July Challenge Recap

I am a day behind in my posting so I apologize for putting this up a day late.  July was a hot month here in Seabrook.  It was hotter than June and yet I think I enjoyed running this month more than last month.  We had a pretty easy challenge month for July:

1. Plank a day:  Well my first plank was amazing. It was over 50 seconds. My dogs are not use to seeing me on the floor so they huddled around me and that is why it was only 50.  But there is something about beginner's luck that did me in.  After my first plank, I heard the other members in the challenge doing 20's or so and I started to doubt myself.  It took me all month again to be able to do 50 seconds. For the longest time I couldn't get past 13 seconds.  It's all mental and I know it.  Our running coach says "You can do anything for a minute."  She also says "A plank a day keeps the doctor away."
2. Sign up for a race.  I was already signed up for a few races but I added the Lunar Rendezvous at the last minute. The Lunar run also completed my last challenge.
3. Run a timed 5K  I have to say I was pretty disappointed.  My official time was 50:17.  The good news is that the last time I ran this way was in 2009 and I ran a 54:42 on that day.  The bad news is that I was 1 minute 9 seconds slower than I was last time...oh well.

But along with the challenges, I had many wonderful discoveries and moments.  The most important one has to do with my family.  My husband starting running with us.  He has not run consistently since high school.  He is a two pack a day smoker and he works 12 hour days in the hot sun with no AC as a UPS delivery driver.  But he has decided to take small steps to become healthier. So every Saturday morning at 4am the lights turn on in my house as all three of us get ready to go for our long run with our running group. So my immediately family has become an active family.

Bonds are being made stronger between my sister and me.  Growing up in different households, in different cities with a 14 year age difference meant we didn't see much of each other as I grew up.  But now I see her, at minimum, once a week.  My daughter is getting to know her aunt. She also is in awe of her Uncle and has asked him to be her personal trainer.  He has agreed and is really making her work but she loves physical challenges.  She is really enjoying her time with him.  

I met a friend in our running group that is more my pace.  We ran together a few Saturdays ago for the first time.  It was so much fun.  We pushed each other and yet we were still able to talk, which helped the run seem shorter.  However, I had the Lunar run the next Saturday and she was at the Grand Canyon the following Saturday, so we will see each other again this weekend. 

I haven't tried spinning again. I am enjoying water fitness and water Pilates.  I am learning the poses in yoga and still heart rate training.  Most importantly I am still enjoying every bit of it.  The scale isn't moving as much as I had hoped but my body is changing. I am getting into clothes that didn't fit before.  Clothes that use to fit me tight, now are comfortable if not baggy.  My face is clearing up because of all the water.  All in all I would have to say that this challenge has been good for me.

Kemah Bridge

Well I did it!  This past week, I did my first Kemah bridge run.  I liked it so much that I did it twice!  My daughter and I met my sister at the bridge at 6 AM.  I have driven over this bridge hundreds, if not thousands of times. It is the bridge between me and the nearest sign of box store civilization (Walmart, Target, Office Depot and Home Depot). Why am I running a bridge?  Well, I live in flat SE Texas. We have no hills.  When I say we are flat...I mean we are flat  The Houston Marathon is a great place to qualify for Boston because the run is soo easy...no hills.  But every runner needs to do hill work so us in SE Texas run in parking garages or on high arching bridges.  I happen to live very near to a high arching bridge.  It crosses the waterway that links Clear Lake to the bay.

This waterway is heavily utilized by boaters.  You see Clear lake is home to the third largest fleet of recreational boats in the United States.  Because of all the boat traffic seen, a steep and extreme high bridge was built.   And until my run, I did not realize that the south side is steeper than the north side.  I also didn't realize that cars whizzing by at 50 mph, that are less than 3 feet from you, cause alot of hot wind.  But I loved it.  I loved the way my thighs burned on the incline and the reward of going downhill immediately after the burn.  My sister and I took a picture at the top of the bridge from my phone, which in turn caused my Nike+ to stop recording and my wireless headphones to unlink.  So I am smiling in this picture but moments later I was just frustrated.

Now the bridge is less than two miles from my place but at least 30 miles from my sister's house.  Again, I am truly blessed to have a sister that would drive that far, that early so that she can run the bridge with me.  Isn't she awesome?  There are no words to describe my gratitude.  I am just truly blessed.

