Dev on Running

Flat Devon is ready!

Real Devon is trying not to poop her pants!

My dad asked me what I’d be wearing so he could spot me. THAT!

My mom asked me what my race number was so she could track me. THAT! (12053)

I actually don’t know if live tracking will be available online, but it was for San Diego Rock ‘n Roll several weeks ago when I decided to stalk my friend’s little sister during her first marathon.

Let’s see, how about some GOALS?

A goal: 3:55

B goal: 3:59:59

C goal: PR (sub-4:15:10)

D goal: Finish with a smile!

I’ve got the smile part down already.

Totes wore that to work today, just in case any of my co-workers somehow didn’t know I’M RUNNING A MARATHON TOMORROW or they already knew and WANTED TO BE REMINDED.

Sorry so CAPS-LOCK-Y. I’m too excited.

Thank you for all of your good-luck messages and tweets and such. Thanks to my friends and family for the Facebook posts and texts and phone calls! ❤

The training was the hard work. The race is the CELEBRATION.

I CAN’T WAIT TO CELEBRATE!!!!!!!

I honestly can’t remember the last time it rained in Seattle, but tonight it was POURING.

I believe the sky may be crying because rumor has it that Kim and Kanye named their baby North West, and the real Northwest is all like, “What is my life even?!?”

Anyway, I wasn’t too stoked to do my very last marathon training run in the rain. It’s only two miles… would it even matter if I skipped it? Probably not, but that’s not how I roll.

Throughout my training for this race, I’ve had times when I needed to run eight miles on a weeknight but wanted to bail at five… when I got a side stitch and wanted to stop running until it went away… when I really didn’t want to do that tenth hill repeat… when I wanted do anything but run in the wind and rain.

But every single time, I thought this: Sometimes you don’t get a choice. Push through the pain now. Get stronger. And when you’re stronger, you’ll be able to push through the exhaustion, the side stitch, the hill, and the weather when you’re running that marathon — when there is no other choice but to keep moving forward.

Make the tough choice now. Thank yourself later.

OK, so running two miles in the rain is not that tough. But I’m proud of myself for doing this run, even if it ultimately has zero influence on how I run on Saturday.

For one thing, I got mentally stronger. And for another, it was so exquisitely peaceful. I ran later than usual because I spent the early evening at the expo, so the normal rush hour traffic had subsided by the time I got home. The usual Green Lake crowd of runners and walkers was nowhere to be found due to the weather. I had 18 minutes to myself to reflect on these past 18 weeks of training and envision myself running the marathon just as smooth and strong as I was running right then. It was more than a run; it was a meditation.

I have worked hard. I have exceeded my expectations. I am in the best shape of my life. I am strong. I am ready.

Let’s run the shit out of this.

Tonight: Two miles!

I took it easy for my last run before my last run.

Tomorrow, I’ll hit up the expo to pick up my race shirt and number and shiz, and I’m also going to try to move up to the 3:55 corral. I originally gave 4:00 as my estimated finish time, but I’ma dream big. Then I’ll do my last easy two-miler before the big day. Feeling good!

I want to share a blog post that really affected me when I read it on my bus ride home and had me thinking all evening long. It’s a fairly short read, so I hope you’ll click over and give it a shot. Maybe it’ll get you thinking, too:

Be Kind To Your Parallels

The heavy truth is that we are only here for a short time. We arrive in this world and find quickly that love is better than hate; happy is better than sad and together is better than alone. We pass through on timelines parallel to one another, some shorter than others, some barely overlapping. And then, poof — we’re just as gone as when we started. 

Of all the times in all of the cities in all of human history we are here with each other. Even strangers are familiar in part — we’re all here dealing with the same shit, trying to make sense of it all … We might find that, just by being at the same time and place, we bear the responsibility of showing kindness toward one another, and that we, because of this, belong to each other in the quixotic sense.

The whole story is much better than just those pieces I pulled.

It got me thinking about how we’re all desperate to learn about other people’s lives (what are Facebook and Twitter and blogs, really?), yet we’re all much more comfortable doing this face-to-screen than face-to-face for some reason.

