That's all, folks!

This "Road Runner" is retiring from running for good now. My body has decided for me that running-for-fitness, and I, don't mix well. I will cherish the time I did have to run.

My mission now will be to find suitable alternatives to running that will challenge me in the same way that running did.

I'm not sure what I will do now with this Blog. Change the name and make it a Fitness Blog? A Fitness and Nutrition Blog? Start an entirely new Blog? I'll let you know when I decide. In the meantime, farewell to all my fine-feathered friends, my fellow Road/Beach/Trail/Wherever Runners. Run your hearts out and make me proud as I cheer you on from the sidelines. :-)

Two steps back, one step... forward?

I'm not sure if running the two days in a row was too much for my body or what, but it seems like ever since then, I've had nothing but trouble.

I have done some runs, but nothing like what I was doing before, and am now a whole week behind in my training schedule. Something has happened to my passion for running again, too, and I have even been seriously contemplating quitting running altogether and doing something different. Why? Because my "getting older" body is starting to show signs of not liking this running thing after all. Either that, or this is just a hiccup that I will eventually get over.

My plan is to give it one more week ~ this week ~ before deciding whether or not to switch to a different form of exercise, something that I know I will equally love. This week I will attempt to repeat last week's 3-3-3 and see how I do.

Two new additions to our family; 5 miles in two days

A week ago we brought home two new babies, one male calico kitten and one female calico kitten, named by my daughter, "Morris," and "Rosa." It has been a wonderful fit for our little family. I have to admit to being a little nervous about how my five year old daughter would do with seven week old kittens (who are now nine weeks), but she has surprised me by doing okay. As okay as can be expected with a five year old, that is.

It is a wonderful thing to be greeted by two little cutie pies every morning as they come out from their nighttime sleeping hideout and come scurrying up to me to "hug" my legs, or stand on their hind legs and beg for me to pick them up. They're smart little boogers, too. Rosa has figured out that, refrigerator door open means soft cat food or cat milk, so she jumps up on the refrigerator door and appears to be trying to open it up. Which makes her look pretty smart, until, of course, she lands in her water dish and runs off jerking her paws out to the side.

And there is nothing like a warm, soft, purring ball of fur curled up on your neck or in your lap. Or on your shoulder, perched there and nibbling on your ear, watching everything you're doing, like Morris did with my husband this morning. Priceless.

There are advantages to having two kittens versus one, too. They keep each other company while we're gone, and keep each other occupied a lot. Plus, you get double the cuteness, and double balls of fur in your lap. Of course, when they're feeling particularly mischievous, then it's double trouble.

On to the boring subject of my running. :-) Last night (at 8:00pm, no less) I ran 3 miles, then this morning I ran 2 miles to make up for only running about 1.6 miles on Wednesday, so that I could still get my mileage in for the week. My legs felt stiff and heavy during yesterday's run, and last night when I went to bed, I had some pain just to the left of my tailbone and down into my left leg. I wonder if running through the mall with my daughter yesterday afternoon might have contributed to that. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it was a muscle spasm deep within the muscle there. Massaging and stretching and doing my version of a shortcut to "foam rolling" didn't help, so finally I took some ibuprofen and after about twenty minutes, relief. This morning I woke up early and the pain was gone, and my legs felt good, so my 2 mile run went well, save a little bit of stiffness. I took it nice and easy to make sure I wasn't overdoing it, since I don't usually run two days in a row, and it's also the first time I've run 5 miles in two days.

This morning has been a lazy, playful kitten-filled Saturday morning for the most part, then this afternoon we plan to get in a matinee, maybe Madagascar 3, then tonight we're going to see my 12-year old niece perform in her end of the school year dance performance. Should be a fun day. My next run will be on Monday. It will be a 3-3-3 week, three runs of three miles each. The week after that will be a 4-3-4, followed by a 5-3-4. I cannot believe I am going to be running 5 miles, then a couple of weeks after that, 6 miles. It wasn't that long ago that it was hard for me to imagine running 3 miles without stopping.

A Thunderstorm Run

I didn't get to run this morning because of storms in the area, but tonight all was calm when I headed out to run. It was almost dark, so I took my tiny flashlight in my pocket in case I needed it on the way back.

As I was doing my warm-up walk, it started to rain very lightly, but I didn't think much of it. I figured maybe it would just be a light rain, no big deal. I felt really good tonight once I started running, and was bookin' it. I was trying not to run too fast, since the Smartcoach training program wants me to run at a slow pace, though a little faster than previously. I couldn't seem to help myself, though. I just felt so good.

The rain began to get harder and harder, however. At first I figured, okay, I can deal with this. This is fun, running in the rain, getting soaked. I was actually looking forward to the rest of the run, despite having to finally take my glasses off and put them in my pocket, and having to constantly wipe the rain out of my eyes. No worries about getting too hot and sweaty! The rain made it nice and cool.

Running without my glasses in the rain was interesting, though. My vision is something like 20/250 without glasses. Yah. Good thing the majority of my run involves very little traffic. LOL. As it was, I was having fun figuring out where the deep puddles were so I could try and avoid them. I tried not to let the fact that my socks, shoes and clothes were getting wetter by the minute bother me. Though it was hard to ignore my sopping wet running bra that was, um, making things feel kinda weird in there. Haha. But I was willing to tough it out.

Then the thunder and lightening came. Ugh.

Time to turn around. And I was only a little under a mile into my run. At least I would be getting a total of about 1.75 miles if I ran all the way back.

On the way back, it got worse. Harder rain, and more lightening, this time it lit up the sky. Time to call my husband, since I was still about a mile away from my house (a mile doesn't seem like a lot unless your dodging lightening bolts, lol). I knew it would take him awhile to get to me because he had to get my 5-year old daughter ready and load her up in the van, so I just kept running, and I'm pretty sure I picked up my pace.

Then the wind came. Now the rain was coming at me sideways, like pellets. But I refused to stop running, so I just gritted my teeth, put my arm up to protect my face, and kept going, prayed it wasn't the beginning of a hail storm.

As I ran past the McDonald's where I figured my husband would be waiting by that time in the parking lot, I didn't see him, and the lightening had let up, though the hard rain had not, so I continued to run. I picked up my pace even more to see if I could make it to the long dirt road that leads to our house before my husband got to the end of it to pull out onto the highway, because I had told him I would meet him at the McDonald's, so he might not have seen me on the sidewalk in the pouring down rain.

And I made it! I turned and kept running down the dirt road, where I usually do my cool-down walk, and still no husband. I finally had to stop and walk at that point, though, because the puddles were just too deep there. Then I saw headlights. Phew.

I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to finish my run, but I can always try again tomorrow morning. At least now I can say I ran in my first thunderstorm. Ha.

4 miles!

I did it. My first 4 miles, and without stopping. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be! Felt so good.

My pace was a bit slower, 12:02, instead of my usual 11-something, but my legs were pretty stiff today. Exertion-wise, I could have run faster, but my legs just wouldn't cooperate. In fact, when I was nearing 3 miles, my legs were getting so stiff that I had to literally force my legs to keep running.

I used music this time. I don't have an i-pod or MP3 player yet, so I just played the music that's on my phone. So there I was, running down the road with music blaring from my pocket. It was the first time I ran with music, and I think I'm going to make it a regular habit now. It gave me something to focus on besides running, and made the time go by so much faster. Not to mention giving me that little 'umph' now and then. :-)

1.75 on Wed; a GREAT 3 on Fri; and a flip-flop run on Sat

It wasn't until Wednesday that the weather from the tropical storm improved enough for me to run. It was an especially tough run that day, too, and I was only able to run 1.75 miles. Friday, however, was a different story altogether. For the first time, running 3 miles felt...well, almost easy! I hope it's because I'm finally getting stronger and not just because it happened to be cloudy with a light rain that day, making the heat more bearable.

