Running...and Pooh

Sorry, if I've brought you here and you were looking for that big cuddle loveable lug of a bear, I'm not talking about Winnie. And, this post has nothing to do with the Disney Store.
Nope, this one is all about running...long distances. Because I've learned a few things over the last year and a half. I used to only run short distances. It took me a long time to get past the two mile mark. It was like that middle of the week hump, or my miserable Monday morning feeling...it was something I just couldn't seem to put behind me. But then finally I had a break through and in June I ran my first ever marathon...a true milestone for this Old Fat Mom. Of course I had to drop 30 pounds first to do it. Thanks to Weight Watchers... :D (Which by the way is running a Free Promotion until Saturday).

Anyway, back to my story about pooh...

There's a direct link to running and your digestive tract. I know, we don't want to talk about such things. But it's your body and we all have to, you know, pooh...

So, it's best to be prepared.

When I go out for a long run, I try to have everything I need: water, Shot Bloks, maybe a little Gu. But I never thought about the other part...well, except for maybe needing to pee--you know, I'm a woman and we women have bladders the size of a small pea. Anyway, I never really had a problem with the other side of the digestive tract...until I started trying to speed up. . . and cut down my time by running intervals... Now, I'm not a doctor and I don't know but I'm just saying, when I started running faster, I had to GO. So, I started reading up on the issue.

When you run, more blood gets to your vital organs and speeds things up and (apparently) flushes them out. So if you're going for a long run, remember, don't eat a lot of high fiber the night before. Avoid roughage. And when you do your first marathon, don't - let me repeat myself DO NOT do something out of the ordinary for you. People kept telling me to carb up, carb load, and eat my fill of pasta. Hey, that's not normal for me. That might be okay for super skinny runners. But, like I said, I'm an Old Fat Mom, and I usually run on nothing, 'cuz I have plenty stored up in reserves. Anyway, the sad fact was I carb loaded and felt horrible the entire way of the run. On the bright side, I finished and heck I was 50! So I'm not complaining...much. I'm just passing on a few words of wisdom to all my running friends, especially any Old Fat Moms out there. You don't want to feel sick on your very first marathon...right? So take heed ladies, don't eat a lot of fiber the night before, and don't carb load if you don't normally.

I DID IT!!!

After training for a year, I was excited to achieve the goal! It was harder than I expected for  a few reasons:

1) I tried to follow the advice of everyone. Carb load, carb load, carb load--bad idea for me. It bothered my stomach and I didn't feel so well throughout the run. The carb loading is for the skinny people (at least that's what I think). I didn't need the extra carbs.

2) There weren't very many runners--only about 100. I know that might sound like a lot of runners but it was a very small run compared to all the others I've done. In fact there were over 1100 half-marathon runners. And, I like to follow the pack - but this wasn't much of a pack. I missed the energy, excitement and enthusiasm of the pack.

But there's always the next goal, the next run, the next thing...