It got me thinking about how I see a lot of the same people on the bus each day, but have never spoken to any of them more than an “excuse me” or “thanks” mumbled under my breath. It got me thinking about who they really are, and what we could be talking about if we all weren’t glued to our phones and if it wasn’t considered weird to chat with complete strangers while commuting.

It got me thinking about how most people are good, and that I shouldn’t be so suspicious of strangers, or retract like a turtle into its shell when — gasp! — one tries to strike up a friendly conversation with me.

It got me thinking about how I share my life so openly online in writing, but don’t share nearly as much with friends and co-workers through conversation.

It got me thinking about how important it is to be kind and friendly, to be a lady or a gentleman, to be polite even when other people aren’t, to be helpful and compassionate, to be a gracious loser and an even more gracious winner, to encourage others, and to try to make your mother proud, even if she’s not there to see what you’ve said or done.

It made me want to change how I do things, to be friendlier and more open to people in general.

On my run, I found myself noticing other people who were out and about. I wondered what their names were and what their lives were like. I purposefully met the eyes of another runner and smiled, and he smiled back. I usually try my hardest to ignore everyone and practically pretend like they don’t exist. Why is that?

Anyway. Those are just some of the things I’ve thought about because of that post. Please do let me know what it makes you think about.

Last Friday, I celebrated (in my brain, not in external life) officially losing 10 pounds since I set out to shed my excess travel weight on March 1!

I started at 145.6 pounds looking like this, which was certainly not terrible by any means — but I was self-conscious and couldn’t fit into some of my favorite clothes.

And then on Friday, at 135.6 pounds, I put on my pre-travel jeans that I used to not be able to pull up past my thighs, and realized that they don’t just fit anymore, but I have a little extra breathing room, too.

Not to mention that I can (and did!) wear them with a white t-shirt and not worry about sucking in my gut because, well, there is no gut anymore. Casual Friday, bitches.

You might think that training for a marathon was a big part of this weight loss, but I can honestly tell you that every single ounce I lost was due to the food I ate.

I’ve been running consistently for months and months, and tracking 98% of my food since March 1, plus weighing myself nearly every day. What determines whether the scale is up or down has nothing to do with how many calories I burned the day before and 100% to do with what I ate!

I consider myself an 80/20 Paleo-style eater. I say “Paleo-style” because I’m not super-obsessed with every little detail of what is Paleo and what isn’t, but follow more general guidelines of eating mostly fresh vegetables, meat/fish, nuts/seeds, and fruit, and avoiding grains, dairy, and processed foods.

The 80% happens more consistently during the week, with a few treats here and there, and most of the 20% definitely happens on weekends and special occasions. I enjoy the 20%, but I also know exactly how it makes me feel to eat dairy (mucus-y) and grains (bloated) and sugary treats (jittery) and then am excited to get back to veggies, protein, and healthy fats. It’s a good balance.

Here’s how I held on to those extra travel pounds for so long:

We have two kitchens at work, and they’re both bursting with candy, chips, soda, cheese, etc. — everything that’s delicious and not that great for you.

From October through February, I never brought food from home and just ate whatever was served at lunch and what I could find in the kitchens. It wasn’t enough to GAIN weight, but it was enough to hang on to my extra, unwanted pounds.

Here’s how I lost them and now keep them off:

I bring a small, reusable Lululemon bag full of food to work EVERY DAY (emphasized because consistency is crucial). Yesterday, I brought cherries, apple, cashews and dried apricots, mixed lettuce, bell pepper, cucumber, banana, grapefruit, baby carrots, tomato soup (in a bag, looks weird), and chicken sausage.

I didn’t eat the apple, carrots, banana, or soup, but I’ll probably eat those today. The point is that I had plenty of snack options on hand so I could grab something healthy and not get a handful of frosted animal crackers instead.

I make a huge salad for lunch EVERY DAY (tossed in olive oil that I keep at work) and eat it along with some protein I’ve also brought from home, like a chicken sausage, meatballs, leftover fish, chicken, whatever. Sometimes I’ll go through the lunch line to grab protein if it’s not breaded/cheese-encrusted, but often I’ll just ignore the catered lunch and make my own. It’s just easier to stick with what I’ve brought.

