Sunday, April 22, 2012

Storm The Beach - Kill Devil Hills, NC - April 21, 2012

I managed to get a little bit of sleep the night before the race. I had to get up early and take care of the PTO's table at a yard sale. I love the school and I love working there and I love volunteering, but those 4 hours were a complete waste of time. I spent all my time thinking about Storm The Beach, wondering if would be harder than the Spartan, what obstacles there would be, freaking out about how I'm going to get over the big wall. Unlike the Spartan, I actually trained a bit for this. I have spent the last six weeks with the people on my team. I had an idea on some of the obstacles but there were still a lot of unknowns. At team camp, we practiced under, over, and through tubes. We climbed walls. Well, once, and I was scared shitless. We did pull ups because we'd need to be able to pull ourselves up over a wall - and that's the obstacle that freaked me out for two weeks. According to our trainer, it would have a cheater board two feet off the ground, then we'd have to get ourselves over the other 5 feet.

And of course, there was the running to be freaked out about. I'm getting better but I'm still not at the level my team mates are. And running with sandbags? Ugh. I put all my money on adrenaline getting me through. I thought, surely, this won't be as difficult as the Spartan. I was convinced it couldn't possibly be. I did a Spartan race, damn it. Granted, it was just a Sprint and nothing as bad ass as a Super or Beast or even a Tough Mudder (which people are still hounding me to do in October). But that Spartan Sprint took me two and a half mother fucking hours. Storm The Beach wouldn't take that long, I was assured. I didn't know how long the course was, but I can barely run a 5K road race in 45 minutes or less. So, I was shooting for under 90 minutes at first, then thought, I can do it in under an hour. I was determined not to hold my team up any more than I had to.

Initially, I was going to get dropped off and Sam and Sebastian would come later for the family event. We changed our minds so Sebastian could play in the water while I did my thing. We walked the half mile or so from our house to the start/finish line. One of the great things about the Outer Banks is that we have a marathon, triathlon, two half-marathons, and now our very own obstacle course race. I can WALK to the events. We walked all the way to the end of the closest road that goes to the beach and I climbed up to check out the obstacles. From there, I could see the cones blocking people from sunbathing along our course. People could use the beach, but the soft sand was set aside for us. All I could see in terms of obstacles was a tire flip. So we left that beach access and walked the rest of way. Sebastian complained about the distance the whole time. I gleefully reminded him that he as 5K in two weeks. A mile is nothing.

I got there and found some of my OBX Team Campers - not all of them would be on my team. Two of my teammates were there. The other two, Kathy & Charlie, were still running in the individual Hero division. They are so bad ass. And wonderful teammates. They are the two who talked me into doing this in the first place. Thank you, guys!

And while I'm kissing ass, I really need to take a few minutes to thank Samantha Brown. She brought GO FAR to the Outer Banks a few years ago and I was fortunate enough to get involved as a coach. I had never done any running up to that point and I thought it would be a great way to start. I had an IT band injury early on and it turned out that I couldn't train for my first 5K but I ran/walked it anyway. But I had the bug. I came back in the spring for another session and I ran my first entire 5K, the Bunny Hop. A month later, I hit another personal best time in the GO FAR 5K. (Of course, after that, food and exercise pretty much went to shit and I gained back 40 pounds.) After that, I wanted to do more 5Ks and other races, and then my cousin came along with his Spartan nonsense. And I must say, after just two events (and one alresdy booked for next year), I'm addicted. And I have Samantha to thank for starting me running. Someday I will run a marathon for her. Until then, I'll just take care of the GO FAR kids.

