.
It baffles me how people go to the dog park and think it's ok to ignore their kids or pets. You're supposed to supervise your dogs and if your dog doesn't play particularly well with others, go at a less busy time. Parents - the dog park isn't a playground for your kids to go play with dogs because you don't want to adopt one. Teach your children to ask before touching a dog and to respect when the answer is not yes.
We moved to the other side of the park and Harley found a Puggle and Pomeranian to play with instead and we ended up having some fun at the park. It just stinks that we have to constantly either move her or remove her from the park because there are so many dogs that are aggressive to her with owners not doing anything to correct their pets.
After we left the park, we explored some of the trails in the park and then had a lazy rest of the day just reading and working on my cross stitch. Harley helped me do a little yoga as well. Overall, puppy and I had a good day together even with all of the bumps along the way.
Since my run was moved, I wanted to make sure my dinner was a well balanced. I picked up some steak and decided to make that with a white/sweet potato medley and a fresh salad. It was a well balanced meal that gave me the fuel I needed for my run.
Day 18
Since I've already been asked once, I'll just cut to the chase... my 11 mile run was MUCH better than my 10 mile run. It was supposed to be 12 miles but I was worried about going over and actually hitting 13 (which I don't want to do until race day) so I turned around a little early.
I got an earlier start and the morning was pretty overcast which was a great help. I also put on a lot of sunscreen and light t-shirt so that my sun exposure would be lower. It's funny how the preparation for the run is as big a part as the running when you're getting ready for a race. Making adjustments to your pre-run rituals to find the right combination for race day has been such a help for me.
Despite the better prep and running more, my run wasn't all that much faster. I've been taking my runs as an opportunity to sight see on foot a bit. It's something I'll probably do on race day as well since it's supposed to be a very scenic course.
This one really touched me, it was the Cancer Survivor Park. I went around and read all of the plaques. My family has been very blessed that my mom has been a multiple cancer survivor. However, we've all too recently learned that not everyone gets to carry that title. It was nice to take a little time out from my run to think about my mom and my Tia and everything they've gone through. I do wish there had been a little more of a memorial to those we've lost to cancer though.
I love the beautiful parks I get to run through in San Diego. It was fun to run to one area we'd only ever driven to. It was also the point where I got to turn around and head home. That's definitely my favorite part of any run - when you know you have fewer steps to take than you've already taken and you're that much closer to food.
When I got home, Dan was a little shocked at how much energy I still had. I think that has a big part to do with Whole30 and feeling great from eating great food. It also makes me feel really confident that I can do this half marathon.
My favorite thing about running though... all the eating I get to do afterward. Now that I'm a little more used to my Whole30, finding things to recoup my calories hasn't been as hard.
I had these little pepino melons lying around, so I thought I'd make a snack with those.
And what better snack than prosciutto wrapped melon!!! The melons themselves were interesting. Some tasted like honeydew and some like cantaloupe. I think I'd rather just buy a cantaloupe next time and remove the variable in the equation.
As another little meal, I had some leftover chicken, salsa, and avocado. It was such a good mix of the protein and fat that my body needed.
After that little meal, we went to go see Mission Impossible V which was crazy and fun and great. I don't know if you've seen this video of the how they did the plane stunt in the beginning of the movie but it gives me shivers everytime. After that scene, I was basically like "Ok, let's go." The rest of the movie was definitely worth staying for though.
After the movie, I was, of course, starving again (damn running) so I was excited to come home and try out a recipe I'd planned for dinner. It was sesame zoodles with some sesame ginger pork meatballs.
Looks amazing right?
I have a little confession... I don't really like sesame. I thought this was something I'd maybe grown out of as my tastes have developed over the years. Nope. I still really don't like sesame. And this dish was like 110% sesame flavored. It's sad because it looked so good and we were really hungry but sometimes something just isn't for you. I know so many friends who would have loved it though. Maybe I'll gift them my tahini and sesame oil...
Day 19
Day 19 was Dan's birthday! Obviously things like that can be potentially dangerous to this sort of challenge. Dan didn't really want to celebrate so I figured I was in the clear... however, I still felt like we should do something.
I decided to make a group reservation for us at a pub that we'd past a few times. They had some gluten free options so I was able to put something together that I thought it would be ok. It was just a bunless, cheeseless burger and a side salad but I managed. It definitely wasn't exciting enough to take a picture of.
The biggest struggle came when we got home though. I had bought Dan a gorgeous cake for his birthday... and watched him and our friends eat it. To add insult to injury, they insisted I cut it since I was the host. It was so hard to not lick the knife.
The next couple of days, I made Dan eat the leftovers as quickly as possible so I wouldn't be tempted by it's presence in our fridge.
Summary
I don't feel like I have to much to report on Whole30. My real excitement is with the half marathon training! I'm so proud of what I've done so far with my training and I really feel like I can do this thing! I do like that in general, I have a lot more energy and it's made tackling my training much more feasible. I feel like this group of days were really the peak of my "Tiger blood" stage where my energy was super high and everything seemed very managable.
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