Warning: Cheeks appear larger than normal

Two days later I decided to do it again.  Because I was doing it by myself, I decided to go a bit earlier.  The second picture was taken as I was leaving the bridge to go home.  The bridge is 1.9 miles round trip.  I think next week I will try to do it twice which is....3.8 miles.

Running group do's and don't

I am always full of fear the first time I do something. And sometimes I get so scared that I do this thing where I start crying which, for whatever reason, turns into laughing.   Running with a running group was no different.          I would love to say that I took every effort to make sure that I was going to be at my best for this first run.  But I didn't.  I stayed out late with a friend and only slept 4 hours before my run.  Which leads me to my do's and don'ts for your first run with a running group.

Don't stay out late the night before you go on your first run with a group of people you know are faster than you.  You need all the rest you can get.  So if a friend asks you to stay out later, just apologize and let them know that you have made a commitment to become a better you and need to get home for some rest.

Do lay out your clothes the night before.  I had to be in Galveston, about 45 minutes away, by 6:15 AM.  That meant that I had to leave at 5:15 if I wanted to give myself some wiggle time.  Having everything together meant all I had to do was brush my teeth, pull my hair back and put on my clothes.  No hunting through my drawers for matching socks or headbands. No running across the house to the laundry room to find my bottoms and then to the living room for my shoes.  Just do it.

Don't leave the address to the running group at home. Thank goodness I had wiggle room because I made it there at exactly 6:15.  I lost time when I had to Google the store and then GPS the location from downtown Galveston.

Do hydrate the night before and the morning of the run.  It was hot out there and you'll see later on why it was so important for me to hydrate well.

Don't take off on a run without knowing the route.  You see I was slower than the rest of the group and within the first few blocks I was alone on the road. I didn't know the route so I spent alot of time GPSing my location and trying to figure out how to get back to the store where we started.  I wasn't frustrated but I was annoyed with having to stop, pull my phone out of the armband, turn off my Nike+ app and go to Maps.  Eventually I made it back to the store but not on the same route as everyone else.

Don't beat yourself up if you get left behind. I have to admit there were a few times on my run that I felt  a lump in my throat and thought I was going to cry.  It wasn't because I was alone...I run by myself all the time.    I felt defeated.  I felt that my inability to stay up with the slowest group just confirmed my inability to be a part of a group.  Bottom line, I just felt less than. And true to form, what started out as a feeling of wanting to tear up and give up became a feeling of just wanting to laugh. But when I shared how I felt to my husband and daughter, my daughter said something profound, "Stop beating yourself up about how far you have to go and start celebrating how far you've come.  Remember the first time you cried because you couldn't run a minute? Well look at you now.  That is what you need to focus on. "  She is 17 and wise beyond her years.

And yes, if you caught that...I have cried before.  I am a llorona (Spanish for cry baby).  I cry for joy and I cry for sadness.  So don't feel sorry for me because I cried.  The physical expression of the emotion that I am feeling seems to get exaggerated in my body and I know it is ridiculous so I start to laugh.

So this week I am taking on the Kemah Bridge.  Fortunately, I live about a mile from the only safe bridge to train for hill work.  I believe it is 1.9 miles over and back.  Wish me luck.

Birds of a feather

I finally did it! I joined a local running group.  I can't tell you how many times I started to fill out the registration form and then just shut down the page.  I even went as far as filling out the form, entering my payment information and hovered the mouse over the "submit" button before my  cursor flew uncontrollably across the screen like hands on an Ouji board and clicked the close window button.  Whew, disaster averted. 

But this afternoon when I finished my work, I officially became a member of the USA Fit Galveston Marathon Half Marathon training season 2013-2014.  I should have been wearing my HRM at the time I joined because my heart was beating fast.  But what's done is done.  As hot as it is outside, I can't seem to make myself get out there at 5am to run, which is why I found myself running in 90 degree weather this week.  But I will do it if I am running with someone else.  This should be fun, it will be fun.

Fatty Must Run Marathon Challenge Monthly recap

Before I started writing this post, I decided to review my previous posts I have written since starting the challenge and I realized two things:

1.  I thought I blogged more than I actually did, which means all those times I thought I was sharing with you guys, I was only sharing with myself...in my head and
2.  I have no concept of time. It seems like just yesterday that I received the email stating I was accepted and at the same time, so much has changed in that time that it seems so long ago.