I can't tell you how good it felt to not want to stop and walk at any point during the 3 miles. In fact, I was tempted to sprint the last mile, but made myself hold back.

Then Saturday, I felt so energetic. I drove out to my brother's house to park so we could walk to the beach from there, but instead of walking, I jogged. In my flip-flops, no less. While pushing my 56-lb daughter in a 10-lb Graco stroller (at least, it feels like it weighs 10 lbs. LOL). My leg muscles felt a little tight after running in my flip flops, but after a few minutes, I was fine. I had a blast swimming and playing with my daughter in the tidal pool that had formed on the beach, and, thanks to neglecting my back with the sunscreen spray, wound up with a nice sunburn to prove it. Thank the dear Lord for aloe.

Tomorrow morning, or rather, several hours from now as it is after midnight, I will (for real this time) be running my first 4-miler. Let's hope I can get up early to do it, as it's supposed to be a scorcher tomorrow! Better get to bed.

oops.

I thought my first 4-mile run was this Monday, but when I looked at the training schedule again, I saw that it was next Monday (June 4). Ack. Well, this week will be my first week running 3 miles for all 3 days, at least.

I'm disappointed and relieved all at the same time. Just as well, though, as we have a tropical storm moving in tonight, and we're expecting a lot of rain through Tuesday. I'm hoping that tomorrow morning there might be enough of a break in the rain so that I can run 3 miles, as the worst of the winds should be gone by then. Maybe that will be a good motivator for me to not stop running for the entire 3 miles so I can get it done sooner and miss the rain.

Accomplishment.

Wednesday was to be another 3 mile easy run, but I wound up only running about 2.5 miles of it. Even though that's only a half mile shy of it, I still felt disappointed in myself that I had stopped to walk several times. The only thing I felt good about was the fact that the total distance ran/walked was about 3.5 miles total.

Then yesterday, I decided to get back to doing the Ironstrength workout. Again, I felt a little discouraged that I had to do a very scaled down version of it, and even then, I was huffing and puffing. On one of the exercises, I really struggled.

Today, Smartcoach told me to run 2 easy miles. During the run, I started thinking about how I've been viewing myself and my running, and realized that I've been expecting to perform Olympic feats in order to have that sense of accomplishment. Okay maybe not Olympic feats, but much better "feats" than what I've been doing. And I realized... I've been too hard on myself.

I am unique as a runner. I can't compare myself to anyone else, or even to any plan out there that expects me to be at a certain level by a certain time frame. I haven't been an athlete all my life, and it wasn't until the past couple of years that I have set out to become one. So I need to go easier on myself, not compare myself to anyone else, and allow myself to feel the accomplishment of simply getting out there and doing it.

Sure, the woman on that Ironstrength workout makes it look easy as pie. But I'm not her. Who cares if I couldn't do the full version of it and struggled with one of the exercises? I am at where I am at, and I will get better over time. At least I'm attempting it. At least I got out there and ran today, despite sore legs from the workout yesterday. I could have stayed home and enjoyed the air conditioning.

The 2 mile run went better, by the way. I didn't stop, despite wanting to. And I felt accomplished at the end. :-)

Tomorrow I plan to do the Ironstrength workout again, then Monday will be my very first 4-mile run. Since my husband will be off that day for Memorial Day, I'm thinking about maybe driving to a park that I love to do it. It will have to be early, though. I really don't want to run 4 miles in the heat. Wish me luck. I'm not going to expect myself to run the whole 4 miles without stopping, but I am going to expect myself to feel good about trying.

Better run, yet still tough.

Interesting way to think of sweating. Might not mind it so much next time.

Today's "3-mile Easy Run," or actually, 3.1-mile run, as it turned out, went much better than Saturday's run. Somewhere between mile two and three, however, it started to get tough. It was heating up, my leg muscles were getting tight, and the sweat was pouring off of me.

Got.to.get.up.earlier.to.run.

I finally looked through all the information yesterday from the race packet of the 5K Race I ran in April (do I procrastinate, or what?), and discovered that there is another 5K race on June 9; however, the cost to register would be much higher than most ~ $70 at this point, since I missed early registration. It sounds like it would be a nice run, on the beach, but I just don't know if I want to shell out $70 to run my butt off. The women do get a nice necklace just for finishing, but I don't know... we'll see.

In September there's a 10K run. I'll have to think about that one. Would I be ready for a 10K that soon? Do I even want to run a 6.2 mile race yet? Right now running just 4 miles seems daunting to me. (Still need to get that ipod, by the way.) We'll see how I progress through the summer.

Officially met Mr. Whiz-past-me and his doberman

I like Doberman Pinchers. As long as they stay on the other side of the fence, that is.

I love how strong and fierce and sleek and fit they look, though. I wouldn't mind having a body like that someday. Strong, fierce, sleek, fit.

Speaking of Dobermans, I officially met Mr. Whiz-past-me and his doberman yesterday. More on that in a minute.

Saturday morning I didn't make it to the 5K race. Many factors played into it, but I'll spare you the details. It's just as well, though, because Saturday evening, I decided to take my daughter in the big Graco stoller and go for my own 5K run on my usual 5K route, and realized pretty quickly that if I had tried to run in the 5K race, I probably would not have done too well. It was one of those days when your body just isn't up for running. I wound up letting my daughter get out of the stroller and we ran/walked together for the 5K route.

Along the way, we met Mr. Whiz-past me and his doberman, who was actually walking this time, with a friend, who also had a dog, a boxer. My daughter saw the dogs first, and yelled out to the guys, asking if she could pet their dogs. They said it was fine, and as we walked over to them, I started to recognize who one of the guys was, and we introduced ourselves and started talking. Turns out, he runs mainly for his health, because he his cholesterol is too high. You would never know that looking at him, as he looks very fit. Just goes to prove that you don't have to be overweight to have an issue with cholesterol.

After that meet and greet session, we started to run again when my daughter spotted a puppy in someone's yard, so I reluctantly stopped again so we could get the skin licked off our faces and necks and meet the puppy's owner, a big guy of African descent, and discovered he was a personal trainer. My daughter had a great time playing with the puppy (another boxer, by the way) while the guy answered my questions and gave me some tips and advice. He said that when I was ready, he'd write me out a plan for strength training. I asked him about the Ironstrength workout, and he said that was a great one to do to build my strength as a runner, especially my core strength.

I need to get back to that workout, by the way. I've been slacking.

This week will be interesting, as the Smartcoach training plan will be upping the ante a bit. I'll be running two 3-mile runs this week instead of just one, tomorrow and again on Wednesday, then a 2-mile run on Friday. The week after that it will be three 3-mile runs. The Monday following that week will be my first 4-mile run.

I'm looking forward to it, because it will challenge me and I love a good challenge.

Drizzly Run

Today was supposed to be an easy 2-mile run, but I did NOT feel like running due to some nausea and feeling a bit tired, and I almost didn't.

But then I remembered reading recently somewhere online about an Olympic athlete with a gland infection who ran against his doctor's advice and wound up performing his best ever, and then remembered a quote by another athlete to not let anyone tell you that you can't run that far, or that fast, or jump that high, because the human spirit can be indomitable. So I figured, I had it in me, I just had to decide to do it.

I walked into my bedroom to change into my running clothes and stared at the bed for a moment. The covers were calling my name. But I told myself, "Just get your running gear on, and then if you still don't feel like running, then don't." Once my running gear was on, I then switched gears and said, "Okay. I'm just going to do it, despite how I feel."

