As you know, I ran a half marathon this summer. I ran on it on August 2nd, and I started training on June 1. It's definitely my biggest running achievement so far. It's kind of like doing an internship if the half is the internship and the full marathon is the job. If you do a half marathon and know that's your limits - just stick to 10 milers, 5Ks, 10Ks, and halves. If you think to yourself "I could do that twice", then get ready to train for a full marathon. I had that thought at the end, so looks like I have my work cut out for me. 

Of course, I picked up some tips while I was in training to share with my fellow runners. I'd love to share them with you guys through a few posts. First, I'd like to share with you guys how I ate!

Half marathons are way different than 5Ks, not just in distance, but also in fueling. Instead of making sure you carb up the night before and have your energy before the race, you have to be on a hydration and nutrition plan. 

During training: Training for a half marathon can be 2-3 months long. Staying on a totally strict diet can drive anyone crazy for that long. Let yourself have your "cheat meals" and a few alcoholic beverages, if you drink, every once and a while. You WILL run it off. I alway say I'm  in a constant state of hunger, and that's because I'm a runner. You may feel a little ravenous, but that's because you're burning way more than calories than usual. One thing I learned in exercise nutrition class is that if you don't give yourself back the amino acids you lost in training, your performance will not be as good the next day. The golden rule with exercise is carbohydrates before the workout, protein after. 

Food on a training day (options):

Pre-run: Banana | Luna bar | Belvita | Peanut butter on whole wheat bread

Post-run ( big breakfast): Egg white scramble w veggies and 2 pieces of whole grain toast | greek yogurt with peanut butter on whole grain toast | Veggies, chicken, and quinoa or whole grain pasta | meat, veggies, and mozzarella on whole grain bread

Lunch/ snack: Veggie chips | grapes | apple | cottage cheese | 

dinner: Chicken, rice, quinoa or whole grain pasta, goat cheese, veggies | whole grain pizza crust with veggies and chicken | salmon and veggies

post-dinner snack: "nice cream" | frozen yogurt | veggie chips | boom chicka pop

The night before: CARB UP! This is your pasta party. Have a pasta dish with veggies and chicken or fish. Veggies are carbs, too! Bread is also good to have too!

The morning of: I personally had a bagel with cream cheese. Some people say dairy before a race is a no-go, but I'm always fine with it. If you want to spread peanut butter on your bagel, go for it! I had this about 3 hours before my race. I drank two bottles of water before my race, too. Hydration before is more important than during. A half hour before my race, I had some energy beans.

During: In my flipbelt , I kept a pack of energy jelly beans, and a pack of energy chews. They also had gatorade, water, and BOOM! energy gels at every water stop, which was every 2 miles. I had my first boost at 7 miles. I had an energy chew. Then, at 9 miles, I had some energy gel. Around mile 11, I had some more chews. These really helped me during the last four miles.

What are your favorite foods to fuel up with?

In sixth grade, I made another of my random life decisions that has lead to something that is a huge part of my life. Honestly, that's how I make all of my decisions. I randomly decided to join cross country as a fall sport once I was in sixth grade and eligible to participate in after-school competitive sports. I always played sports: from tee-ball to softball, from basketball, now to cross country. I always ran for basketball to stay in shape, so I figured, why not? Joining cross country was the first step in my becoming a three season athlete physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Like all athletes, I had a rough beginning with the sport. I remember two things that stuck out to me: one time, someone asked me, "Nikki, do you do cross country because your parents told you to, or because you felt like it?" Another time, I remember my coach telling us that we were going to run four miles during practice, and I remember thinking "Four miles????!?! What?" However, in 7th and 8th grade I was either second or third place every race. I realized that I liked the feeling of flying through the woods, trekking up the hills, and sailing into that finish line. I lived to grab that popsicle stick at the finish line.

It was only natural for me to run in high school. It was also helpful that a few girls from my private middle school also ran for my high school. There were so many of us, that there was a joke that we just took over the team. The familiarity helped me assimilate into the team, which helped me adapt to high school culture in general. I had been running with the girls all summer at captain's practices three days a week, and we had practices with the coach and the full team a week before school started. That was nice for two reasons: I got to keep up on all the drama of my hometown of the summer, and when school started, I had someone to talk to or eat lunch with if I didn't have any friends to eat with. 

