Frosty Trail Run race report and Operation Lose the Gut

I read about the Frosty Trail Run and it appealed to me: winter trails, new-to-me venue, and very few participants (there were 6 people registered in the 1 hour last year).  I debated between 1 and 3 hours but I really didn't want to be out there running for 3 hours if I hated it.   
Robin unfortunately didn't make the drive, but there were 2 people I knew:

Rhonda and me hoping that we wouldn't meet mid-race again.

 Fellow Supermom Alison!

The course was a 2K loop and for whatever reason, no one ventured outside until 1 minute before race start, so I didn't get satellites on my Garmin until about 400 m in.  The loop was not technical nor very hilly, but a lot of it had ankle/mid calf deep snow.  The trail was just starting to get worn in when I was done, I wonder if it had turned to mud soup with the thaw at the end of the 6 hours?  At about 1K in, I looked behind me and saw no one.  Oh well.  Managed 3.5 loops, following Rhonda and her guide for all but the last kilometre.  The loop had markers every 500 m, and when the air horn blew, you took note of which marker you were closest to, walked back to the start, and honour system reported to the RD, who was sitting at a table with his laptop.  

UPDATE: official results posted.  I was 4/6 female and 11/13 overall.  woohoo!!

Following Rhonda and her guide.  Photo by Christopher Giesler.

When I finished, I evaluated whether or not I'd want to be out there for another 2 hours, and the answer was a resounding, "NO!" But I felt it was a bit silly to drive 1 hour each way to run for just 1 hour.  Maybe next year if there's less snow....

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I had a serious metabolism slowdown when I turned 20, resulting in a 40 pound weight gain.  At the time my exercise consisted of sitting on my ass and my diet could be best described as eat whatever the hell you want, however much you want, so in hindsight, it wasn't very surprising.

Miss Fat Ass, Y2K New Years, about 9 months before I started exercising.

In the past year or so, 10-15 pounds have crept up on me.  At first I attributed it to a few too many AYCE sushi lunches, but I cut those out and my pants still kept getting tighter.  It especially rankles, because I got back to my pre-pregnancy weight in about 2 months and the weight that stared at me last week was only 3 pounds less than what I weighed when full term pregnant with Bryden.  I suppose the silver lining was that I dress well so no one noticed my expanding girth?

I've used Sparkpeople since 2006 for tracking exercise and community on the message boards, but never used the nutrition tracker, despite knowing that people who track their food are far more successful with weight loss.  Previously, I lost weight and maintained with the South Beach diet, which includes no counting, but clearly this approach was not working for me any more.  

So I've been logging my food for about a week now.  I've set Spark to give me a calorie range based on 0.25 pound loss a week, I'm not in any hurry.  But imagine my surprise this morning when I weighed in at the gym after my usual weekend eating - more controlled though, I paid attention to portions and didn't eat until the point of pain - and saw a loss of 3 pounds!! Now I know most of this is water weight, but I am ecstatic.  Food tracking isn't for everyone, but it makes me aware of portions.  Plus, I pre-track, so I'm unlikely to deviate from the plan, since I would have to change my tracker.