The run wasn't a total misery. I was a little tired starting out, but then it got easier at about the one mile mark. It was cloudy with a light drizzly rain, which made it a little bit cooler. Still humid, but cooler than if it had been sunny. My pace: 11:29.

The Spa Me 5K race is three days from now. As of right now, I am planning to run in it and just have fun, so I will skip Friday's run on the training schedule and let Saturday's 5K race be my 3rd run for this week.

3 mile run, and a sigh of relief.

Relief.

Friday morning I ran another 2 miles at an 11:22 pace, then today was my Long Run Day and the Smartcoach Plan told me to run 3 miles at an easy pace of 12:31, which is one second slower than the previous recommended pace. I had to laugh at that. One second slower? Um, okay. I'll try my best to make my overall pace today for three miles exactly one second slower. LOL. All kidding aside, the main point was to run a little slower, which I did, and wound up running an 11:30 pace.

I was actually sort of dreading today's run, only because it was longer and I hadn't gotten sufficient sleep the past couple of nights. I would have rather relaxed and did some work on the computer, or even just did some housework. But I made myself get my running gear on, and just went.

Then I was surprised that it wasn't a bad run at all. For the first time in a long time, running 3 miles seemed almost easy. Because I was running slower, I didn't feel like I was killing myself. The only thing that bothered me was the heat, but it was so much more bearable at the slower pace.

It was such a relief, and very encouraging to me. I think I might be able to do this.

Smartcoach.

Instead of a coach whistle, I decided to post the above picture instead. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

On the subject of whistles, I'm hoping the Smartcoach running plan from Runnersworld.com will be just the "whistle" I need to motivate me again. If today was any indication, I should be good to go. Many thanks to my DailyMile friend, Mr. Brent A., who suggested it to me.

Smartcoach set up an 11-week plan to train me for my next 5K race (not the one on May 19, obviously--I'll just have fun with that one--but the July 21 race), and I was surprised at all the EASY runs it would have me doing. And when I say easy, I'm talking a 12:30 pace! That's even too slow for me, LOL. More on that later. It will have me increase my distance, but gradually, and still at a slow pace, throwing in only occasional speedwork and tempo runs. By week 7, my long run will be 4 miles, then 5 miles by week 8, and 6 miles by week 9. 

Needless to say, I had been getting ahead of myself. Quite literally. I've been pushing myself too hard, too soon. Not distance-wise, necessarily, but pace-wise. No wonder I've gotten discouraged lately. I was making it too hard for myself, and it was becoming a drudgery. It might be different if I had been athletic all my life. But I haven't. My idea of being athletic up until the past year or so was pushing myself away from the computer several times a day to go use the bathroom. Okay, maybe not that bad.

The Smartcoach plan predicts that I will be able to run the 5K Race in July at around a 9:57 pace, which would put my time at 30:54. That sounds pretty reasonable, but I would love it if I could do it in 30 minutes flat.

I did the first run of the plan today. "Easy run, 2 miles, @12:30." Not at 12:30pm, haha, just thought I'd throw that in there. A 12:30 pace sounded slow to me, but it's funny how it motivated me at the same time. It screamed, "EASY!" The heat didn't deter me one bit this time. It felt like a drill sergeant had just told me, "At ease." I could relax, maybe even enjoy the run a little. And knowing it would be an easy run, I started off right from my house this time, instead of doing my usual 5-minute warm-up walk, which made the majority of the run under the cover of trees, making the heat much more bearable.

I tried running at what I "thought" was a 12:30 pace, but in the end, wound up averaging 11:07. I think I would have had to drag my feet to run any slower. LOL. But just knowing I could slow down even more if I wanted to made for a very relaxing run. It felt good.

Dogs and Motivation

Dogs crack me up. I love their motivation to do things they want, even when it gets hard. They don't give up easy, that's for sure. Maybe I need to get a dog, it sure would help on those days when I don't feel too motivated.

Like today. And a lot of days lately. I'm not sure where my passion for running has run off to, but I'm not liking it one bit. Maybe this is just a phase and I'll get through it?

Yesterday morning, I wimped out and did the elliptical for 30 minutes instead of running. I was thinking, "Run in the heat and humidity, or stay inside and do the elliptical in the air conditioning in front of the TV?" Option B just sounded so much better. I simply wasn't in the mood to deal with the heat. What I want to know is, though, is why wasn't I motivated enough to get up earlier and run so that I didn't have to worry about the heat?

I have no idea what is wrong with me. Then again this morning, I woke up early, yet couldn't motivate myself to get out of bed. When I returned home, I set out to run at least 5K, but only ran 2.1 miles. The motivation just wasn't there.

Guess I just need to hang in there and "keep doing it" even when I don't feel like it. Maybe my passion for running will return soon.

Trail Running.

Today I did some trail running at a beautiful park that is, unfortunately, a good distance from my house. The picture above is not from that park, but resembles it somewhat. I was too lazy at this late hour to upload my own picture. Later I do plan to upload a picture of it, though, as it is by far my favorite place to run.

I do think I'm going to try and swing running at this park least once a week from now on. It is just too good of a place to run not to. It has a trail specifically for runners and is a perfect one mile loop, so no measuring required.

This was my first run in about five days and it felt great to be out there again. For some reason I wasn't feeling well for a few days, and my motivation was lacking, but now I feel better and can't wait for my next run. I need to prepare for my next 5K race, after all, which will be on May 19. Today I was pleased to see that my pace had improved some. Even though I only had time to run two miles, I was able to maintain a better pace for the entire two miles, which is an improvement from my normal habit of slowing down after the first mile.

Trail running is different, that's for sure. You can't just run absentmindedly. You have to be very present and alert, navigating around roots, rocks, pine cones and uneven surfaces, making sure you don't take a wrong turn and wind up in the middle of a lake. Oh and did I mention dogs? They and their owners like those trails, too. And they leave presents. At least they're cute to watch as you run by. Most of them don't even bother to bark. They're trail hardened and runner immune. Oh. It's just another one of those "I'm-only-teasing-not-really-going-to-attack-you" running humans. Never mind. I'll go back to marking my territory now.

It's never boring, as running down long stretches of straight, paved, sidewalk and telephone pole-lined roads can be, and I like that. And I also like the fact that there are no cars whizzing by, no stares from the people inside them, no exhaust fumes flying, no music blaring. Just the sound of the rustle of leaves, lake water splashing, ducks quacking, geese wings taking flight, squirrels scurrying. I definitely want to do more trail running.

Me vs. the heat and humidity

"Whine, whine, whine." No, that wasn't a dog, that was me.

Me + heat = Big Wimp.

I honestly did not care one iota that I stopped to walk during my run today. I was a happy wimp.

That is until the runner-out-of-nowhere showed up again. I was really hoping it wasn't one of his run days, or that he had run earlier. Or at least if he did show up, that it would be while I was running and not walking. I did do a lot of running during my run, after all.

I kept checking behind me, but there was no sign of him. Then, just when I thought it was safe and I could walk along happily with no guilt, I heard something. Oh no, don't tell me, I thought and turned around to look. Sure enough, there he was, about 200 yards behind me, this time with his dog. He had caught me. Again. And I'm sure he had a nice little chuckle to himself when he saw me turn around to look, then immediately start running again. I really was planning to run again, I was! Just not right...then.

I could hear him coming and cringed at how quickly he was gaining on me. I tried as discreetly as I could to pick up my pace, but it was no use, next thing I knew he and his Doberman Pincher were whizzing past me. I think I even felt a breeze. He's a guy, and guys can naturally run faster, I told myself. But um, he should have at least felt like it was even the tiniest bit of challenge to overtake me, instead of feeling like he was flying past some inanimate object.