So back to the race. Disclaimer: I don't remember the exact order of the obstacles. It's the next day as I write this and since the race, I've been to a very awesome wedding reception and I was up at 5 AM to feed the half-marathon runners at the Flying Pirate (which, by the way, is most likely my next running event challenge). Our wave was supposed to start at 2 PM but Kathy & Charlie were still running in the Hero race. They arrived and rested up a bit, then we took off. It was a grueling run through the soft sand. I think I was able to run, and by run, I mean zombie stagger, about three-fourths of that stretch, then walked to the first obstacle. It was over some tubes - just two, and they were lower than in practice. Easy, peasy. More running, more suckage. Later, there were some tree branches we had to go under. And again, much easier than in practice. Then we had to wade out into the ocean and around a bouy. The water was freezing and there weren't enough boats. Half the people on our team were going to die. Of course, I was the one knocked over by a wave during an ill-timed attempt to get there. It knocked me on my face in the sand.

We had to stand at the buoy a little longer than sanity would normally allow to get our picture taken. Plus a team member had to pee. It wasn't me, but it did make me appreciate our local area's natural obstacles. What I wouldn't have given for an ocean at the Spartan. 

After the buoy, there was more running. And I really don't remember the order of the obstacles. We had a little maze of crab pots or some shit like that. Then the tire flip, which out of all the obstacles here, WAS harder than the one at the Spartan. At the Spartan, I had a baby tire and only had to do 4 flips. Here, we had to flip giant tires about 30-50 feet (I really have no clue) down and back. We could do two to a tire, but it was still exhausting. So score 1 for the Spartan in terms of pleasure. There was also a tire drag. We had to drag a tire on a rope down to the water and back. Hmmm, what else. At the turn around point, we had to run with sandbags to the water station. Not so bad. 

The second half of the course was much easier because we could run on the harder sand. The obstacles on the return were pretty easy. There was a sandbag raise (like the concrete filled buckets at the Spartan but much easier). I'm so glad I had my gloves on for this one. There was a sandbag hop, but we learned at Team Camp that it's easier to find the biggest bag you can and shuffle along. So that's what I did. Then of course, we had to do the bouy again and again I got my ass kicked by a wave. Near the end, there was a pool floaty obstacle, kind of like football tires but with innertubes. And you could get through them anyway you wanted. Sweet. We had to crawl through tubes, too. There were 5 or 6 of varying sizes. I could have picked a short one to just crawl through, but damn it, I came to Storm The Beach to challenge myself, so I picked the skinniest, longest tube and shimmied through it. Rock on, bitch!

Then, the dreaded mother fucking wall. I was nervous about getting over it. First though, I had to get over a smaller wall (pretty much like the little ones at the Spartan), then two more like it OR climb over two with boards on them - they called them ladders. I took the ladders to conserve energy for the big wall. I didn't think I'd be able to get over it, but my amazing fucking team got me over. I had to swing myself over and jump down but I really wasn't thinking  about anything at that point, other than just do it. After the big wall, it was a short way to the finish line. The last thing we had to do was step in garbage cans half full of water. It actually felt good because my god damn shoes were so full of god damn sand. They'd been full of sand from the start line! I hate sand in my shoes as much as I hate wet feet, and there I was with wet, sandy feet. 



People find our team name amusing. Why Sausage? Because Sam used to take sausage to work every day for lunch, and they started calling him Sausage. When I signed us up, it asked for a team name and I had no idea they would actually put the team names on the bibs!! I about died at the Expo when I picked up our packets. 

I need a tech shirt of my own. My teammate let me borrow one of hers. Those things rock.

I'm pretty self-conscious about my body, even when I was 40 pounds lighter. I was not looking forward to wearing the tech shirt, but it was advised so we wouldn't get scraped up. I've never raced in long sleeves or a tech shirt before. I was just going to wear my tank top that I used for training. But damn, that tech shit is amazing. I loved it. I don't think I necessarily needed it for coverage - I was trying to get a little sun - but it did keep me pretty cool. Anyway, my point here is, I wasn't looking forward to something so form fitting. I know I'm fat. It's not something I hide. I also don't care to put it on display. But a mile in, I realized that no one fucking cares that I look like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. And I realized just before the start of the race that my thunder thighs had finally beat the pants. The seams were wearing out and I just hoped like hell they wouldn't fall apart. Thank goodness I wore underwear! These are my favorite workout pants :( They are lucky. I wore them when I ran my first Bunny Hop. I wore them for the Spartan. Come Tuesday, they will be off to the landfill :(



Here's my team, nearing the finish line. We did finish in under an hour, according to Sam. I don't have an official team time though.

