Getting Ready to Wind Up

Here we go again, I am running another half. I haven't posted anything about my last one, but here is what I have done this year so far:
The Hip Hop Half in March
The Helvetia Half in June.

And here we go again. September 7th, 2013 I will be doing the Gateway to the Gorge Half. What am I focusing on differently this time? Carb loading. I haven't done that much in the last half's but this time I am.

I have noticed what everyone else eludes to with regards to eating high carbohydrates before running. It's like your a super hero. You feel great, you have excess energy, and the run is amazing. If you don't do that before a run, you roll the dice.

So I have researched and looked for how to do this the 48 hours before I run. I plan to eat pasta for the two dinners. I always get up at 4 am on race day and eat two whole wheat bagels. In general the 48 hours ahead of time, I will look specifically for carbs in my meals. I need to get my percentage of carbs into the 60+% range. That is hard to do!

Bread, pasta, potatoes, legumes, rice, sugar, etc. Yes, they all have carbs. Some are better than others. The temptation is to put a meat with your carb right? Umm....well that hasn't always had a great effect on my body during run time. So it's carbs.

I am excited to think that I will get that kind of super hero boost in the run doing this. I am also well prepared physically. I anticipate this race to have some challenging hills that I am not used to and could push my finish time. But that is fine, that is the challenge of racing.

At the Helvetia Half in June, I worked hard to take minutes off my time. As I was entering the stadium with the finish line in sight.....suddenly race official jumps in front of a group of us and blocks us. Emergency! Ambulance needs to leave the stadium. We need to wait. I am sympathetic to an ambulance and it's occupant but this is a race! Do we really only have one exit/entrance to the stadium? Can we not designate one for emergencies and one for runners? It is nagging me what my true chip time was in that race. And I am a little bitter.

In conclusion. We are looking to shave a few minutes off. We are looking for carb loading to add extra energy. And we are looking to have some fun.