This time I wasn't about to give him an excuse for my walking-until-he-saw-me stunt, because I'm sure he wouldn't have bought it this time. So in response to his, "Good morning," I simply said the same, maybe a little too cheerfully.

All joking aside, one thing is for sure-- I need to start getting up early enough to run before taking my daughter to school, now that it's heating up here in Florida.Then again, Mr. Whiz-Past-Me and his Doberman might miss me. ;-)

By the way, I found out recently about another 5K race that will be on May 19, and this time it will be right down the road from my house! It's at a Golf and Country Club. I drove by there and it looks like it will be a really nice area to run in. I need to find out where the route will be, though, as the link to the map on the website doesn't seem to be working. I'd really like to start practicing on the race route.

Hopefully my motivation will pick up a little more soon, too. I seem to be going through a phase right now where I'm not quite as motivated as I was. Maybe it's because the "newness" of being back to running has worn off a bit now? Today I just didn't care that I had stopped to walk, which is not like me. Hopefully it will pass and I'll be back to my old self soon.

Challenges.

Wouldn't it be nice if there were no challenges in life? If everything was a breeze and reaching your dreams was a walk in the park?

But then again, where would the victory be in that? You might win, but it would feel... empty. Shallow.

And you wouldn't learn anything, either. Challenges and adversities teach us things about ourselves. It brings the yucky stuff to the surface. Do you tend to be lazy? Try exercising on a consistent basis. You'll find out just how lazy you are. Then you have a decision to make. Keep being lazy? Or change?

Do you tend to give up easily? Do you get excited about something, do it for awhile, then give up when it starts to get a little tough? Try to do something that you've never done before, especially if it's outside your comfort zone, and you'll find out real quick just how much you're willing to stick things out.

The challenges that we face when we try to do something new are what present us with an opportunity to change, or not. If we are willing to change, we can continue pursuing--maybe even reach or achieve--our goal or dream. If we aren't willing to change, however, we will stay right where we are: not meeting our goal, not achieving our dream. There's an old saying: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." But there's a variation on that that I like even better: "When the going gets tough, the tough get tougher." Being tough is tough. Not being tough is... well, easy.

Yesterday and today, running was tough again. Just when I thought it was getting easier, my right shin made it impossible to run further than a half a mile yesterday. Then today, it was hard running 3.1 miles again, and not because of my shin. It was doing better. It was just harder to run today, and hotter. During the last stretch of mile two, it started to get really tough. I pushed myself, giving myself a pep talk, but then finally I didn't care about the pep talk anymore. I stopped to walk and had no plans to start running again. I was going to enjoy walking the rest of the way, thank you very much. I came up with some pretty good reasons...er, excuses, too: my legs felt stiff; my right shin was better but probably didn't need to be pushed; I'm not running in the 5K race on Saturday, anyway, so what does it matter?

Then, surprise! A runner came whizzing past me from behind. I wasn't expecting it, since, in the area where I run most of the time, it's usually just me and the deer. As soon as I recovered from being startled, feelings of guilt washed over me and I blurted out to him with a laugh, "My body just isn't up to running today." He turned his head slightly to one side and smiled in acknowledgement, waved a quick wave, and ran on. I watched him for a moment, then started running again. I just couldn't take it. Another runner was running past me and I was walking. I ran behind him for awhile, at about the same pace, then he--being from the neighborhood behind me--turned and ran back past me again, and I felt proud then, even if I was scrunching up my face in agony. I kept running and finished out the route. I admit, though, it was a happy moment of relief when it was time to stop and walk again.

On the cool-down walk home, I found myself fighting self-doubts. Why am I putting myself through this? Is it really worth it? Do I really want to keep running, especially with the Florida summer heat approaching?

And the answer is, Yes, because I want to. Deep down, it's my passion, despite the harder days and the setbacks along the way that threaten to make me forget that passion. And because I need to, because it teaches me things about myself, things I need to change.

Starting to get easier.

Yesterday morning I ran another 3.1 miles, and for the first time, it felt a little easier. It finally began to feel shorter and not such a long haul. What a great feeling. It gave me hope that maybe I'm not so nuts for doing this after all; that toughing it out when you don't feel like it really, really does pay off.

I ran a different route this time, and it was a nice change of pace. It was a bit hillier, and the scenery was beautiful.

As for the 5K race this coming Saturday, I am thinking now of skipping it after finding out what the temperature is supposed to be that day. 85 degrees Fahrenheit for a high, and the race is at 4:30pm. Toughing it out is one thing. Being smart is another. I don't feel that I'm ready to fight that kind of heat just yet. Maybe once I have a few more months of running under my belt. But right now, no.

I won't count it out entirely until closer to that time, since forecasters are known to be way off at times.

Happy running, my friends (or walking, or swimming, or bicycling, or whatever your thing is). :-)

3.3 miles

I have been wondering lately if I need to start focusing more on building my endurance. I seem to be able to run up to 2.2 miles without much difficulty, but beyond that, it starts to get hard. I have been concerned more with building speed up to now, but I think I'm going to shift from that to working on endurance for awhile.  Then once I have more endurance, I'll work on my speed, at least while I'm still only running in 5K races. Eventaully I'd like to build up to longer distances. 8K first, then 10K, then a half-marathon. I don't know if I'll ever want to do a marathon, but that's mainly because right now, just running 5K seems tough enough to me. LOL.

I'll build my endurance by running more longer runs, but at a slower pace. Maybe run four days per week instead of my usual three, and possibly even build up to running five days per week. We'll see how it goes. I'll probably only do two longer runs this upcoming week, though (at the beginning of the week), since I'll need to taper off for the 5K race next Saturday (April 28).

Today I ran 3.3 miles (a little over 5K), and it was a tough run. It was an evening run, and since it's pretty warm here right now, the heat didn't help. At one point, it felt like my heart was doing something funny, so I checked my pulse and it was definitely too fast--it was racing--so I slowed my pace for awhile to give my heart rate a chance to slow down some.

Then my legs started to feel so heavy during about the last half mile. I kept telling myself to pick my feet up, because every now and then I would "shuffle." No tripping allowed, I also told myself. It can be bad for your running health.

At one point, the only reason I kept going was because of my nice little self-pep-talk. I noticed something, too. When I focused on the negative aspects of how I felt, it seemed much harder to keep going. But when I told myself I was strong, that I could do this, that 3.1 miles was easy, that I could make it to the fire hydrant, to the gate, to that corner, to the creek bridge... I would literally feel my body getting stronger, and it would seem easier. Not easy, mind you, but definitely easier.

To my runner friends out there who might be reading this: What do you do during your tough runs to help motivate you?

Tired can be just an illusion

I like the above quote, especially the part that says, "Do the thing you think you cannot do." This morning I felt tired and didn't want to go for a run. I really didn't think my body was up to it, but the weather forecast this morning was calling for a good chance of rain this evening and into tomorrow morning, so I figured I'd better go ahead and run and not have to deal with the rain.

I even put it off when I got back home. Had some more coffee, sat at the computer, had a snack, drank a tall glass of water, went pee, then finally got suited up to run. Funny, once I was suited up, I suddenly felt much more ready to run. Out the door I went, not sure how it would go. The brisk warm-up walk gave me no clue. I wasn't even sure what I wanted to do today... try to run 3 miles? Do one-mile splits and work on my speed, as I had read recently was supposedly good to do?