Charlie's Angels - Charlie (in the middle) and Kathy (between Charlie and me) both ran the Hero Division before the team event. They are rockstars!!

Just before the family event. Sebastian was anxious to get moving. I was happy to be still. I wish I'd kept my medal on though. Many, many thanks to my new friend and running buddy, Sherry, for taking the picture.

This is why I run - for the pretties.

The family event after was okay. Sebastian wanted obstacles, not frisbee tosses and egg carrying. Next year, he's doing the team event. Next year, I would really like to do the First Flight 5K, Storm the Beach (Hero & Team divisions) and the Flying Pirate Half Marathon. We'll see. I still have the Tough Mudder to pull the trigger on.




Friday, April 20, 2012

Storm The Beach - Week 6 - Friday

I had a can of green beans with canola oil after I blogged last night. I was so hungry. I'm not sure I can do low carb. I'm not sure I can do Weight Watchers. I am not sure I can do anything anymore.

Today was the last day of team camp. I wasn't sure I wanted to go because I did not get any sleep last night. I was going to skip and try to get an hour nap, but decided not to. We didn't work out super hard, but it was exhausting.

Food was not great but not horrible.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Storm The Beach - Week 6 - Thursday

No workout today. Just an early PTO meeting.

Food:
ice coffee w/ half & half
chicken Caesar salad
roast turkey
Brazil nuts
peanut butter sandwich

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Storm The Beach - Week 6 - Wednesday

Off to the beach this morning for team camp. It was so much fun! Except for the running, of course. The running itself wasn't so bad, but when you have to carry a sandbag (in the soft sand!) it kind of sucks. We practiced under, over and through tubes. Man, if I could train with obstacles every day, I would be in heaven!

Food:
iced coffee w/ half & half
apple & cottage cheese, hard boiled eggs
turkey burger (no bun) w/ avocado
salad w/ peppers, turkey bacon, hard boiled eggs & ranch dressing
Smirnoff Ice - I am not normally a drinker but I wanted to try a new flavor. It was good. I only had one.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Storm The Beach - Week 6 - Tuesday

No workout today. I did want to get up and do some Turbo Jam this morning but I also really, really wanted to sleep a little bit longer. I did run with my GO FAR kids for a bit this afternoon.

Food:
iced coffee w/ half & half
apple & cottage cheese
hamburger w/ cheese, pepper slices
roasted pork loin
ice cream - I found a Klondike bar hidden in my ice bucket. So I ate it. Then I ate another one that was in the other freezer. Damn it.
hard boiled egg

Storm The Beach - Week 6 - Monday

This is it! The last week of team camp! It's been fun, sort of, but I can't wait for it to be over.

We went to the beach today. We had to run a bit, I kept up fairly well and didn't cry. We also practiced some of the obstacles we'll be facing Saturday. We ran with a 15-pound sandbag, we crawled through 20-foot tubes into the surf (awesome!!!) and at the end, we had do climb a 14-foot wall. I wasn't doing it (because I'm afraid of heights and I'm always worry that my fat ass is going to break something) but they made me. It wasn't horrible. I almost went again to make sure I really could do it. When I got to the top, one of the trainers called me back to the railing but I told him there was no way I was looking down. I know I have to get over my fear of shit like this. All in all, today was fun.

Food:
iced coffee w/ half & half
apple & cottage cheese
beef patty w/ barbecue sauce & potato
hard boiled eggs & pepper slices
salad w/ hamburger & light dressing

I'm logging in MyFitnessPal again. I hate it, but whatever.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Storm The Beach - Week 5 - Sunday

I went walking/running with a friend from team camp today. We did three miles. It was good.

Food:
sucked
again

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Storm The Beach - Week 5 - Saturday

I spent the entire day sitting on my ass, either working on my script or at the movies seeing Titanic. Yes, again.

