Surviving the Storm

I have to admit - after the last 12 weeks of training, I thought I'd be so much more excited for my first half marathon than I'm feeling right now.  It's crazy how quickly things can change when you unexpectedly take 7 days off from training.

Last Saturday morning I boarded a flight to New York City for a quick 48-weekend trip to visit my two best friends.  We hadn't seen each other since February and I found a super cheap flight.  I knew I was going to be missing my long run on Saturday, but I ran Friday night and I was going to be back on Monday so I wasn't concerned about missing any training.  Did I know the biggest storm was heading up the East coast on its way to NYC and still go anyway? Yes.  But I'm an east coast girl and I've been through a lot of hurricanes.  I've also been through a lot of hurricane prepping.  I went anyways. [obviously.]

Saturday & Sunday in the city were amazing, and my flight home to Nashville was cancelled well before the storm hit, so I knew I'd be there a couple of days.  A couple of days turned into 7 days, but really, I was excited about getting stuck and having all of that extra time to spend with my friends.  We lost power on Monday in Manhattan, but didn't have any of the flooding.  (We also only had 1 flashlight, no back-up batteries and were mostly concerned about getting wine & beer than non-perishable food.)  We literally got through it day by day.  3 days straight without power, hot water or cell phone service.  We finally made it down to Brooklyn on Wednesday where there was power and got to spend the last couple of days at least with power & showers.  Needless to say there was no running those 7 days.  There was also barely food.  There was A LOT of drinking.

I made it back to Nashville on Friday and I'm glad to be back but also still going through a lot of emotions of what I have just gone through - I don't know if you're allowed to have post-partum after making it through a hurricane...but I might have that.  I know I'll feel better, just trying to get back to a "normal" routine.

Normal is now finishing up training for the Hard Rock Half Marathon.  Yesterday I grabbed my ipod, set it for 1 hour and headed out for a power walk.  I knew that running wasn't even something I should attempt, so I didn't.  I had a great walk on a beautiful, warm Saturday.  I am feeling SUPER nervous for Saturday's half but also know that it's about the experience and I know it will be a good one and that I'll go out and have a good time doing what I love doing.

I do want to know what everyone's half routine is -
   What do you eat the day before?
   What do you eat / drink the morning of?
   Do you stop and get any of those gel things along the way?
   What miles do you get water, and what miles do you get sports drink?

6 day countdown begins!

Also, if you are able, or feel so inclined, here's a link to the American Red Cross website to make a donation to Hurricane Sandy disaster relief - there truly aren't words to describe what it's like up there right now.  OR even easier, you can text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.