I decided, once again, to just run and see what my body wanted to do. Turns out, my body was VERY ready to run today! I felt strong and light on my feet. It felt GREAT. So the decision was made for me -- I would run as fast as I felt comfortable running, for at least a mile. So much for being tired, that was just an illusion. I wound up running the first mile at a 9:30 pace, which is my fastest mile yet! At that point, my body was ready to take it a little easier, so I walked/ran/walked the rest of the 2.2 mile route (which is all I had time for this morning, since I had put it off for as long as I did).

Lesson learned: Don't let a "tired feeling" fool you. Get out there and run, and see what your body really wants to do.

If the rain isn't too bad tomorrow morning, maybe I'll try another run (3 miles at a moderate pace, maybe?), since today was such a short one, then skip Friday and do my long run on Saturday.

Even Zombies Can Run

Who says you can't run when you're feeling like a zombie? Despite having a very difficult time getting out of bed and feeling awful and going into auto pilot mode to get myself dressed and take my daughter to school, I still went for a run when I returned home.

It actually wasn't too hard to motivate myself to do it. My body was craving it. I thought about going back home and crawling back into bed, but my desire to run was greater. So as soon as I got home, I suited up and headed out the door for a nice 2.1 mile run. It was a slower pace because of how I felt, but it still felt so good, and afterward, I felt a whole lot less like a zombie. By late this afternoon, however, a nap became a necessity, so I sent my daughter up to her grandma's (she lives on the same property) and crawled into bed for 40 minutes of blissful sleep.

I would love to just rest tomorrow, but I'm thinking I need to at least do the IronStrength workout. Then Wednesday I think I'll try for a 3-mile run at my usual training pace. On Friday, I want to try for a longer run, maybe 4 miles, which will be my longest run yet.

Race Day! Don's Friends 5K

Sprinting to the finish!

(Thought about trying to beat the girl in front of me, 
but figured not passing out was the better option, haha)

Crossing the finish line! 

(Enlarged so you could see the time)

The beautiful scenery that I was all too happy to enjoy after the race

Ever feel like where you really want to be is soooo far away? I want to be faster already. Heck, I want to be the first woman to cross that finish line already. But wanting and getting there are two very different things. Wanting it is easy. Doing what it takes to get there is the hard part. And having patience is even harder.

Today was a baby step in the right direction, at least. I finished the race without stopping and ran my personal best. Time: 31:21. Pace: 10:06. I wanted to run it in 31 minutes flat, and came within 21 seconds of that, so not too bad, I guess. Though if I had known I was within only 21 seconds of it, I might have pushed just a little bit harder. Funny, though, how running 21 seconds faster can feel like climbing Mount Everest when just continuing to run seems so hard.

I admit to feeling more RELIEF than anything else when crossing the finish line, because at that point, I.just.wanted.to.stop.running! LOL. One day, I just know it will get easier.

My next 5K Race is only two weeks away! Maybe with some hard work, I'll be able to come in under 31 minutes. We shall see.

2 Days 'til Race Day ~ Elliptical last night, Tough run this morning

I made a last-minute decision last night to do the elliptical, and was surprised at how easy it was this time! I had to go pretty fast to feel like I was getting any kind of workout at all. Made me realize how much stronger my legs have gotten since running again.

It had been awhile since I had done the elliptical since I had been doing the IronStrength workout. This week, however, I decided to forgo the IronStrength workout, since it takes a lot out of me and I wanted to take it easier this week to prepare for the 5K race on Saturday. I'll resume it next week for sure.

This morning I ran 1.4 miles. When I first started out, I was debating how far I should run. Should I try to get in one more 3.1 mile run 2 days before the race, since I've only run 3.1 miles once so far since returning to running? Would that make it easier or harder to run 3.1 miles on Race Day? I wasn't sure. All I knew is what I had "heard" that it is better to taper off the week before a race. I wondered, however, if that only applied to those who were already running longer distances.

I decided just to run and see how I felt. My body gave me the answer. It was screaming at me to take it easier, as my breath was a bit labored and my legs were stiff, so take it easier I did. I almost stopped at a mile, but pushed myself to run a little bit further and did 1.4 miles. Afterward my shins were hurting again, but nothing too terrible.

Tonight, foam rolling it is. Tomorrow, rest (as much as possible).

And supposedly, I should be "carb loading" leading up to the race. I'm not sure how necessary it is for a 5K race, but I'll do it anyway and see if it helps.

Tonight's dinner: Kraft Deluxe 4-Cheese macaroni and cheese with tuna, and fresh steamed broccoli. Tomorrow's breakfast: Oatmeal with raisins; eggs with cheese (I must have cheese on my eggs or I can't eat them)
Lunch: A chef salad with croutons and pita bread crisps.
Dinner: A big plate of spaghetti with a lean meat sauce; garlic bread; salad.

I also read that the morning of the race, it's best to eat something low in fiber yet high in carbs (so you'll retain water and stay hydrated), so I'll probably do a banana with peanut butter and some milk. And of course plenty of water far enough in advance to allow enough time to empty my bladder before the race.

4 Days 'til Race Day ~ 2.2 Miles and a lesson about fuel

Today I wasn't sure at first if I was going to run another 3.1 miles or not, but my shins gave me the answer, so 2.2 miles it was. I had wanted to start tapering down to prepare for the 5K Race on Saturday anyway and had originally planned to only run 2 miles today, but being the stubborn girl that I am, I wanted to see if I could do more.

It was an easy to run this time. At no point during the run did I have to give myself a pep talk. My shins did hurt at first and my legs felt a little tight, but not for the entire run, at least. In fact, I increased my pace for about the last mile, and sprinted near the end. My shins began to hurt again something fierce afterward, but it wasn't too long before the pain began to subside (after some good stretching). And I am pretty sure it was a much easier run because I ate a banana beforehand. The last time I did that, it was an easy run. Coincidence? Maybe. But I have a bad habit of not properly fueling for my runs, and I think I've been paying for it.

Thursday I will try my best to only run a mile in order to give my shins every fighting chance for a good run on Race Day.

Run day 19 ~ Back in the game!

Today was finally "the" day. The one I've been longing for since the injury that put me out of running several months ago. The day I would be able to run 5K again without stopping. What an awesome feeling it was to know that I am finally back in the game, and much sooner than I originally thought I would be. 19 days of running and I'm there. Wow.

It was another evening run. Thankfully a cool front moved in a couple of days ago, so the heat was much more bearable. I was hoping for an easy run after taking two days off to rest, but at less than a mile, I wanted to stop. I couldn't believe it. Thoughts crossed my mind like, "You must be nuts. Why are you doing this? Why are you putting yourself through this? Just stop already and go home. This is no fun." But I ignored those thoughts and just kept going. There was no way I was wimping out. No siree. I wanted today to be the day I ran 5K, and I knew my body was probably ready.

So out came my tougher side, and the pep talk commenced:

- "If that woman can run 100 miles (there's a woman on DailyMile who recently ran in in the Umstead100--have I mentioned her?), then you can run 3.1 miles. No problem."
- "3.1 miles is easy. It's nothing. Think of all those people who see 3.1 miles as an easy warm-up run."
- "One foot in front of the other. Just keep running."
- "Your legs aren't hurting. Nothing is hurting. You aren't out of breath. Keep going. You can do it."
- "Focus on the finish line, on how good you'll feel once you get there."
- "Push yourself. C'mon. Unless you're about to pass out or die, just keep running."
- "You're in the home stretch. C'mon, don't give up now. You would kick yourself if you got this close and then gave up."

At one point I tried to take my cell phone out and play a game of bowling. Bad idea. I promptly closed my phone and put it away. I don't know if it's just me, but I can't focus on much of anything else when I need to keep running and I don't feel like it. I think I do want to get an ipod, however. That's right folks, I do not own an ipod. "Rawr." (That was a Tyrannosaurus.)