My high school team.

The first few years of high school, I wasn't what you would call an elite athlete. I didn't make varsity until junior year, and that was only for one race. It was a combination of me being not "varsity level", and other girls being naturally better. I say naturally, because though I am not a "natural" of any sorts, nor was I born with the perfect running body, but I am a hard worker. When giving out an award to me, my coach would say, "If I told Nikki to run into a wall, she would." The thing is, I probably would. My college coach said the same thing. Every hill workout, long run, and repeat workout, I would do the brunt of it without complaining. My senior year I saw my times drop and my ranks improve, along with my confidence level.

However, I was still convinced that I wasn't going to run in college. I wasn't top varsity so I didn't think that I would be good enough to be competitive in college. However, before my college orientation, I searched the times of the women's team for their 5Ks and I realized that I could totally be competitive with them. That, the fact that it is a DIII school, and that I met the coach and a future teammate and friend, Claire, at orientation and they were really nice solidified the fact that I was going to be an NCAA athlete in the future.

After my first college race. We had to drive to New Hampshire and got caught in traffic. We showed up the race five minutes before the gun went off, so we weren't stretched or warmed up at all. I also ran with a newly opened scab that I had to have someone haphazardly wrap on the bus. You can see the wrapping, I'm the fourth one from the right. Everyone said that they would have quit if it was their first race, but I would never quit. I would give anything to go back to how things were there.

Joining the SSU cross country team was the best decision I ever made in my collegiate life. It helped me in a similar way socially as it did in high school. Moving in early and taking a ferry from Boston to Spectacle Island to do mile repeats was a bonding experience I could never have with any other group of friends. Now, I can call my team some of the best friends I will ever have and will ever meet.

In my first year of intercollegiate competition, I was either second or third place every race, and had a 22:52 PR for a 5K time. My second year, I was either third or fifth place every race and had 23:34 PR for my 5K. Even though every "tempo Tuesday", hill repeat, ten mile run on Sundays, and 

nerve-wracking race was difficult, terrifying, and testing but was so worthwhile. Even in the moment when I hated it, I lived for it. I loved every minute of it. I loved myself for keeping to it, dedicating and disciplining myself. I kept my body and mind in great shape. Through being a collegiate athlete, I have gained time-management, professional, and team building skills. I've gotten to run in beautiful places such as Mt. Greylock, Colt State Park, Gallows Hill, Salem Willows, Marblehead Neck, Castle Rock, Spectacle Island, Salem-Beverly Bridge, many beauty rail trails around Massachusetts. I've gotten the opportunity to meet a great group of individuals that I can call my team, friends, and support system.

A very cold conference meet this year. I'm in the second row on the right.

If you couldn't already tell by the sappiness of this post, the university due to budget problems has chosen to cut the cross country program from the athletic roster. I've dealt with this many ways these past fews weeks: anger, tears, rant, despair, etc. However, I thought it would only be right to get some feelings out with a blog post. Cross country has been in my life for eight years. Running will never stop for me. My team will always be my team, my coach my coach, my friends my friends, my awards my awards, my miles ran my miles ran. They can take my program from me, but they can't take my feet from me.  They will never take the open road from me. I will always stay running.

Our first race this year. Lady Viking huddle!

I feel like a part of me is gone. Cross country has been ever-present in my life sine sixth grade. Even though I played basketball, softball, and lacrosse, I was always just wishing it could be fall again so I could toe the line with my best friends. There was no off-season. Where do I go from here? A running club is going to be started at the University. There is some interest in that. I'll do that to stay in shape and do the thing I love, but, in all honesty it's not the same. The administration knows it's not the same. I'll take the bone they're throwing at us for now, but I know half of my effort in the running club will be fundraising so that in two more years or so, the administration can see the funds raised and perhaps raise cross country to varsity level again. I won't be here for it, but if I can no longer be benefitted by the perks of being a collegiate athlete, I want another lost freshmen to find their place through such a great sport.