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My foot hurt pretty significantly after Monday’s 5-miler and it was NOT COOL. Some rest and ice seemed to cure it, but still… I’m not down with this insubordinate foot.

I might’ve jumped into new shoes too quickly, so I brought back my marathon shoes for today’s run. It was like coming home.

These shoes have taken me far, baby. We’ve done beautiful things together.

I also brought back a favorite marathon-training workout: Run one mile to the gym, lift weights, run one mile home. I did this more in the summertime when it wasn’t so cold out, but today is a freakin’ beautiful, sunny December day in Seattle, and the running portion was glorious.

Weird things happen when you run, turn off your watch, then run again. Hmm.

The gym was fairly empty and it was nice to hit the weights again. I’ve definitely lost some strength and had to use 12.5-lb weights for moves I used to be able to do with 15, but I can get that back with a little effort.

I’ll be needing some strength to lug around my travel backpack and do adventure-like things in New Zealand and Australia beginning in February — when it will be SUMMER down there, thank God — so I hope to hit the gym 3x a week until my membership runs out in mid-January.

Now I’m off to preemptively ice my foot and dream of summertime in the South Pacific…

More details here. But, basically:

New Zealand

Australia

Thailand

Laos

Vietnam

Cambodia

Portland, Oregon

ICELAND

I don’t really know where to go after Iceland. But watch that video. Does it even matter?

Today I set out to run 5 miles — my farthest distance since the marathon — and I was feeling good about it.

As I started running, I immediately felt “slow.” I was running under a 9:30 pace, which I don’t consider slow at all, but I felt oddly heavy compared to my mostly effortless-feeling pre-marathon runs.

Then disaster hit during mile 4 — a horrible, dreadful, crippling cramp.

I did a lot of walking during mile 4 to get rid of that cramp. It just wouldn’t go away! The last time I remember having a cramp at all was during a 15-mile run because I ate an unusual and insufficient breakfast beforehand.

After about 0.4 mi of straight-up walking, I resumed running and was able to finish out mile 4 and hit a nice pace for mile 5.

I’m 99% sure both the heavy feeling and the cramp were related to my post-marathon eating habits. I haven’t been eating unhealthily per se, but I have reintroduced grains and dairy back into my diet in a big way.

I’d say my marathon-training diet was loosely 85% Paleo. The other 15% consisted of candy corn, ice cream, cupcakes, etc. and anything I had out at a restaurant.

I never carb-loaded before runs — in fact, I specifically avoided grains, as well as dairy, for the sake of my stomach — and ate lots of protein (chicken, fish, eggs) and fruits/vegetables instead.

Now I eat… whatever I want! Grilled cheese sandwich with extra slices of cheese on the side? Sure! Pancakes for lunch? Why not!

My body is much, much happier when I eat little to no grain-based carbs or dairy, and I can clearly see that when I compare how I felt on today’s run versus how I felt before the marathon.

It was nice to have a grilled-cheese-with-a-side-of-cheese hurrah for a few weeks, but I’d much rather have enjoyable runs.

Written while eating a stomach-friendly chicken breast with roasted asparagus and mushrooms on the side. Yum.

1. Fill your plate with delicious pancakes and bacon, then clean it. Repeat. (Check.)

2. Position yourself near the mimosa-making station to ensure easy access and no fewer than three drinks. (Check.)

3. Regale your friends with groundbreaking new ideas regarding foreign policy, the environment and the global health crisis. (Err…)

That’s pretty much it. Success!

Also, here’s a new post about my adventures in travel planning:

Choosing My Backpack… and a Change of Plans

Whee!

Meg invited me to a Toys for Tots event at her box Saturday morning and today I can’t move my body.

It hurts so good.

About 40 people donated 157 toys. Woo-hoo! I pitched in two toys and won a t-shirt in a raffle at the end of the event. I never win things! There is in existence a super-awkward picture of me lunging through a giant tire while wearing the shirt; hopefully Meg can track it down for me and I can post it promptly.

