Wednesday by the Bay or You ate what?

Team training this week was back at Bayshore along Tampa Bay. I got tied up with work and got a late start. I was really anxious to run with the team since I had missed last Saturday so I rushed out of the house without any fuel in my stomach. I knew I needed something to eat but couldn't figure how to do it and still arrive on time. I looked at my Garmin and felt a quick stop might be doable.

I pulled into the Golden Arches and grabbed a large Number 1 meal (for those of you on healthy eating plans that is a Big Mac and Large order of Fries...of course, I orde red a Diet Coke). Well that all got consumed on the way to the park in Downtown Tampa. When I arrived, itwas really dark, no moon and the sunset is early now. I saw what looked like my team already out and running. I passed them and continued on down to the park where I parked my car and got out to a quiet area with no teammates milling around as I usually see before the run. I still wanted the fun of running with team and since we run out and back on the same sidewalk, I figured I would just go and see if I could catch any of the walkers. I did not take the time to stretch so I just started plodding along trying to figure what my plan was for this 5 miles. I had tried 4 minutes running with 2 minutes walking, 1 minute running with 2 minutes walking, 7 minutes running with 1 and a half minutes walking and none had been perfect. Since I was already behind everyone, I just ran. I got to the half mile mark where the neighborhood ends and the Bayshore begins. There is a concrete railing along the bay and a nice wide concrete pedestrian path separated from the car traffic by a wide grass strip. There is more light by this point from streetlights, car traffic and no trees. You can see the whole of Downtown Tampa and several high rise condos and across the Bay so the run is pretty. I was feeling pretty good when I got to Euclid which was the 1.5 mile mark and said "Why not just see how far you can run before you walk this time." I had my GU with me and my water belt so at 2 miles I took my first GU. Coach Steve had suggested one every half hour and at my pace, I was there, but still running.

I got all the way to the turnaround point at 2.5 when I finally stopped for a bit of a walk. I walked for about 2.5 minutes and decided I wanted to see if I could keep my time up since the first half (with all my MacDonald's carb and fat) really felt good. I started to run again and before I knew it, I was back at Euclid with only 1.5 miles to go. I was now trying to figure out how to get a Number 1 meal in Arizona at 5:30 am before the race. Coach Steve met me about 1.25 miles out and ran with me for a while. He asked how I was doing and I told him terrible. He said really? And I told him that I had been trying to eat healthier during my training but I never felt as good as I did tonight and I was all mixed up about how I should fuel for my half Marathon. Since he always said try everything during training so there is nothing new at race time, I began to think that MacDonald's Stock might go up by January 13 if my training took this new information into account.

I actually had enough energy at the end to kick it as I came into the parking lot and I flaunted my Superpowers as I came to the rest of the group. I explained my quandry to several of the others and they thought that maybe I had hit on the right plan for pre race carb loading.

It was a fun experience and my first Guilt Free MacDonald's meal in some time.