On Getting Through the Hard Miles

I had an epiphany the other night as I was trying to fall asleep, and it was something I desperately wanted to blog about, but I can't for the life of me remember exactly what it was. I have some sort of idea, although this seems dumb in comparison to what I thought of in bed, which seemed legendary, but I guess I'll blog about it anyway.

Life is similar to running in so many ways. In running, you reach rough days, and days with miles that are easier to get through. There are miles where you feel fantastic and have fun. These miles fly past you. Then there are the miles where you have to focus on your goals, and the final prize. You have to center your balance and breathing, focusing on each and every step.

In life there are days that go by quickly, un realized and unimportant. Then there are the easy and fun days, the ones that keep you living. And then, of course, there are those hard days. The days that cause you to focus on your balance and breathing.

The thing is that if it wasn't for these rough runs, there would be no improvement to running. They say that with no pain comes no gain. This isn't true. We can gain from days and runs with no pain, but those days would seem so meaningless if it wasn't for the days and runs where we have to exert everything within us.

So sometimes I have force myself to go onto the next mile, until I get to the mile that reminds me why I love running so much. And so, I will simply force myself to work through the hard days until I get to the 1 day that makes me realize how truly great life is.

The Monster Dash

So we have officially decided on the Monster Dash, which will take place on October 29th. The only thing that now remains to figure out costume ideas. Since the race takes place the weekend of Halloween everyone dresses up in costumes to run the races, and their is a costume competition. Therefore, me and John are looking for creative couple costume ideas that are easy to run in. If you think of any let me know. So far our best ideas are as follows
1) Fried Chicken and Waffles. problems- not sure how to go about finding costumes, and we aren't sure if people would get it.
2) Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. problems- not sure I could run in antlers
3) Ketchup and Mustard. This seems too easy to me.

Anyway, training will start in about 2 weeks, I found a great 10 week training program. So I'll post again when I get a schedule all written up. So excited!!!

Redemption comes in many shapes, with many kinds of pain

So, I have officially created a training schedule and found a half marathon to run the last weekend in August. The plan was that if I could keep up with the training for the next 2 weeks, when I'm working extra and have class, then I would be able to complete it all and I'd sign up for the race. Given the circumstances of extreme weather I have not been able to keep up. I've skipped a few run, and made some runs shorter than they should have been.

Today I completed my 6 mile run, or my 5.85 mile run. It did not go well at all. I was so warm, plus the antibiotics I'm on right now many me nauseous, and cause my skin to burn easily. I forgot to put on sunscreen, so 30 minutes into the run I looked at my shoulders and realized they were already pink. Plus I hate running in the heat. If that isn't enough reason to not run a half marathon in August, John (my running partner who was going to run it with me) hurt his knee a few weeks ago and needs some serious recovery time. So we discussed it last night and decided to postpone it to late September or October.

I'm currently looking at the Maranatha's Road Race on September 17th or the Monster Dash on October 29th. If we do the first one then my training program that I started this week would be pretty accurate. If we do the October one then I can pos-pone training for 3-4 weeks, and just keep doing an average of 20 miles a week. I'll keep you posted!

One Mile at a Time

Sorry It's taken me so long to write again. It's been truly insane! Needless to say my running has taken a back seat to my work, school, and small social life. Sleep deprivation is not a good way to run. I try and get out at least 3-4 times a weeks, and most of these are around 4 milers.

John is currently trying to convince me to run a half marathon in the end of August and if life wasn't going to be so crazy in the next few weeks I totally would. 3 weeks left and I'll be done with class, but in those 3 weeks I will potentially be working more hours. The family I work for has adopted 6 children already and the mom and dad leave for China on Friday to adopt 2 more! I'm super excited for them, but it means a lot of work on the part of many PCA's while they are gone. As John puts it I just have to get through one mile at a time. But I still haven't gotten to do an entire 6 miles (trust me I've planned to do a few times, but it just never works out.)

I'm still woking on my pacing which means going slower, but much farther. I've also been trying to work on decreasing my heel striking these last few weeks, as I'm sure it's probably one of the reason my ankle was so bad for awhile. In good news: I went home in June and while I was there my chiropractor took a look at my ankle and did some adjustments and it hasn't hurt since!

Guess that's all for now folks. Sorry if this seemed quick and undeveloped. Just had to get it all out quick. Now back to homework.

I Heart Hills

I've been doing a lot more running recently thanks to my awesome running buddy. The best part is that where I used to be running 2 or 3 miles almost everyday on my own, I'm now running 4-5! incredible! The best part about these runs in definitely the hills. haha....

