While the quantity of notably accomplishments in my fitness journey was low this week, the quality was high. I had a big accomplishment that I am very excited to share!

Oops… I ran a half marathon

I mentioned last week that I have decided to sign up to run the Columbus Half Marathon in October. I have signed up and I have started training. My strategy is to alternate a mile of running with a mile of walking throughout the marathon.

Signing up for a half marathon means I am now training for a half marathon. Last weekend I did 10.7 miles and I was at the end of my range. I couldn’t have gone any further. So I decided to increase my distance very slightly during this week’s long run on Saturday. I wanted to try to get to 11 miles this week.

On Saturday morning I got up and ate a slightly larger than normal breakfast and set out for my run. 11 miles is quite the distance and I expected to cover a significant amount of ground in our wonderful city, but I didn’t have a real plan. I walked to the Scioto Audubon Park (home of the Operation Melt First Time 5k) and hopped onto the Scioto trail. This trail continues through downtown along the riverfront and ultimately forms a big loop plus there is an intersection with the Olentangy Trail which continues for over 20 miles. So when I got to the end of the Scioto Trail I got on the Olentangy for this first time ever.

Ultimately I went from German Village to the Brewery District to downtown to Grandview to Harrison West to Victorian Village to the Short North to the Arena District and then back to the Scioto Trail. It was quite the distance and had lots of fun and interesting sights. Plus the American Heart Association was doing their Heart Walk through much of downtown and I accidentally found myself cutting across the field of walkers – sorry friends!

Around the start of mile 10 it dawned on me that I was more than a mile from home so I was going to end up going more than 11 miles. That is when I made a different decision…. I decided I was going to try to do the full 13.1 miles of a half marathon. I was already 10 miles in and wasn’t feeling bad. I had a little pain here and there but nothing major.

I did it…. I ran a half marathon!

I hit the 13.1 mile mark at 2 hours and 50 minutes which is an average pace of 12:55 per mile, not bad for alternating run/walk miles! This is also much faster than the 3 hours and 30 minutes pace that I estimated when signing up for the Columbus Marathon.

When I got home I was definitely sore. I was exhausted. Plus I was starving! The run burnt over 2000 calories and my TOTAL daily calorie target is usually around 1900, so it was taxing. I did a quick stretching routine to help get the recovery process going and I drank a protein shake to start tackling the carlories. I also started drinking tons of water because I didn’t take any on my run. I hate carrying things in my hands while running so I end up not hydrating myself. I think I am going to need to figure out a solution here.

Then I proceeded to eat amazing amounts of food through the day including lunch at a BBQ place and a prime rib dinner.

As draining as the run was I was still in fine shape to walk around and do other things through the day. Yes I was more physically tired than after a normal long run but not so much so that it made me useless for the day.

I need to decide what this means for my training. Do I try to do this every weekend or should I take it a bit easier leading up to the day? I am also training for a 4-miler in 2 weeks that is NOT alternating run/walk miles so I think that needs to be my focus in the next 2 weeks to ensure I am ready for that. But I am confident, I have done a 4-mile run before. Even better I am now confident in the half marathon because I have done that before!

XL is Extra Large

My other notable moment this week was clothes shopping.

When I started this journey I was a size 52 waist, size 30 inseam and a 3XL shirt. I was super excited when I got down to an XL shirt and size 38 waist because that meant I could shop anywhere and have clothes to choose from. But that wasn’t the end of my story.

One evening this week Liz and I went to Kohl’s to shop for clothes. I used to be bored in Kohl’s because they had nothing in my size… not this time! I had tons to choose from and learned some new things about my clothing sizes.

XL shirts are too big! I am now a large or smaller depending on the shirt. That is amazing!

My waist size is holding fairly steady at 38 inches (which is 14 inches less than where I started) but I am right on the border of a 36 inch waist.

Finally is the strangest detail…. My inseam is now a 32 instead of a 30. When I wear 30 inch inseam pants (most of what I own now) they are a little too short. Is it possible that I grew in height or is it just the cut? Very strange!

So fall is just around the corner… I am going to need to buy an ENTIRE new fall wardrobe! But that means that I am going to first need to choose a look I want to go for. This is something that was never an option before. What a great additional benefit of my journey!

Check back next week for more!

Last week’s stats (8/13-8/19):
Distance walked/run: 43.28 miles (+9.31 vs. LY)
Total calories burnt: 23,990 (-5,794 vs. LY)
Total calories consumed: 15,009 (+2,580 vs. LY)
Net calories this week: -8,981 (+8,374 vs. LY)
Weight change: 2.7 pounds lost (+2.7 vs LY)
Best Weight Day: Wednesday, -128.2 total pounds down