Food:
Nothing but junk, all damn day :(

Friday, April 13, 2012

Storm The Beach - Week 5 - Friday

Off to the beach this morning, for team camp. Only to get there and have it be declared too cold, so back to the gym we went. We did some cardio, then leg work, then some upper body. It was good.

Food, however, was not. I held it together fairly well until I decided I want ice cream. Then I over-bought and over ate.

I hate myself.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Storm The Beach - Week 5 - Thursday

No workout today. I've been trying to get caught up on my Script Frenzy project. 100 pages in 30 days. I'm on page 6, and the halfway point is Sunday. Oops. Slacker.

Food:
tea w/ half & half
onion & cheese omelet, watermelon
walnuts
spaghetti w/ meatballs
chocolate peanut butter no bake cookie - My husband asked for these for his birthday (tomorrow) and I made a batch with Splenda to see how it would taste. It tastes great, except for the peanut butter. I'm not all that crazy about peanut butter in my cookies.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Storm The Beach - Week 5 - Wednesday

We were supposed to be on the beach today, doing all that awful shit that made me cry like a baby last week. Fortunately, it was cold and windy, so we went to the gym and did push ups and other awful shit without the wind. It was a good workout. I like working with weights. I love weight lifting.

I am really ready for this event to be over. I don't like getting up before 5 AM to go do stuff that makes me cry half the time. Certain things about team camp, I love. Others, I really, really hate. I'm so torn on doing another session. The people are fantastic but this really isn't my style. For one thing, it costs money, and I'm cheap, and as I've demonstrated, I am not getting my money's worth because I haven't made it to every session. So even paying for a service is no guarantee I'll get the maximum benefit from it.

Food:
tea w/ half & half
eggs w/ cheese & turkey bacon
hamburger on oopsie roll
almonds
oopsie roll w/ sugar free jam - Okay, if I am being honest, I ate the entire batch of oopsies today.
chicken enchilada pie
tea w/ half & half

Storm The Beach - Week 5 - Tuesday

Crappy food day. I suck.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Storm The Beach - Week 5 - Monday

I didn't make it to team camp this morning. Normally, when my alarm goes off at 4:45, I close my eyes and lie there listening to talk radio for a few minutes, the end of Coast To Coast AM. Last night, the radio station was dead air (for the billionth time - East Carolina Radio truly sucks. Back when they played good music, they had this problem a lot, then they switched over to conservative talk radio (except for C2C) and have still had this problem. It's like they don't get the feed from whatever show they are airing, and don't even realize it or care.). So it was 6:30 when my alarm went off again.

Food:
iced coffee w/ half & half
hard boiled eggs
broccoli & almonds

And then I started eating a bunch of junk. Damn it. I hate this freaking cycle.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Storm The Beach - Week 4 - Sunday

I'm down 2 pounds this week. I could have done better. And I totally ruined the little bit of progress I made by going to the movies and eating popcorn and movie candy, then carbing up at home. Le sigh.

Storm The Beach - Week 4 - Saturday

Today was our GO FAR fundraiser race, the Bunny Hop 5K. Last year's inaugural Bunny Hop 5K was the first race I ever ran all the way through, and it's my favorite race to run. As long as I am living on the Outer Banks,  I will be running this race. And I do mean run! I ran the whole thing today. My time wasn't as good as last year but I did it. I ran to raise money for OBX GO FAR and a local family. I ran in honor of some family members who died last night in a train accident. I ran for myself, because I needed to remind myself that I can do it.

Two of my GO FAR kids came in second in their age/gender divisions. I'm so damn proud of them. I'm proud of my son, who insisted he didn't need us during the Jelly Bean Fun Run, and he ran the whole thing all by himself. In four weeks, he is running his second 5K. Last year, I ran the GO FAR 5K and had my best race time ever. This year, I'm running with Sebastian. We walked the Jingle Bell 5K back in December, but this time, he's going to run. I can't wait.