So, I hate hills. I always feel like I'm going to die when I get to the top of them. So John, being the nice guy that he is, tries to speak words of encouragement to me as I force myself to the top. First he spoke utter nonsense about becoming one with the hill and focusing my energy and breathing. This didn't help. Then, one day he told me that I just had to convince myself that I love hills. And....well, I'm trying my best.

Anyway after getting my topic proposal back, and severely critiqued at class last night, and thereby having a serious mental breakdown after arriving at home, I thought about what a great motivation this would be for all of us in life. Why not tell yourself, "I love hills. I love the obstacles that stand in my way."  Really, that's all these rough patches are. They are just hills, and once you get to the top of them you will feel like you have accomplished something truly great. So this is how I want to try to approach life from now. With an "I love hills!" attitude.

Improvements and Failures

I'm super happy because I'm finally starting to feel the benefits of all my hard work. Recently I've been able to run further distances. I used to feel like 2 miles was long, but since I've been working on pacing myself I've been going further distances. Thursday I went hiking at Minnehaha Falls with the kids all day and thought I'd be way to tired to do my long run. I set out to do 3 miles and ended up doing 4.5. And if it wouldn't have been for the mountain of homework waiting for me I might have gone further. Friday I did about 4.5 miles again. So happy :)

Minnehaha Falls was a blast, and I think I might try to get a group there to do some trail running. I've been running with some guys who are training for a half marathon in the end of July. I go on there 3 and 4 mile days with them, and while they've tried to convince me to do 6 miles with them I refuse. It'd be nice to take a group to the Falls, because there are portions of it that would be dangerous to run, but also very fun.

In other news, I accidentally ate meat on Friday. Just a small piece of ham on pizza, but I've decided I'm going to start re aquatinting my body with it. At work I just eat whatever they provide for me for lunch, and it hasn't been super difficult yet, but I know it will get harder as time goes on. I'm still going to eat mostly vegetarian, but I want to get back to the point where I can eat meat, if I want to, without getting sick. I had a tiny bit of beef last night, and my stomach is killing me today (although this could also be from the insane amount of alcohol I drank last night.)

New Schedule

My summer schedule is about to get a bit more crazy. Tomorrow I start, not only my full time summer job, but also my writing intensive summer school class. This is going to make it a bit more difficult to work out. Monday and Wednesday will consist of work all day and class all night, so working out is probably out on those days. So here is the schedule.

Monday- exercise as much as possible at work with kids. They either walk to class and ride bus home or bike to and from class. Try to run or walk a mile in the morning (if i'm not too exhausted.)
Tuesday- 3-4 mile run
Wednesday- Same as Monday
Thursday- Run 5 miles
Friday- run 3-4 miles
Saturday- Run 3 miles
Sunday- Run 4-5 miles

The "Running Club"

There are so many things to be gained from becoming a runner. I know I discussed my top ten reasons in a previous post, but there is one main thing I forgot to mention.

If there is one thing you can count on as a runner it is that at the end of every bad run, and at the top of every rough hill there will be someone to encourage you that you are better than you think you are, and that you can run faster, harder, and farther.

There is such a thing as a "running club." Some people you may meet with to run often, others, every once in awhile, and there are some people you merely chat with about types of shoes, trails you enjoy, or races you hope to someday enter. They come in various shapes and sizes, with very different experience, all with one common interested: Long Distance Running. But once you are in this club you will be hard pressed to find a way of escaping it.

Running With Dad

Yesterday night I ran with my Dad and his running buddies. We drove out to the country, and went for a 5 mile run. I ran with his old assistant cross country coach, his current cross country coach, and a girl who is training for Grandma's marathon in 2 weeks.

So I was able to keep up for the first 1.5 miles and then started falling extremely behind. I ended up walking a lot of the hills, but my dad was super nice and kept running back to check up on me. I was happy I was even able to finish.

We ran out on the country roads. It was strange to run on gravel instead of concrete. Afterward my arch on my right ankle was super sore. I rubbed and stretched it out good, but it hurt a little bit this morning. Hopefully It won't turn into anything too bad.

Cheese Chase Race

Length: 2 miles
Time: 19:36
Mile time: 9:33
Place overall: 90th out of 297
Age/Sex place: 3rd out of 41
Comments: This was a good first/easy race. It was 80 degrees and humid, so awful running conditions. I took the first half mile fast, and then had to stop to take a few 15 second walking break. It was just too damn humid. As soon as Damien Rice's rootless tree came on my iPod I sprinted. When I saw the clock I was hoping to make it in 19:30, but I'm still proud of this time, considering Junior year of high school my mile time was around 11 minutes. Afterwards we got dilly bars, and were supposed to get subs, but they had no vegetarian options :( We then stopped to get a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Pre race picture

Post Race Picture