Newport Marathon Race Report – DNF

The United Healthcare Newport RI Marathon was this past Sunday. Going into this race I had some mixed feelings. My training went really well up until the point that my right foot started acting up. It started out as a tightness in the sole of my foot when I woke up one morning and I immediately thought – oh no, the dreaded plantar fasciitis!! Thankfully this happened after I had already completed all of my super long training runs, but it was just days before I was scheduled to run the Zooma Half Marathon in Falmouth. So after that race, I started to feel my foot a little more and kept off of it (no running) for the remainder of my taper. That’s right, no running for the two weeks prior to the marathon!  I did all of my taper cardio on a spin bike and and hoped for the best while working on healing my foot.

By race morning my foot felt really good, the weather was perfect and I had high hopes for a great race!

The race start was flanked by beautiful beaches on either side of the street.

Porta potties as far as the eye can see!

Packet pickup was quite organized, but the start of the race was delayed while we waited for shuttle busses to finish bringing runners to the start. The start was also a little weird with no banner marking the starting line, no pace markers for runners to seed themselves and lots of spectators mixed in with runners on the street waiting. Oh well! I waited patiently with the crowd knowing that it could only help me not to go out too fast.

Can you find the starting line? Me neither!

My plan was to aim for a 4:20 finish; based on my half marathon time two weeks before this was quite conservative (over 10 minutes more than my predicted time). My aim was to finish well and not kill myself. The first twelve miles were great! I was sticking to my plan and averaged 10 minute miles. After the nine mile mark I met up with my family and got a fresh bottle of water. The weather was gorgeous and the views stunning! We passed many of the grand “cottages” that make Newport famous and had views of the water in multiple locations. I was feeling great and the pace was very comfortable through a couple of rolling hills. At mile twelve, I looked at my watch and saw that I was right on track – two hours; I had plenty of energy left in my legs for the next half. I looked up and saw a woman’s shirt that read ‘slacker’. As I turned to tell her she was no slacker, I stepped right into a pothole with my left foot.

As my ankle turned, I went down, and did a sort of barrel roll as I went, which kept me from doing any additional damage. I got up and walked a few steps, it felt like my ankle might be bruised but would be okay, and I started running again. Another runner held my gloves for me as I reattached my bib, which had ripped off in the fall. With each step my ankle hurt more; after another mile I knew there was no way I could continue on for the remaining thirteen. With tears in my eyes, I pulled off the course and asked a volunteer to help me find medical help, then called my husband. What a bitter disappointment! After training all summer and having a great start, it was all over.

The EMT immobilized my foot before driving me to the medical tent.

After I finished my pity party and dried my tears, I regrouped. I realize just how lucky I am that my injury was not worse, and it’s only a minor sprain. It’s not bad enough to require a boot, just an ace bandage, ice, and rest. Days later, my ankle is already starting to feel better as I hobble around. There will always be another race. My goal is to fully heal my left ankle AND the plantar fasciitis on my right foot over the next few months. All of that time will give me plenty of opportunity to research potential races for the coming year!

Snacking Well

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged and if your life is entwined with the scholastic calendar like mine is, you will hopefully understand why! Now that October is well underway and the boys are settled into their new routines (new schools for all three this year!) I can hopefully focus a little more attention back on other things.

One thing that I’ve been meaning to blog about for awhile are a great packaged snack option – roasted chickpeas. I’ve talked about roasting your own chickpeas before and how delicious and nutritious they can be, but what if you can’t or don’t want to make them yourself? What if you are out and about looking for a good crunchy snack option in a store? I’ve seen these in a couple of grocery stores and at least one coffee shop so I have hope that this type of healthy snack will start to trickle down to other stores soon.

There are two different types of roasted chickpeas I’ve tried over the past year and I like them both. one is The Good Bean. The flavors are sea salt, cracked pepper, chili & lime and cinnamon. I’ve tried the cinnamon and thought they were very good. Each package has 2 servings, and although the cinnamon does have some sugar added, it’s just a touch and doesn’t add much to the overall nutrition profile. Each serving has lots of protein and fiber, as well as a little healthy fat; this is the right combination to keep you full and satisfied longer! The second brand of roasted chickpeas I’ve tried is from Biena. Their flavors are honey roasted, barbeque, sea salt, and cinnamon maple. I’ve tried the honey roasted and loved them. Once again there are about 2 servings per container and they have lots of fiber and protein without tons of added sugar or unhealthy fat. Just lots of great crunch!

One thing you need to keep in mind if you choose a chickpea snack, is to make sure you have plenty of water to wash them down. These are high in fiber and you’ll need to drink plenty of fluids with them!  I also wouldn’t recommend eating the entire bag at one sitting unless you are already used to a high fiber diet. That would give you about 12 grams of fiber which is almost as much as the typical American eats in a day (about 15 grams). So even though they are very yummy, don’t overindulge right away! Enjoy your chickpeas in moderation!