In One Week (Whole40, Day 37)

Four more days (including today) of this Whole40, and then I'll have some time off for treats again, which I'm very excited about. I made more spicy tuna cakes this week and they're really yummy. I don't make them as often as I should since they're time-consuming and the good tuna is expensive, but...omg they're good.

And a week from today I'll be on a plane, to Seattle and from thence to Paris. I'll be visiting France for the first time in over ten years, and seeing Disneyland Paris for the first time ever.

On Saturday the 24th I'll be running a 5K through Disneyland Paris.
And on Sunday the 25th I'll be running the inaugral Disneyland Paris Half Marathon.

Oh. Holy. Cats.

Looking at it seriously, I don't think it's really quite hit me that I will actually be doing this. On the day that I completed my first Couch to 5K run/walk workout, Ashley emailed me out of the blue to ask me to run the Half in Disneyland Paris with her and I laughed out loud. I honestly didn't think (sometimes I still don't think) I would be able to run 13.1 miles in a row, on purpose.

I was supposed to "complete" the 13.1 training by running the entire Half Marathon length on Sunday, but I pushed my long run to Tuesday because of the insanity that Love's Labour's Lost has been (people have fallen through the stage, set pieces have come crashing down, suffice to say I will not miss the San Mateo venue whatsoever, only the people in the cast and crew.). On Tuesday night I ran through the park and got to about 8.7 miles when a cop, with his lights flashing, drove through the entirety of Central Park and informed me in a bored-sounding voice that the park closed at sundown.

Does it really? People are there after dark all the time. Lame. Oh well.

So...just under nine miles is good, but not great. Hopefully at some point this week I can carve out time to cross-train on the elliptical at the gym, and then maybe this weekend I'll do a test 13.1-mile run. As exciting as it would be to run my very first actual half marathon, AT the actual event, I'd feel a little more confident if I knew I could make it all the way without passing out or getting sick.

I'm excited and terrified. But it'll be great to see Ashley again. And, my friend Jen (not blogger Jen but another theatre Jen, who runs every event I can think of) will be there with her family, too! We're going to try and meet up to bash around Disneyland Paris for a bit.

Despite running more than I ever have (literally) and sticking to the Whole30-style eating plan, I don't feel any lighter and I don't know that I've lost any more weight. This is disappointing, even though I know that technically Whole30 isn't a weight loss diet (I fully admit I adopted it to lose weight, even more so than to improve my health). Running long distance is supposed to be very helpful for weight loss.

But the truth is, I haven't been this small (relatively small, not small in general) in easily ten years. So I have no idea how fast weight loss will occur at this point, even with regular running and a strict diet. And, my body really REALLY wants to gain this weight back, I've seen that pattern when I measure and weigh myself after only a few days off-plan. It grabs ahold of whatever it can and tries to store it for the nuclear winter it thinks is coming. :-( We're ok, body. I don't need this much fat on me for hibernation. I promise I'll always find food.

Tonight is my first rehearsal for Matthew Briar and the Age of Resurrection. I have no idea what to expect, but I'm excited about the project.

Oh, and the film I was in for San Francisco's 48-Hour Film Project is online now. I play (of all things) a jogger. :-)

So much excitement and activity lately. Holy cats.