I love what running can teach you, if you let it. To get the job done, even when you don't feel like it; push yourself beyond what you "think" you can do. To not be a wimp; not give up; to practice delayed gratification. To think ahead to the end result, instead of focusing on the uncomfortable here and now. The rewards are so worth it, too. It gives you more confidence in yourself, strengthens your resolve, and gives you a real sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, just to name a few.

I look forward to Race Day on Saturday with more confidence now. I know I can cover the distance if I just push myself. Now it's just a matter of how fast. Today I did it in 33 minutes, 30 seconds. I hope to do it in 31 minutes on Race Day.

Tuesday will be my next run day, and I'll taper back down to 2 miles, then 1 mile on Thursday. I want to have well-rested legs on Race Day. I'm pretty sure the reason my shins were giving me a problem before is because I was trying to increase my weekly mileage a little too soon.

Run Day 18 ~ Today wasn't the day

Today wouldn't be "the day" I would run 5K without stopping, though I wanted it to be. I overslept, then hurried out the door with just enough time to get in 2.2 miles. The good news is, I ran the whole 2.2 miles without stopping, and in 24 minutes. It was an easier run today, though not easy by any means, as my shins were sore. Then tonight, the bottom part of the shin muscle--where it runs down into the foot--was hurting immensely on both legs/feet. Tennis ball rolling up and down those muscles seemed to help, but the lower part of the shin muscle still hurts on the right leg/foot.

I have to wonder if I have been trying to do too much, too soon. As much as I don't want to, I think I will rest from running tomorrow and Saturday to give my muscles plenty of time to recover. That will still give me three more runs before race day.

Run Day 17 ~ Practice Run of 5K Race Route

The pier in the above picture will be the starting point for Don's Friends 5K Run I plan to run in (God willing) on April 14. The run won't be on the beach; rather, it will start in the parking lot of the pier and follow along one main road near the beach as well as a couple of side roads. Either way, it is a beautiful place to run, and I can't wait. Yesterday morning (Tuesday), I went there to do a practice run. My original plan was to be there early, but I wound up not making it until 11:00am. I dropped off my daughter first at my brother's house not far from there. It was getting pretty warm by then, and a bit humid. This time I was prepared for the heat with a water bottle.

The water bottle helped (I didn't drink it, just used it to cool off), but only a little. It was one of my tougher runs. After only running about a mile, I had to stop to walk for a bit and recover, then run again.  I was also interrupted three times by urgent phone calls related to a family matter, which forced me have to stop and walk each time. I had another challenge along the way as well, but I didn't let it get to me, I just told myself there will be challenges and you have to work through them. Challenges are good, they teach you to expect the unexpected, and not let them trip you up.

When I saw that I had about a mile left to go (based on the race map), I gritted my teeth and made myself run faster. Everything in me wanted to stop, but I made myself keep going. Drivers turning onto the side roads were very courteous to me and would stop to wait for me to run across before turning. Maybe because they saw the sweat pouring off of me and felt sorry for me. LOL.

I finished the 5K route in about 38 minutes. I say "about" because I was so happy to be at the finish line, that I completely forgot to look at the time. I looked at it not longer after that, however, so I estimated.

Not too bad, I guess, considering the challenges. My goal right now is to finish the 5K race on April 14 in 31 minutes flat. Maybe even 30 minutes if I'm at my very best that day. My hope is that I will continue to get stronger with my runs this week and at some point conquer that last six tenths of a mile or so and run 5K without stopping. I believe I can do it. Tomorrow morning will be my next run, which I'll probably do from home before my husband goes to work. It's too bad I live so far away from the race route, or I would be doing more practice runs there. Hopefully I'll be able to run it at least one more time before race day.

Run Day 16 ~ 2.4 miles and counting...

Yesterday evening I went for my next run. Normally I don't run on Sundays, but to prepare for the 5K race two Saturdays from now, on April 14, I decided to change up my running schedule starting this week.

I really had to push myself this time. It was much warmer, and apparently I don't handle heat all that well. But this new much less wimpy girl dug deep and was willing to risk going too far. My legs were tightening up and I was really hot.

At about a mile and a quarter, having had to push myself as it was, I had to literally say to myself, "Run to the next mailbox," and I'd run to that one, then the next one, and so on until I just didn't think I had any more in me. Then I saw the canal bridge ahead and said to myself, "Now run to that canal bridge. C'mon, you can do it. Just to the bridge," and when I got to the bridge, I told myself to run to the end of it (that happens to be a particularly wide canal), at which point I stopped to walk and felt like flopping over into the grass, but of course kept walking, and tried to keep my walking at a fast pace until I was ready to run again.

My goal from here to Race Day is to cover an entire 5K distance each time I run, even if I have to walk part of it. All total, I wound up running 2.4 miles, and walked only .7 mile. Progress!

Sometime this week I plan to run the route of the race. I may have to do it with my daughter in the stroller since she is off from school for Spring Break and it is too far away to go do it before my husband does to work or even after he gets home, but it's a flat and mostly straight route, so it shouldn't be too hard.

Run Day 15 ~ Over halfway there (literally)!!!!

This morning I woke up early and wanted to get my run in before my husband went to work, since my daughter took a turn for the worse and is home from school again with a diagnosis of walking pneumonia. My plan was to try and run 1.5 miles today without stopping. I had only a banana and water before my run, which is different from my usual complete (though light) breakfast. I didn't even have coffee beforehand.

It was much cooler than I expected and was regretting not wearing my lightweight hoodie, but figured I'd warm up quickly and it would just be tied around my waist by mid-run anyway. It was a beautiful day for a run, and my body was READY to run today. It was so easy to run compared to most days, and I never got too winded at any point.

At about 1.5 miles and still running strong, I decided to continue on. As I rounded the corner onto the dirt road leading back to my house where I usually stop to do my cool-down walk, I saw one of our neighbor's set of mailboxes and decided to run to them. Then, I decided to run to our mailboxes, at which point I finally stopped to allow for ample cool-down time before getting home (we live out in the country, so our mailboxes are pretty far from our actual house).

I estimated that I had run about two miles, and upon measuring, discovered it was 2.1 miles, so even better! I am so grateful to be progressing faster than I expected. 5K, here I come! I might even be able to run the 5K race on April 14 without having to stop to walk! So stoked!

Run Day 14 ~ Conquering my Wimpy Tendencies

So I have figured out that I have wimpy tendencies. I've had it all my life, really. As a child, I remember guitar lessons that I was excited about, only to quit when it got a little bit hard. When faced with just about anything hard, I gave up all too easily if there was no one to push me.

It is the reason I am still not at my goal weight. I always want to take the easy route, what's convenient, so I give up on tracking my calories, and I often don't want to go through the trouble to fix a healthier meal, so I wimp out and have something more convenient and less healthy.

To change something, you must be willing to get uncomfortable for awhile. When you're in a certain zone for awhile, you get comfy there, kind of like being in bed all cozy when the alarm goes off. Staying there is easy and comfortable, sure, but you have work to do, things to accomplish, so you make yourself get out of that comfort zone and get going.

I decided yesterday morning that I wasn't going to wimp out on my run when it got a little hard. My daughter was in school and I was stroller-less, so I had it easier. After only about a half-mile, I wanted to stop. But I told myself No. This time I pushed myself and gave myself a pep talk. I had read about one woman's plan to run in a 100-mile race and was so awed by that. I told myself, "If she can run 100 miles, then you can run a measly 3.1 miles with no problem. And today, you can run at least one mile again without stopping." So I pushed myself, and felt myself get stronger and suddenly, it was easier to run again.