My co-workers say I’m “so disciplined,” but I’m really just a creature of habit. I literally make the same breakfast every morning, pack pretty much the same foods while I’m making breakfast, eat pretty much the same lunch every afternoon, and snack on similar things throughout the workday. I’m sort of weird in that I don’t get tired of eating the same things during the week.

On the weekends, I eat more of a variety, and I eat whatever I want when out at a restaurant, when it’s a special occasion, or when I’m a guest in someone’s home. Sometimes I genuinely do want a salad. Sometimes I want a burger with the bun, fries, and a milkshake. Sometimes I want triple-cheese mac ‘n cheese. I feel no guilt when I dip into the 20% and no fear of backsliding into consistently bad eating habits because I eat very well 80% of the time and truly enjoy it.

There are countless different ways to eat, and we’ll all never agree on one “best” way. I just happen to have had success with Paleo-style eating and calorie tracking (I still use My Fitness Pal 98% of the time) because these methods have helped me focus on eating real, nutritious food and understanding what portion sizes actually are (smaller than we all want them to be!).

I bust out measuring spoons and use a food scale nearly every day — not to be obsessive or to restrict my intake (I usually eat just under to well over 2,000 calories a day, depending on my exercise), but to make sure I’m eating the correct serving sizes (very important with nuts and nut butter!) or at least know how many servings I’m eating if I want to eat more than one. 🙂

As I always say, none of this is new or ground-breaking information. I’m just sharing what has worked and continues to work for me.

You simply can’t out-exercise a bad diet, unfortunately, so if you’re not seeing results from whatever you’re doing — CHANGE YOUR EATING! Choose vegetables, protein (whether it’s meat or vegetarian forms of protein), and healthy fats over weight-loss shakes, low-fat yogurt, and those stupid 100-calorie packs of cookies that never satiated anyone’s appetite in the history of ever. Seriously, the thought of those things makes me stabby.

It’s hard to get started, but once you do and get into a groove with new habits, it’s SO much easier to stay there! The impact it will have on your health, your energy levels, your happiness, and yes, your appearance, is insane. It’s worth it.

Start with the will to change, and then take action. No excuses.

The marathon draws near!!!

I did my last “long” run on Saturday morning — just an eight-miler. I planned to try to run at 8:58-9:00ish pace to emulate the pace I want to hold next weekend, but then… as always… I didn’t.

I really did try to slow down, but kept hitting around 8:30 miles anyway. I guess 8:30 is the new 9:00? Don’t worry, I really will slow down for the marathon and not go out too fast!

This run ended at about 10:45 a.m., and it was sunny and HOT. I felt completely sapped of energy. I’ll be finishing the marathon at about 11:00 a.m. or a little later, so I have my fingers crossed for some cloud cover. Pleasepleaseplease!

After running, I headed to my hometown to get some good family time in. I spent the day and night at my momma’s house, then spent all of Sunday with my daddio for Father’s Day.

We hit up church, had brunch with my brother, and even had Father’s Day dinner with Aaron’s dad, stepmom, and family — without Aaron! That’s when you know you’re really part of the family. 🙂

I had the biggest, yummiest salad for brunch.

Seafood Cobb with baby shrimp, scallops, salmon, and all the usual Cobb toppings (minus the cheese and dressing). So. Good.

Aaron and I are usually so busy on weekends that I don’t get to spend a ton of quality time with my family, so it was great to be able to catch up with both my mom and dad — and, of course, celebrate my dad’s overall amazingness! — this weekend. I love you both!!!

Tonight, I literally ran an errand to Road Runner Sports. I had three miles to run and RRS is 1.5 miles away, so it was a no-brainer to kill two birds with one run!

I bought a box of chocolate Clif Shots — I was down to three, aka NOT enough for the marathon! — and Body Glide, since I’ve suffered minor sports bra / armpit / inner thigh chafing on some of my long, sweaty runs. I plan to smother myself in sunscreen and BG on Saturday!

