Alfred Day

Yes, it was brutally hot. I know a lot of people had problems and I saw some folks having trouble after the sun came up. Don't know if they pulled anybody off of the 10k, but I was heading to Disneyland on Sunday and saw someone who I think had already finished the race being tended to by an paramedics in the bus loop.

It went well, but of course nothing went according to plan. I had to be at the starting corrals by 5 and so woke up at 3:30. All I had going into the race was two protein bars. Race went well. It was around 78 degrees with 72% humidity, so the heat was a factor I hadn't prepared for. My energy level was fine through the first four miles but as soon as the sun rose and was hitting me in the face, my energy sapped pretty good. I still managed to finish with a personal best time way under what I had set for my goals. If I had it to do over again, I would stash some fruit in my hotel room the night before so I had a few more carbs that I can digest (post surgery, I don't digest things like pasta very well) that would give me more energy. Also, the water stations are good, but weren't enough for the heat, so I would take either a backpack with water or a water bottle. There's really no way to prep for the factor of weather, so I'll have to think how to approach that in the future. Thanks for the tips!

Since my runs so far have been short (no more then 10k/6.2 miles) hydration hasn't really been an issue. Once I complete this one, I plan to move on to the half marathon, but I'll start the process of that next week.

Any tips on what to eat before running my first 10k this weekend? So far protein bars and a banana or grapes have been the best combination.

I was just down in Anaheim last weekend for a Comic-Convention (across the street from the park, but unfortunately not going in because it was cost prohibitive to pay to go just for the evening), and I"m super familiar with Disneyland (lifelong Disney Geek and former Annual Passholder). I'm also just about 4 months post-op from Gastric Bypass right now. Food I think will be fine. I got away with basically a scrambled egg from Denny's in the morning, and a little bit of Jerky during the day when I needed protein for lunch. The bigger worry I think will be getting your liquids in. I brought a water bottle with me the first day of the convention and almost lost it 5-6 times just from forgetting I had it with me and leaving it in places. If I had it to do over again, and when I head for my trip back to Disneyland in September, I plan on taking one of those CamelBak backpacks so that I can make sure I'm getting in my 64 ozs. I think walking around all day in Florida heat might have a tendency to get you dehydrated. We can go longer without food than water.

Good luck! My story is similar. Surgery on Nov. 30 and as of this morning I'm down 117 since I started this journey last July. I'm running the runDisney 10k at Disneyland Park in Anaheim over Labor Day weekend. I decided to run for a charity as well (Kellsie's Hope, supporting children with cancer) because I knew that the motivation of people donating money and supporting a charity would help kick me in the butt on those days when I just didn't want to get out of my chair and run. For the 10K with my group the minimum donation was $500. I was surprised that my friends and family met that goal fairly quickly, and I've since raised it to $1000 and I'm only$62.00 away from meeting that goal as well! So I guess I'll have to run the race now! Yikes!

Here's the update. I laid off running for about a week (still walked and swam) and did ice the knee a bit. Changed to new, professionally fitted running shoes and watched a bunch of videos that taught me that my posture while running was completely wrong. Started running again this week and no knee pain to speak of. Still have a bit of stiffness if I don't cool down efficiently and still working through what to do about the arthritis pain, but overall a significant improvement.

I think most things you listed won't change after surgery. Be aware, with RNY surgery, you can no longer take NSAID's as pain medication (Anti-Inflammatory drugs like Advil, aspirin, aleve, etc.). Tylenol is still something you can take. My doctor advised me of this and I had to think long and hard about it because I have osteo-arthritis in my hip, largely aggravated by my weight and since the surgery I've been only able to take Tylenol, which isn't as powerful as the Advil I was taking prior. That being said, I'm about 104 pounds down from when I started and my arthritis hurts so much less I feel like the trade off is worth it. I used to be in pretty constant pain and now it only hurts occasionally when I over exert myself. That being said, when it is hurting the Tylenol is a bit less effective than the Advil was. But my doctor and I discussed it and I knew this was gonna be the way it was after surgery. Good luck!

I'm at 109 pounds down from my starting weight and 73 pounds down from my surgery weight. I set a "mega" goal for myself of running a 10K at Disneyland over Labor Day weekend. Things have been going well. I started with walking on the treadmill pretty briskly and then moved to a run walk cycle after I dropped into the 200's. I have worked through some significant hip pain from my osteoarthritis and my endurance and breathing are improving almost daily. I'm using one of the couch to 10k apps on my iPhone and on Sunday I went for 72 minutes/5.4 miles and felt pretty good. But Monday morning I woke up with severe knee pain and stiffness in my right knee which has prevented me from doing aerobic exercise for the last 4 days. I'm well enough to start back tonight, but I'm curious what other folks have done to address/alleviate knee pain. My runner friends have already recommended a good pair of running shoes which are on their way. I'm also going to try to adjust my gait to land more on the ball of my foot rather than the heel. Any other advice from folks who have done running while still carrying a significant amount of weight? I'm currently at 288.

I took a bunch of stuff to the hospital and ended up not using any of it. I had my iPad (never pulled it out), books, magazines (never read them). The only thing that ended up mattering was my phone charger and earbuds. And that's only because the guy in the next bed was snoring and I put them in to get some sleep. I'd say comfortable change of clothes, phone and charger and you'll be squared away.

I had a lot of appointments leading up to surgery as well. I made a decision early on to be open with my colleagues and supervisors at work about what was going on. I am also privileged enough that I have a lot of sick time saved up that I've never used. I ended up taking 2 weeks of sick time for the actual surgery. With you being on an annual contract basis, you might want to weigh whether you think your boss will be supportive of you leaving for medical reasons. It would likely be illegal to fire you for having it done, but I don't know if they simply refused to renew your contract that you'd have much of a leg to stand on. My opinion is if you're open about why you're taking the time off, you protect yourself a little bit. 1. They might be reluctant to cancel your contract on the off chance that you decide to sue them for discrimination and you win the case. 2. If you take all this time off and they don't know why, they could actually fire you for not showing up for work, and you won't have the defense of discrimination because you would have to admit you never told them the reason you were taking the time off.

I'm 2 months out and my surgeon has limited me to carrying no more than 10 pounds. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I had a significant attack of panic and anxiety on the day I got a surgery date. I wasn't so worried about the operation as I've had operations before, but I was completely freaked out that I would either a.) show up for surgery over goal weight (I was about 10 pounds below when it was scheduled), or b.) not be able to commit to the changes I needed to make after the surgery. My panic led to a couple of days of really wanting to go back to old eating habits, but I had to be mindful of my goals and not fall back into old emotional eating habits. It was a pretty hard couple of days. I also had a bit of a panic situation the morning of my surgery. Luckily a lifetime of repressing my emotions (not a healthy habit by the way) and not wanting to embarrass myself in front of my friend who was giving me a ride allowed me to go through with it. That was two months ago, and I haven't regretted it yet. Not to say I haven't had bad days, but I remain confident this was the right decision for me to make.

@@OneDollarBill I'm really looking forward to it. I was gonna do the Super Heroes Half Marathon/Thor 10K, but since I'm a DC Comics guy I figured I couldn't betray myself. :-)

Great job! I had surgery on Nov. 30 and have registered for the runDisney 10k at Disneyland on September 2. If that goes well, I may have to consider registering for the Star Wars Half Marathon.