I ran nine tenths of a mile (which I thought was one mile at the time), took about a three-minute walk break, then ran another six-tenths of a mile, sprinting the last 100 yards or so. My hamstrings and shins were yelling at me by then, so I decided I had better call it a day and walked the rest of the way home. Foam rolling and stretching will be a must for today, as I am still really feeling it in my hamstrings. Which is a good thing, it means they're getting stronger.

Today if you are faced with a seemingly monumental task that threatens to overtake you, tell yourself to be strong, face it head on, and push through. For me personally, I love having quiet time first thing in the morning where I read my Bible and pray, it is where I draw my Source of strength from.

Don't "just do it." Do it with strength, and do it well.

Run Day 13 ~ One of "those" days

The picture says it all. That's exactly how I felt today after my run. Funny, I didn't even run that far. It was one of "those" run days. If you are a runner, you know what I'm talking about. I could feel it before I even set out to run. I was hoping I was wrong.

My plan was to run another mile without stopping today, then walk for 2-3 minutes and do another half mile, possibly even another mile total. My daughter wound up needing to stay home sick from school again--which I didn't know until after I had woken her up--so part of my running gear would include a non-jogging/out of alignment/wobbly-wheeled/zero shock-absorbing 5-year old Graco stroller, packed tight with 54-lb. girl. I wasn't looking forward to the whole running/pushing/steering hard thing, and was kicking myself for not running when I had woken up earlier this morning at 5:30am.

I decided to try a new route today, one where the road would be "mostly" flat, or so I thought. It didn't help make it any easier, though, because, well, it was one of those days. A half mile seemed more like a mile, and I stopped to walk much sooner than expected.

When I finally ran again, there was a point where I started to feel like I was getting in the groove, but it wasn't long before my body just gave out and I was done. My engine was out of gas. I was so hot and out of breath that I literally leaned over on the stroller for part of the walk back to my van. I decided to call it a day, and made plans to run again this evening, minus the stroller, post husband getting home from work.

When I got back in the van to head home, something happened that has never happened to me before. I could feel my heartbeat pounding hard in the back of my head. Any other runners out there ever experience something like that? I checked my pulse to see if it was too high, but it was fine and sounded normal. But wow, the pounding.

I started having dizzy spells this evening, so maybe my body was indeed trying to tell me to slow down today for whatever reason. I did manage to at least get in ten minutes on the elliptical tonight, dizzy or not. Hopefully tomorrow I will be feeling much better and I can try for another run.

Ironstrength Workout #2 ~ Grunting helps.

Saturday I did the IronStrength workout again, and this time I was able to do more reps on a couple of the exercises! That was a great feeling. But by the time I got to the last exercise, I was totally spent, and was struggling to do that one last rep. Sweat was pouring off of me, my muscles gave out, and I fell down flat on the floor on my stomach, face squished into the floor, breathing like a horse. My daughter was quite concerned and asked, "Mama, are you okay?" That me laugh, because it made me realize just how pathetic I must have looked. I breathed that I was fine, just resting a little before trying to do one last rep. In her sweet voice she said, "C'mon, mama, you can do it!" It is hard to explain what that did for me. I said to her, "You're right. I can." So I got up, and did it indeed.

Grunting helps, by the way. And so does having a little cheerleader.

This time my legs have been even more sore than usual, even after a rest day yesterday. I was still too sore to run this morning. I mainly feel it in my thighs, especially the back of them. Today I'll focus on getting some housework done, do some stretching, and by tomorrow hopefully be good to go again.

I am loving the energy I have today, and hope it continues. I didn't do so great with my food this last week, though, so I'd better start eating much healthier again this week if I want the energy to continue. I'm off to a good start so far today, breakfast was oatmeal with raisins, two scrambled eggs with low fat cheese, and a cup of orange juice. My daughter is sick right now so I'm upping the Vitamin C (hence, the orange juice) in hopes of not catching what she has. I'll also be drinking green tea today.

The last thing I want is to get sick right now, which would put me behind in my running schedule. I'd really love to be able to run the 5K on April 28 without stopping. It would be an awesome feeling of accomplishment after so many months of being "on the bench," watching from the side lines and wanting so badly to be back in the game.

Run Day 12 ~ One mile without stopping. Conquered!

Today I wanted to try running one mile straight without stopping. The farthest I had run prior to that was 1/2 mile straight. My total running time was further than that, but not without walking intervals in-between. My daughter was off from school today for a teacher planning day, so I had planned to get up early and run before my husband went to work. But upon waking at 5am, I found my daughter asleep on the couch in the living room, and when I moved her back to her room, she told me she wanted to go with me on my run, asking if I could push her in the stroller. Her sweet voice won me over, so I went back to bed, and later we set off at about 10:30am. Thankfully it wasn't too hot, and it was windy which helped cool things off.

The first half mile was uphill, and at one point there was a pretty stiff wind. But I welcomed it as a challenge and pushed on. I felt really good today and was surprised that I wasn't winded much at all until I neared the top of the hill. I also discovered something new: that if I got closer to the stroller, it was easier to push and gave me more momentum.

Coming back downhill was much easier, but as it leveled out again, I was beginning to feel it. When the end of the mile began to come into sight, I kept telling myself, "The faster you run, the faster you'll get there, and then you'll be done!" And it worked. I did get there faster. And it felt so good. I did it. YES. So grateful. One mile down, two more (and a tenth) to go.

I thought I would just walk the rest of the way since I knew I'd be doing the killer IronStrength workout again tomorrow morning, but my daughter wanted to get out and walk with me, then wanted to run, so we ran about one tenth of a mile. Then she found a white rock and wanted to play hopscotch, so I drew it out on the sidewalk and we hopped. It was so much fun. I was glad I had taken her with me today.

Run Day 11 ~ IronStrength Workout and 14-minute Run

I want her abs. Okay not her abs, but to have my abs look even close to that would be awesome.

Late Tuesday night, I did the IronStrength workout, and realized that I have a LOT of work ahead of me to attain the level of fitness that I want. When the man directing the workout said for most of the exercises, "I want BEGINNERS to do FOUR sets of 15 reps," I knew I was in trouble. I can barely do ONE set of all those exercises right now, much less four!

One of the exercises that challenged me, among the many that did, was the side plank (as in the picture above). I have a weak core, and it shows.

The deep squats and deep lunges (some with added plyometrics) weren't too hard for me (though again, I could only do one set before my legs were on fire), as well as the plank exercises and the upper body work while balancing on one leg, but when it was time to do full situps, I was in for a surprise. I didn't think it would be hard at all, I had done them all the time as a kid, and besides, the woman doing the demonstration make it look so easy. But when I got halfway up, I got stuck and couldn't go any further. "What in the world?" I thought. "This is crazy. Is my core really that weak?" I thought about putting my toes under the couch to "cheat," but decided not to and instead put my arms straight out to use as leverage and tightened my stomach muscles to make myself sit all the way up. It wasn't easy, and I'm feeling it today, even though it's almost a full two days later.

The full pushups challenged me as well. No surprise there, as I have struggled with them in other workouts. If I do more than one full pushup, I feel like I'm going to die. How sad is that? I had to improvise and do half pushups, and even then, I have difficulty going all the way down (because then I can't go back up, lol).

I SO NEED to do this workout. I refuse to let the fact that it is hard (for me) discourage me from doing it. I must push through until I get stronger.

Yesterday morning, I wasn't sure if I should run, being that I had done the IronStrength workout so late the night before, but with a 5K race coming up in five weeks, I figured I'd better stay on schedule as much as possible. So I ran. It was a good run, and I did better than I thought I would, though I did have to stop shy of my goal of 16 minutes. When I got to 14 minutes, my legs were telling me I had better stop, so I listened.