All I have left are two easy two-mile runs — one on Wednesday and one on Thursday. Gahhhhhhh!

I’m not as nervous for this marathon as I was for my first, so I’ll take that as a good sign. I think my training was pretty great, but there are always doubts that creep in during the final week.

I just have to trust that I’ve done enough, and get ready to have some fun on Saturday!

Bad news. This guy won the contest.

I think his video was the next-best after Aaron’s, so at least it didn’t go to someone who had a weird video (there were a few of those). Congrats to him.

Anyway. Thanks for all of your support throughout the contest! The result is disappointing, but that’s life.

Back to my regularly scheduled run-blogging and such.

EDITED TO ADD: I just got off the phone with the Specialized social media guy (because why stop the crazy when I’m already on a roll today?) and he told me Aaron lost by ONE VOTE when about 450 Specialized employees voted on who should win out of the final four videos! So at least many, many people voted for him! Does that make it better or worse? I guess it makes me feel… better? OK, moving on with my life now…

I swear I kept myself busy this weekend with running and family time and Father’s Day dad time.

But this morning, I went full-on stalker and CALLED the headquarters of Specialized Bicycles to speak to the social media guy and ask when he was going to announce the contest winner.

He said it will be announced TODAY.

Me: “Great, because I’ve been refreshing your Facebook page like I’m your crazy ex-girlfriend and I can’t live like this much longer!”

Him: *nervous laughter*

Bringing the cray. 

Keep your eye out for the announcement here. I’m trying to limit myself to one refresh per hour, five minutes after the hour.

I’m sweating so badly right now.

No contest announcement yet.

I’m going NUTS over here.

Seriously, this is the weirdest, least-promoted, most-ignored contest I’ve ever seen from a company.

You’d think any company running a contest with a huge, awesome prize like this would be promoting the crap out of it all over Twitter and Facebook, building up hype in the days prior to the announcement of the winner (which is supposed to be today!), and generally getting their marketing $$$ worth for the significant cost of the prize.

But what do I know?

I. AM. DYING.

I’ve been a lazy blogger this week. Why?

One word: HOMELAND.

Aaron and I ripped through the first season of it before he left for Scotland, and now I’m anticipating withdrawals until he gets back and we can start on season two. I’ll be OK. I’ll distract myself with this marathon thing I have coming up.

My runs haven’t been super exciting this week. At this point, I just have to not get injured or sick and I’ll be able to go the distance. I’m popping vitamins and Emergen-C like crazy and trying not to jinx anything.

MONDAY: Four miles. It felt so nice to run just four miles!

WEDNESDAY: Three miles. This just felt weird. It wasn’t that long ago that my Wednesday-night run was eight miles.

THURSDAY (aka tonight): My last hill workout of marathon training. Hallelujah!

I did 10 hill repeats with a little half-mile running break after the first five.

By the way, I’ve gotten scary-good with predicting how long each run will take me. Prior to this run, I added 37 minutes of running to my My Fitness Pal diary. The run took me 37:01.

Looking back on my training plan, it looks like I did nine hill workouts over my 17 weeks of training. Not bad! Will it be enough to get me through Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle? Ummmm, it’ll have to be.

I’m excited to ditch hill repeats in favor of speedwork for Chicago Marathon training since Chicago is as flat as they come. Suck it, hills!!!

In my intense study of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle Marathon course, I realized that I will be running through tunnels like four times and completely losing satellites for my Garmin. That happened to me when I ran the Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle Half a few years ago, and it made me kind of panicky.

To avoid that feeling this year, I’ve ordered my first PaceTat!

This temporary tattoo will go on the inside of my arm to help me stay on track for my desired finish time, even when my Garmin gets out of whack from the tunnels.

And yes, I ordered the 3:55 tat. DREAM BIG.

That’s all I’ve got for you for now. The winner of the Tour de France video contest is supposed to be announced FRIDAY, which is TOMORROW, so expect either a post of utter joy or heartbreak when the news hits. I’ll try to make it really dramatic either way. GET EXCITED.