Everyone divided up into teams of five to do the WOD (workout of the day):

– 200 meter run
– Burpee to 45-lb plate
– 10 meter farmer’s walk with kettlebells
– Squat hops
– Rest 

We each rotated to the next exercise as soon as the runner on our team finished the sprint, and we did this as many times as possible in 12 minutes. I started with the run and I think ran three times, and I know I ended the WOD doing burpees because I wanted to fall on the floor and die.

Each team member was supposed to keep track of his or her reps and report the number to the next person so we could keep an overall count of the team’s reps, but my team quickly got confused/lost track and had no numbers to report. Ohhhh well!

I was sweaty and out of breath when we finished. It was definitely a good workout, especially considering how sore my quads, arms and shoulders are! I don’t think Crossfit is my thing, but I can see why people some love it. Crazy people, that is.

Oh, you know it’s true.

I met a ton of awesome, friendly people at Stoneway Crossfit, and even scored a new running buddy! Allegedly he “doesn’t run that fast” (right) and we’ll take it easy since I still haven’t run farther than 4 miles since the marathon.

Yeah… we’ll see how that goes.

My post-marathon motivation to run is seriously lacking. Today I was determined to run, and it wasn’t raining, so I had no excuse.

I busted out new shoes to make it exciting.

I’ve been hoarding two brand-new pairs of Brooks Ghost 3 shoes in a closet ever since I went nuts over an online sale. I basically got two pairs of my very favorite running shoes — in PURPLE! — for the price of one. Winning!

I pushed the run a bit since I was “only” doing 3 miles. (Must get out of that “only” mindset now that I’m not training for a stupid-far race.)

Oooh yeah, that felt good. My pesky right foot didn’t hurt, and I’m hoping it’ll stay that way.

I’m clearly obsessed with the lululemon pullover I bought for the marathon. I hardly ever buy lululemon stuff because it’s so pricy, but this pullover is ridiculously comfortable, non-chafing, flattering and very high quality. This… this is love.

Plus, it’ll always remind me of my first 26.2. (I still can’t believe that happened.)

Tomorrow morning I venture into the crazy world of Crossfit. I’m ready to dominate some box jumps or swing the shiz out of a kettlebell or something. Wish me luck…

…and they’re my fave because they’re one of the only pairs that actually fits.

I’m trying on many others and they’re all anywhere from one to three sizes too big.

I found an old belt and put it on in an attempt to keep some jeans up, and the belt doesn’t even have enough holes to cinch tight enough.

I don’t have a documented weight-loss story like many people I follow on Tumblr, but I’m definitely more fit than I’ve ever been and down about 15 pounds since college.

2007 vs. 2011.

Running is awesome.

That is the question I must answer. Someone please get me a giant map of the world… and some darts.

Check out where I am in my planning so far: Itinerary Indecision & Shiny Travel Things

Also, I made business cards (even though I don’t have an actual business) to hand out to folks I meet as I travel.

The info side (yes, “runner” is a big part of who I am!):

The fun side (all photos I’ve taken):

I could also hand these out to:

• Cute boys I pass on the street
• Cute boys at running events
• And, retroactively, the entire cast of Thunder From Down Under in Las Vegas

Oh, did I forget to mention this happened the night before the marathon? Silly me! (Straight-up stole this picture from Cely.)

Australia is quickly moving to the very top of my travel list.

The legendary Athens Classic Marathon is on November 11, 2012.

That’s just a fun factoid I came across while trying to figure out the itinerary for my year of travel. Interesting… : )

Also, I swam today for the first time since I did the triathlon in September!

There’s so much awkwardness here.

Swimming is hard, people. I can swim from one end of the pool to the other, but then I have to rest and catch my breath for at least 30 seconds before going back. It’s humbling when everyone else is just whizzing by and doing super-cool flip turns.

I could probably outrun most of them, though. : )

I’m trying to stay active every day, whether it’s through running, yoga, swimming or lifting weights. I might bust out my bike when it’s sunny. Currently trying to give my pesky right foot a rest from running to ensure that the phantom pain doesn’t return.

And I’m trying Crossfit for the first time on Saturday, so that should be… interesting!