The Final Countdown

If that song is not already playing in your head then this post is a fail.

My last pre-ultra marathon run - 3 easy miles at 9:26 average pace. 

Some last minute preparations:

 

Yup, I'm that person with the race guide.

Counting and packing all my Gus (Lily didn't have any so I had to make sure I have enough for TWO people to run 31 miles).

 

Pre (coffee), during (Gatorade) and post race drinks. Not including all the water, obvi. Apparently recovering from a race takes a lot of drinking. The wine on the far right is clearly the most important, though.

Yesterday I had two goals:

1. Actually carb - load with healthy food and not eat anything that would make me say sarcastically on the blog "well, it's carb-loading, right?". FAIL.

2. Vacuum. FAIL

Not quite sure why I thought number 1 was a possibility, and I'll explain why.

I really lived up to the name of my blog in preparing for this race. Hydration, nutrition planning, studying the course map? Um, no, the title of the blog is CHOCOLATE is my life, not preparing is my life. Although, actually, that would be pretty fitting.

If you are a distance runner, you know the importance of eating amazingly delicious food to replenish the calories. If you are a distance runner who DOESN'T look forward to eating something ridiculously terrible for you after a long run and just refuels with gatorade and broccoli, you should probably stop reading now because this blog is not for you.

The day before the Baltimore Marathon, I made Reese's Cheesecake using this recipe that is supposedly a rip off of Cheesecake Factory's. Amazing. (The pics are from when I made it with snickers for Eric's 30th birthday, I guess I was too busy eating it after the marathon to take pictures).

 After the Shamrock Marathon I ordered the never ending bathtub of ice cream. Look at the size of what I got of generic vanilla ice cream, and don't let my smile for the camera fool you.

Um, bathtub? Looks more like a soup cup. And I almost went ballistic when they were out of whipped cream at the toppings bar. Luckily the manager brought me more.

So you can imagine how important it is to be eating a good dessert tomorrow night, either on earth or in heaven, depending on how the race goes. I remembered seeing this amazing dessert that Kari  from Running Ricig and Janae  from Hungry Runner Girl recently made, from my new dessert website obsession, How Sweet It Is. I'm not going to admit the number of hours I've spent just look at that site and drooling.

But I couldn't find it. And I wanted to tweet Kari. But I didn't know how. Luckily Kararecipe  ASAP! Now me, Lily, Jen, and Casi will be dining on amazing brownies after our races (Casi is randomly doing a half nearby so I'm super excited she is staying with us for girls weekend!). taught me, and only made fun of me for about five minutes for it. This lesson may have changed my life, but more on that later. Thanks, Kari, for getting me the

But, as amazing as the brownies are, not exactly what I want to eat the night BEFORE the race. This presented a problem.

As I'm sure most of my readers are aware, I require dessert nightly. Not want. REQUIRE. However, staying in a hotel tonight makes it difficult to have my usual, ice cream.

So the only solution was to make another batch of healthier brownies for the night before the race. Only a truly devoted dessert fanatic would do this. Check out the difference in ingredients.

 My favorite is the tbsp of butter compared to the entire stick. You can see my Powerade from hydrating. You also learn that I buy exclusively generic brands unless it's sold at Costco.

 I don't have a rolling pin, so I crush oreos with a mini bat.

The race guide includes a menu. I like that. Never done a race with a menu before.

Why yes, I did put it in a plastic bag so I can bring it with me and when I am delirious from running and heat I'll still know what to order at the next aid station.

I went to yoga last night and now I'm totally relaxed and stretched for the race.

After work today, Lily, Jen and I will head down to the hotel, meet Casi, probably freak out some more and sleep for about four hours, and then its race time!

I already demanded internet from the hotel room so hopefully it will workout and a recap will be posted ASAP.

Thanks so much for all your support and comments, as I run, I'll totally be thinking of how to describe it on the blog. Thank god Kara will understand.

Happy Friday!