Today I have been so sore, all over, which is a good thing. It means I worked hard enough Tuesday night and didn't wimp out. I plan to go for a long walk today, then tomorrow morning I want to try and run a full mile without stopping, walk for three minutes, then run another half mile. 

I was thinking about it today and realized that if I want to be able to run a full 5K by April 28 (without stopping to walk constantly), then this week I need to conquer one mile without stopping, then I will have four weeks left, so the following week I want to do 1.5 miles without stopping at least one day that week, then 2 miles the week after that, then 2.5 miles, and finally 3.1 miles (5K) the week of the race, which will give me a chance to run the 3.1 miles at least one time before race day, maybe even two times.

I don't know if my body is quite ready yet to meet that goal, but I'm going to try with everything in me. Wish me luck!

Run Day 10 ~ The Need for Speed

Running fast has its benefits. Yesterday I worked on my speed, the idea of which came from the book, "Run Less, Run Faster," which I scanned briefly at Amazon.com. I plan to get the book, but since I don't have it yet, I'm winging it for now.

After my usual 5-minute brisk warm-up walk, I ran 1/4 mile as fast as I comfortably could. It was quite invigorating, and when it was time to stop, I didn't want to. I wanted to keep going. So after a few seconds of walking, I ran again for about a minute, then repeated. Then it was time to run 1/2 mile, but this time it was uphill. Not a steep hill, but an uphill run nevertheless, and it was much harder to keep up the fast pace. Eventually I had to slow down so that I could keep running.

Then I walked about two minutes, ran another 1/4 mile, walked about three minutes, and then it was time to run the last 1/2 mile. It was downhill this time, and yet, I still found it tough to keep up a fast pace, so I slowed a little in order to be able to finish. For some reason the last half of that run was really tough, I had to push myself to keep going. I tried to remember to have fun, to look at the scenery, and to challenge myself to run "to that light pole," or some other landmark not too far ahead, and then I would look ahead and pick another landmark to run to. As I was nearing the end, I kept telling myself, "Not much further. C'mon, you can do it! You told your daughter to push herself during the Fun Run, now you'd better push YOURself!" I also worked on my breathing, using my diaphragm instead of my chest. And I made it.

16 minutes total of running and 1.5 miles. My pace: 10:39 (if you are new to "paces," it basically means how long it takes you to run a mile). Not a great pace, but it's a start. My goal is to get to at least a 9:30 pace by the day of the 5K race on April 28, which is only 5 weeks and 4 days away now. I'm not sure if I can increase my pace that much by then, but I'm going to try.

Something interesting about yesterday's run was that I was less sore afterward. Running faster actually made me less sore. I did have little mini-leg cramps and mini-charlie horses every now and then throughout the rest of the day and into the night, but none of them were that bad at all, and something new: neither of my knees hurt, and my hips didn't, either. I slept like a dream last night.

Sometime today I hope to have time to do the Ironstrength workout, even if it's later tonight after my daughter is in bed. I don't have the kind of hand weights I need to do one part of the workout, but I will simply skip that one for now until I can get to the store to buy them (hopefully this afternoon while running other errands).

My daughter has been affected positively by my return to running, which I am so thankful for. On my run days, she will ask if I, "did my run" that morning. Then yesterday, on her own initiative, she got on my elliptical machine, reaching as far as her little legs and arms would go, and worked out on it periodically all through the afternoon. She actually did pretty good, too! I wish I could share a picture with you here, but I have chosen not to share close-up pictures of us here being that I decided to make this Blog public (in case there is anyone else out there who might be helped in some small way by this Blog).

Happy Tuesday!

Race Day ~ Lighthouse 5K and 1-Mile Fun Run

 The 5K Race (that I watched and drooled over, LOL)

Note the woman in yellow on the left, more on her in a minute.

Me and my daughter crossing the finish line of the 1-Mile Fun Run

A nearby pier that we walked out on while waiting 

for the races to start. It was a beautiful place for a 5K.

We arrived early on Saturday to register for the Fun Run. There were only children's shirts left, so I asked if they had a child's extra large. They had a medium, which to my surprise actually fit me, though a bit snugly. My daughter played in the park playground there for awhile, then we wandered out onto the pier, then down to the beach for a little while. 

When there were 30 minutes left before the 5K race began, we had made our way back to the park, and I noticed there were some runners that were running circles around the park. I thought that was a bit odd, that they would be warming up 30 minutes in advance, and at a pretty good pace. I could understand warming up for a 5K about 5 minutes beforehand, even 10 minutes before, but 30 minutes? 

Then I noticed something else. Only the men were doing it. All the women were standing around talking (which is what we're good at, of course). I had to wonder: was this just a "man" thing I was seeing? Or was this something that some seasoned runners did?

Anyway, when it was time for the 5K race to start, I wanted to go watch, but my husband and daughter weren't interested, so I walked down to the start line alone with my camera. I watched them take off, then waited for them to make a one-mile loop and come running back past us to run the rest of the route. I observed the ones that were out in front very closely: their pace, their running form, etc. Two things really stood out about the ones who were leading the pack. One ~ they were all very lean. Two ~ they were all very muscular. Age didn't seem to matter. Those two things did.

I saw part of the end of the race, too, mainly the first few runners coming across the finish line. Remember the woman in yellow I mentioned in the caption below the first picture? She came in second overall. Not second overall in her age group, but second overall in the race! A woman beat all the other men except ONE! I thought that was awesome. She wasn't out in front at first, in fact, there were several men in front of her. But I guess as the race wore on, she began to increase her pace. It's too bad I couldn't follow the entire race to see what her exact strategy was.

As I was watching the runners out in front, I dreamed of being there someday. Yes, this 43-year old, inexperienced runner wants to be a top runner someday. Probably a pipe dream. But I'd like to try. I mean, I love running, so why not? I would like to think I'd be happy just doing the very best I can for me. And I will. But I want more than that. I want it so bad I can taste it. Not for the recognition, not to say I beat someone else, but because of the CHALLENGE of it. I LOVE a good challenge. Tell me I can't do something, and I will set out to prove you wrong. LOL.

And then there's the thrill of it, too. It's what will motivate me on those days that I don't think I can run any further. It's something to work toward, to achieve. Maybe I'm competitive by nature? I don't know. All I know is, I dream of coming in first place, even if it's just in my age division, in SOME race, I don't care if it's a ho-dunk, hillbilly, back woods kind of race. Ok maybe hillbillies don't run in 5Ks, but you get my point.

Back to Race Day. As the time drew near for the 1-Mile Fun Run, my daughter suddenly told me she didn't want to run in the race anymore. She had been so excited about it all week, and now she suddenly didn't want to run. But I didn't let her change her mind. I told her we had paid the registration fee to run, and we were going to run, and that was it. I promised her it would be fun, and she seemed to be okay with it then.

She started out great, but it wasn't long before she stopped to walk. All throughout the race, I had to really encourage her, cheer her on, and tell her several times to push herself. At one point, she stopped and said, "I need some water." I told her that water would be waiting for her at the finish line (she drank plenty beforehand). Then another time she stopped and started whining for me to pick her up and carry her. I told her I couldn't, and reminded her that her daddy would be waiting for her at the finish line and would be so proud of her. At hearing that, she took off running again. In the end, she did really well, and I was one proud mama.

Next up will be a 5K race on April 28. This time it will just be me. I certainly don't expect to place in that race, just to finish, and finish strong. 

I worked on my speed during today's run, which I will talk about in my next Blog entry.