I didn't start really jogging until February of this year. I trained every Saturday increasing my miles by 1 mile every week, and I did interval training of jog one-mile walk one-mile. The weekend before the marathon I did a test run on the actual course and found this to be very helpful as I can't run up hill so I was able to determine which mile should be walking and which ones I should jog. I was good until about mile 8; that's when my knee started to bother me; mile 9 my hip started to hurt but at mile 10 I was able to block out the pain and speed walk to mile 12.

Then we slowly jogged to mile 13 and ran across to the finish line. Sure I didn't make it as quickly as I had hoped, and sure most people had finished before me, (there were about 50 or so people behind me), but I did it. I got in that crowded starting line and went for it. I've never run so far, I've never push myself quite so hard, especially in 80 degree temperatures, and I wasn't the one who ended up in the ambulance--thank goodness. I may have been limping and in serious pain, but the feeling I had when I crossed that finish line was worth it.

If you can't do a half marathon, do a 5 K, and maybe some day you just might be able to go the distance too.

Make sure you have a plan for after the race: a massage, a rewarding meal...me, I'm heading to the beach. Hawaii here I come. Blogging community, see you in 2 weeks. 

While the flavor variety is quite compelling it seems that one of two ingredients do not agree with me and make my tongue tingle and my lips slightly swell. Lo Han Go, a natural sugar from a plant, newly popular sugar replacement ingredient for low sugar bars, and IMO Fiber. I first experienced this while eating the cinnamon roll bar and I thought perhaps this was just a side effect of the flavor and the Stevia. Overall the flavor was decent; it kind of tasted like raw cinnamon roll dough; very rich, slightly grainy and very soft. I was eating it slowly for my morning snack and decided to stop eating it about half way through the bar. It took until 8 o'clock that night for my tongue to feel normal again.

I need to know if this was a fluke so in the confines of my own home on the weekend I had two bites of a different flavor and waited to see if my tongue felt funny again- yes it did! I packed the rest of the bars up and I gave the rest of them to a fitness buddy who I knew would enjoy them. It really was a shame because besides for these two ingredients that were responsible for my tingling tongue, everything else in the ingredient list was very clean. They almost had the consistency and taste of a raw bar, except this fiber replacement that they're using is definitely not natural. I did a little research and while this IMO can come from a few natural resources, it seems to also be very chemically manipulated and can be derived from wheat. If they were using psyllium husk in their bars instead I would be completely happy with them, but regardless of what made my tongue tingle, I strive to eat only things I can pronounce and know what they are. 

I made some raw key lime pies using this date crust and I want to make many other fun combinations using this date crust. This is certainly going to be one of my go-to no-bake desserts for the summer. I like some sort of frozen banana cream pie is in order. 

I went for a trial run to see how the actual conditions would be, and I did pretty well. I had hoped to make it 13.1 miles in 3 hours; after my test run I know it's possible, but I'm going to have to push myself even harder. Then today I was thinking and thought even if I don't make it in at or under 3 hours I will still have achieved a major feat. So this has been your Motivational Monday peep talk. Put your mind to it, and go do it- whatever it is.

They had tuna and salmon at $9 lb, sushi grade. Some nice looking octopus and sea urchin too. I will definitely be going back when I am having a craving for some sushi. Bets the price of sashimi anywhere in town. And with that we had a tasty lunch. 

People are certainly walking and socializing and runners have to run around those people which in some areas can cause bottleneck. While this proved to be annoying at some parts, I like the idea that people who wouldn't normally exercise were participating in a fun experience that incorporated movement instead of just socializing at home on the couch. Some people I've talked to think of exercise as work and so they choose not to bother, but while it can be trying and difficult it certainly energizes you and gives you a rewarding satisfaction. Unfortunately the "work out high" doesn't happen Immediately. In any case my point being this is definitely not meant to be a timed event.

Now for my actual experience. The event was $50; that got me entry in with a race number, one blinking bracelet, glow glasses, and in electric run T-shirt. There was security around but they pretty much just let us walk into the event venue and didn't check us so we could bring in anything we wanted; Of course that also meant that our significant others who weren't racing with us could come in and pretty much run the race with us even though they didn't pay. We all started to gather in the starting line shoot around 7 PM and stood crammed together there for about an hour until dark. The race was supposed to start at 8:00 pm but they didn't let the first wave go until 8:20pm. We managed to be in the front of wave two which went at about 8:30pm and we were done with the race at 9:07pm.

There was music and a light-colored tunnel, a mini water color show, and a passage way full of bubbles but there were also strips of the race where it was just dark and we were just jogging in the parking lot. If you are going to actually run I have some tips for you. I figured glow bracelets was the easiest way to go but in actuality if you load your self up with glow bracelets they can get rather hot and sweaty and kind of annoying. Also large necklaces are also going to bounce up and down and hit you in the chin. The necklaces I made out of 2 glow sticks were fine but 3 was too many.

I found the glow sticks attached to my mini tutu gave me enough glow and weren't bothersome when jogging. So basically you need to decide whether this is going to be an experience or a jog with a mini experience, meaning how decked out in glow gear do you want to be. Some people definitely went above and beyond with cool glow themes, and then there were those who went too far to the extreme and used this event as an excuse to let everything hang out; that's pretty much the nicest way I can put that.

The after party was alright; live DJ, fog machines and big beach balls bouncing around in the crowd. We stated for a little bit and then headed home. They had food and drinks available but way overpriced; more so then things at the state fair. Overall this was fun but I would have liked to see something more "experience wise." I am considering doing the Awesome 80's run in San Francisco in November him and I'll definitely have to plan my costume for that, and doing a second themed run would give me more perspective on if I should be let down or not from this experience.