I also can't wait for Storm The Beach!!! Sebastian begged me to let him do it, so I signed him and Sam up for the non-competitive family division. Then I decided to go ahead and do it with them. So I will have about 90 minutes to complete the event with my Team Camp before I'm needed for Round 2. I know it took 2 1/2 hours for the Spartan but I really don't think this is going to be as difficult. I hope not, anyway. It will suck, for sure, but I think it will be quicker torture than the Spartan.

Food:
apple
banana & cupcake - I wasn't going to have a cupcake after the race, but Sebastian brought one to me and I couldn't turn him down.
quesadilla burger w/ fries, brownie & ice cream - The three of us split the dessert.
pasta salad & cheese

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Storm The Beach - Week 4 - Friday

Team camp this morning was upper body, thankfully. Assisted pull ups, lots of push ups and some core work.

Food:
coffee w/ half & half
egg & cheese omelet - I really wanted to eat the biscuit that came with it, but I didn't.
turkey salad w/ Caesar dressing
fruit smoothie
big mac salad

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Storm The Beach - Week 4 - Thursday

Weird day today. I wasn't hungry at all until late afternoon.

coffee w/ half & half
banana
chicken wings, avocado & celery w/ bleu cheese

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Storm The Beach - Week 4 - Wednesday

I hated every freaking minute of team camp today. We were on the beach, running, crawling, running some more. I'm so out of shape and it pisses me off. I get frustrated when I can't keep up and I get embarrassed that I'm always bringing up the rear, that people stop and wait for me, or worse - come back for me. This is not who I am! I am not this fat slug sitting in this chair. A year ago I was doing Insanity, for crying out loud. It made me cry as much as team camp does but still...I hate myself so much. And I hate even more that people care and are supportive and encouraging. I don't want to do Storm The Beach in two weeks. I feel sorry for my team. I'm seriously tempted to withdraw from the race. I won't get my money back but I don't care. I have no business competing in an event in which other people are going to have to hold back just so I can be a part of the team. That's not fair to them. I feel like they have to babysit me in the back of the pack.

Food:
coffee w/ half & half
chicken & salsa
cream of broccoli soup, burger (no bun)
cheese

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Storm The Beach - Week 4 - Tuesday

I ran a bit with my GO FAR kids today. It wore me out. I must start exercising regularly, six days a week. Damn it. I'm sick of being lazy.

Food:
coffee w/ half & half
chicken w/ salsa, apple cobbler - I shouldn't have had the cobbler but it was so good.
taco salad w/ a few Doritos - I shouldn't have had the Doritos.
M&Ms - yeah, yeah. I shouldn't have had the M&Ms
iced coffee - I probably should not have had coffee so late at night - I won't be able to sleep.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Storm The Beach - Week 4 - Monday

I didn't go to team camp today. I overslept. I'm really pissed because they were running the big hill at the Wright Brothers Memorial. I won't be doing another session of this once Storm The Beach is over. I've missed two days. I'm not cut out for this.

Food:
coffee w/ skim milk
sausage
meatballs w/ baked potato - I should not have had the potato.
steak w/ mashed cauliflower

Storm The Beach - Week 3 - Sunday

Official weigh in today, for a starting number for low carbing. 1mother6fucking9. I hate myself.

I guess, since all my other friends are using it, I'll be using MyFitnessPal again. I'm 22Gnomes there, if anyone wants to be my friend.

Food:
cheese & pepper omelet w/ turkey bacon
lettuce w/ turkey breast, peppers, tomato & homemade honey mustard dressing
almonds
shrimp & broccoli w/ garlic butter
almonds - I didn't measure these out and I didn't put them in MFP. I know I overate. I wasn't particularly hungry to begin with.
peanut butter & jelly sandwich w/ Whoppers (the candy) - damn it!!!!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Storm The Beach - Week 3 - Saturday

Not much to say. I cleaned the house like a man woman today and ate all sorts of carby crap. I'm excited to start low carb tomorrow.