LI Half Marathon Weekend and Popping Popcorn

The winner of the Matcha Green Tea Giveaway is Manda O! Thanks to everyone who entered; Manda, I will email you this morning!

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The next time I have a race approaching, please remind me that I need to adjust my taper plan to include the following requirement:

**No ballet flats or heels for ten days prior to race day**

If you follow me on instagram, you may have seen that I found myself down in Union Square by Max Brenner last Friday afternoon. Best chocolate chip cookies like ever by the way.

What you didn’t see were the ballet flats on my feet, which, while they are comfortable, should not be allowed for a half-marathon runner approaching a taper week especially when she decides to walk a total of oh, 70 blocks for the day followed by a long run the next morning and high heels at night.

All week my feet have felt a bit weird. They felt fine after that city adventure, fine during my long run last weekend yet a cumulative effect occurred which I really didn’t connect to the ballet flats until half way through my run yesterday when my right foot bothered me and my left calf cramped up.

I finished out my run, just slowing down the pace to work through the discomfort. It was nothing serious but annoying enough to interrupt what started out as a good run.

In case you are interested, I came across this article from Runner’s World regarding “taper traps” and the common mistakes people make in the weeks before a race.

They really need to add wearing ballet flats to galavant yourself around Manhattan to their list of what NOT to do.

Can we talk popcorn for a minute? Suddenly I find myself in a popcorn phase and decided to try popping the plain kernels in the brown paper bag.

Have you heard about this? Did you know you can pop your own kernels in the microwave just using a brown lunch bag?

Fascinating, isn’t it? All you do is put a few tablespoons of the kernels in the brown bag and set the microwave to the popcorn setting and voila – popcorn.

You kind of like my dessert bowl, don’t you. I have a really nice collection of dessert bowls, one day I will show you all of them, I promise.

This popcorn method is so super easy, much cheaper than buying already popped popcorn and much healthier than the bags of microwaved popcorn.

Aside from the additional fat, calories and sodium lurking in microwave popcorn bags, studies show that those bags contain all sorts of harmful chemicals and toxins and have been linked to cancer.

Five Scary Facts About Microwaved Popcorn 

I like this new little method of mine and gives me a reason to use the brown paper lunch bags in my pantry since my son has decided he is too cool to bring lunch to school these days.

So the race. It’s Sunday. I haven’t planned out my outfit just yet but I am leaning towards my favorite Lulu Pants versus the skirt and no Pro Compression socks.

What I wore for the Long Island Half Marathon last year.

Now hear me out on the compression socks: I love them. Really I do.

But, I haven’t been running in them much this winter and I totally noticed in the race a few weeks ago that my feet and legs felt weird from suddenly wearing the compression socks again.

It is entirely possible that I felt weird because the rest of me felt sick but the thing about the compression socks is that they are much thinner than my usual socks making the sneaker fit differently.

Can you follow what I am saying? A thinner sock affects how you lace and tie your shoes. It is a different feeling. I am not looking for any type of different feeling on Sunday.

If you want to know the truth, I slightly traumatized myself by feeling sick and not finishing the half last month. I know I can run this distance, I know I can run this race but mentally the last race has definitely affected me which is probably the main reason I must run this Sunday.

Not to mention, the Long Island half last year was a great experience for me; not just a PR race but a local race where I got to run past the home of my Islanders and down all of the streets I have grown up around.

My father used to run this half every year and while I always made fun of him for talking running all of the time and whipping out the wallet sized photo of himself crossing the New York City Marathon finish line, I now understand.

Each race is such an accomplishment. Doesn’t matter how many miles I run each week or how often I simulate a 13.1 distance on Saturdays. Running a race is a totally different experience and crossing a finish line, which I didn’t do last month, is quite a proud achievement.

And a another reason to eat cake. You better believe I will be having my favorite chocolate fudge cake Sunday night at The Cheesecake Factory.

I will probably pop in Sunday morning before I leave for the race but if for some reason I do not, I will check in on Instagram.

Have a great weekend!

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Best chocolate chip cookie you have ever had? It’s a tie for me between Disney World’s Main Street Bakery and Max Brenner.

Ever made popcorn in the brown bag?

Are you running a race this weekend? What are you wearing?