Monthly Archives: May 2013

All is fair in Love and Running

ihaterunning

Most everyone I know that runs will tell you that this is how you feel on some runs.  I love Running, I Hate Running; I think the thought comes at different times for different runners, but I think it always comes.

During the month of May I have run more days than any other month since I have been running, this includes the months that I was training for the Princess Half.  I think because I am really shooting to increase speed and endurance for my next half I am training harder.

Last Saturday was my first run in my training over three miles and it was the first time I had run more than three miles since my last 10K in March.  It was only 4 miles, being the first time over three miles I psyched myself into thinking it would be a challenge.

Well it turns out that just as before, once I break through the first two to three miles of my run, I actually enjoy my run better.  For the first three miles I was alternating between hating running and distracting myself into a rhythm and loving running.  Close to the end of my run, around 3.5 miles, I was loving my run, I think because I was loving the fact that I pushed through the doubt in my ability to “go the distance”.

I am in my third week of training and tomorrow will be my next four mile run, next week it starts to go up from four to five and so on, up to fourteen.

nelson man

Each week, I will wonder if I can go farther, if I can go faster, I will find rhythm with my silent “I love running, I hate running” chant; I will push through and have a successful run!

Oh, the Humanity!

gAcNN

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/25/balpreet-kaur-sikh-woman-proudly-sports-facial-hair-faith_n_1913355.html

Sometimes my faith in humanity needs to be restored.  This story helped today.  My posts are usually about me, my journey, my running, etc.  I do not usually share stuff from the internet because chances are that if I found it you have already read it; but this story bears sharing and repeating.

Someone on Reddit posted the picture of this young lady with the caption – “I’m not sure what to conclude from this“.  It seems this happened months ago, like I said, if I found it, you have probably read it, I am not exactly a cutting edge internet explorer :).

The young ladies response to the original poster, and then that posters answer are priceless, hopefully real and genuine.

respect

It is critical that we respect one another and not judge; that we give and not take; that we love and not hate.

Anticipation…

Anticipation

I do not like anticipation, waiting, surprises; I am a person of action and these things make me crazy.  If I had to pick a weakness this would be it, I am not good at waiting.  I was the kid digging through my parent’s closet weeks before Christmas, and I am the person who hates when someone says “I have a surprise for you!”.

If I am waiting for something to happen, I want to be planning while I am waiting.  I think it is why I need a formal training program when getting ready for a race; it is also why I always need to have some sort of race scheduled at some time in the future.  I would love to say I am a dedicated athlete who has spent my life worshipping at this temple that is my body.   Truth is, that I have not done that, but at some I point realized that I am a planner who does not like to fail.  If I made my goal to get healthy, stay in shape, and train for a PR in every race, these things would keep me going until all of this healthy eating and exercising stuff just became part of who I am.

I am anticipating something different right now, something a little more personal and I am struggling with how to keep myself busy while waiting.  Any planning I have to do for this event is short and can be completed in a couple of days and the event is still a couple of weeks out from today.  So the good news, it is keeping me focused on my physical training and eating because these things keep my mind off of it.  The bad news, I would have to be running every waking hour to not think about it…Ugh!

patience

So, what I really need to do is practice patience and keep a positive attitude as I wait for the next new adventure in my life :).  And remind myself that sometimes it is OK to be the passenger and not the driver.

What Ferris Bueller and I have in common

day-off

We took a day off; although my day was not quite as full as Ferris’s it was still a good day.

Fridays are my rest day in my training program and since this is my first week of training I decided to do it right and took a vacation day from work.  I did not get to sleep in; one of the cats woke me up at 6am because only one of the two food bowls was full.  How dare I let her starve to death!?  But the day was relaxing and I would venture to say even productive for a “rest” day.

Normally when I take vacation time I am doing something, I am actually going on vacation or maybe I have an appointment or I have something to do; today was just about being off for the day.

I made myself a nice breakfast, poked around online a bit, even played Candy Crush (don’t judge me), changed the bed sheets and did a little laundry.  Then, I took a nap, you know the cat woke me up at 6am on my day off, I was entitled to a nap.

The rest of the day I actually got out of the house and did stuff.  I bought some beautiful flowers to plant tomorrow, then went shopping and bought some cute new running clothes, and had dinner with my husband.  I ended the day with getting all my running gear ready for tomorrow morning, mapping out a new route for my run and finally sitting down to type this.

I do not usually share my mundane days with you, but today felt nice; and while it was not exciting it is important for all of us to remember that rest and time for ourselves is key to good mental and physical health.

rest

 

A bad run is still better than…

bad run

On Tuesday I started my training for a half marathon I am running in September.  Today was my second training run and it was not a good run.

I had to go into work early for a meeting so I ran about an hour earlier than I normally would run and I did not go to sleep an hour earlier, bad idea.  I had 30 minutes planned and I got my 30 minutes in; so I accomplished my training goal.  The fact that I did not feel great afterwards and that my pace was off was a bummer, but I am glad I did it.

Got me thinking that – A bad run is still better than –

  • No run at all
  • A bad movie
  • A meeting
  • Sitting on the couch
  • Being bored
  • Most morning television offerings
  • The regret you will feel later if you do not run

And I am sure we could come up with plenty more things.  I have a chance to forget about this run on Saturday, my next run, which will be kick ass!

All I know is this.  I have never regretted going for a run, but I have, on more than one occasion, regretted NOT running.  So, lace up, tape up, suck it up, open the door, get outside, and RUN!

just run

 

And so it begins…

discrun

Officially started my training today for my next half; I am running the Rock n Roll Half in Philadelphia in September and I am pretty excited to be going back home to run a race.  I have promises from friends in the area to be my Wine Girls, waiting for me at the finish line with a bottle, some glasses, cheers, and smiles.

I am doing an official Half training program with a goal of finishing upright.  I have no spectacular goals for this half except to do better than my last half.  Considering that half was at Disney World with a lot of distractions, this should not be too difficult.

I will train, running three times per week and two days of some sort of strength and/or cross training.  I may add a sixth day if I am not improving in either strength or pace; I want to start off with something I know I will do and add to it if needed.  For me that is better than over committing and falling short of my goal.

I have to tell you I am pretty excited about this next half; I will be home and have familiar folks around to support me, it will be a true race for me as I will be trying to do better than my first time, and it will be a challenge.  Disney was certainly a challenge and an accomplishment, but with all of the distractions I did not have a great finish time.

My first training run was this morning and although it was not spectacular; the first one is the hardest and it is done. 🙂  I am looking forward to an eventful local race season and some good training runs this summer!  I could have never imagined saying those words a year ago.

Happy Mothers Day!

moms day

Happy Mothers’ Day to all of the fabulous moms in the world!  I love this little saying I found today, it made me laugh out loud and I thought I would share it :).

It also lets us know that although we strive for perfection in our lives, we do not need to be perfect to be great moms.  It is OK to laugh at ourselves and it OK to admit we curse like sailors on occasion :).

For today it has been a Great Mothers Day so far! It is only 2 pm and I ran two miles, went to Target, got my front yard all cleaned up for planting next week, and did the weeding in the side yard, made lunch (just for me), and managed to get the men folk to clean out the garage and clean up the backyard. The rest of the day, will be chill time until dinner tonight with the family. Life is good!

Oh and one more thing.  What is up with Target?  Went there today for a trowel to help with cleanup in my yard; left there with the trowel, a small shovel, body wash, Q-tips,  two shirts, and a Three Musketeers bar.  I am convinced that the bulls-eye secretly spins to hypnotize us all.

Call your mom, hug your wife, and thank your grandmother – all of these women make life worth living.