If you are not familiar with the Fatty Must Run Marathon Challenge, just click here for information about it. Over the course of a year, Julie, the leader of this challenge, will guide us through marathon training. Some would consider training for a 26.2 miles run as torture but I consider it a privilege to do so with these women.  Ok side note here: Julie is from the UK and I am obsessed with anything from across the pond, so when I read her blog posts, I read them out loud with my very bad British accent.

Julie gives us a new set of challenges each month.  We are to keep her updated at least once a month via email or blog post. But most of us have also updated eachother daily via Twitter.  If you would like to follow us, just search #FMRMC or #Fattymustrunmarathonchallenge.  For the first month, May, we were given three tasks run 2 miles, start 30 day squat challenge and run a timed 5K.

1. Run 2 miles and report back to Julie on how it felt. Because I was already running two miles each run, this one was natural for me.  The only comment I have is that it is getting hot in Texas so I have to change the time of day I run.
2. Start a 30 day squat challenge I had never heard of this but I googled it and discovered it is a 30 day challenge that increases the amount of squats each day. You start at 50 on day 1 and by the time you are on day 30, you are doing 250 squats in one day.  I love squats.   I build muscle extremely fast, genetics, so I can really see the difference and feel the difference in my legs and buttocks.
3. Run a timed 5K to get a base time.  Of all three, this one concerned me the most. I had not run a 5K in a very long time so I was worried.  I always hovered around 54-56 minute 5Ks.  I didn't want to time a 5K so soon after restarting C25K only to discover I am slower than before or not be able to finish.  My new time was a pleasant surprise 43:15.  I know, I know...I can't believe it myself but I took a picture just to prove it.

Yeah Baby!!!

If you had told me a month ago that I would have had so many changes in the first few weeks, I probably would have not believed you.  No, I know I would believe you.  As a matter of fact, I probably would have contemplating dropping out for fear of failing.  But I didn't quit. I just went one step at a time, one day at a time.  And things just happened.

• Pace  When I restarted C25K I was ecstatic that I ran my fastest mile at 15: 48. Years ago when I trained for my first 5K, my average pace was in the 17's and even 19's.  Yesterday I broke my own 5K time by doing it 43:15 and my average pace for my total 4 miles was 14:12.  By the way, the only reason I mention pace is not because I think I was going too slow before, but because it means I am improving. It means I am getting stronger. You guys know how I feel about pace.
• Distance:  My first few runs in April were 2 miles or less.  By mid May I was consistently doing 2 miles and as of last Saturday, I have increased my mileage to 4 miles.  My plan is to increase my mileage for my during the week runs to 4 miles and 6 miles on the weekend.
• Strength:  All I can say is that before this challenge, my legs just moved me forward.  Now, I can actually feel my muscles working and I love it.  There is a feeling of control or power...I haven't quite found the right word for it but all I know is that it is good.
• Community:  My running group has grown by 14.  We live hundreds, even thousands of miles, away from each other but this common goal is the thread that binds us together.  We encourage eachother and hold each other accountable.  On my own, I probably would have become bored the first week and moved on to a new challenge.  I am here to stay.

We have been given our new challenges for June.  I'll share more on those tomorrow.  All I can say is that it is going to be hard....mentally.  But in the meantime, check out the girls and how they viewed the first month. A link to their blogs is on the right.

Marathon?

Ever did something that you regretted but at the same time you are glad you did?  Well that is how I am feeling right now.  I have filled out an application to be part of a one year marathon challenge. Julie at Fatty Must Run, is in the process of starting a one year training program for a marathon.  So what, you say?  Ok, well here is the catch...you have to have a BMI of 25 or more in order to be even considered.

I subscribed to her blog about a month ago and when I read the entry from 4/22 that discusses the challenge, I read it and thought to myself, "That's nice. Crazy but nice."  She wanted us to share the challenge with friends. So being an abiding reader, I went to the Active Community forums and posted a new thread.  Then went to my Facebook and shared it with my friends on Facebook.  I made it known that I was not interested but someone out there might be.  DONE!

But I kept going back to that post and rereading it. And every time I read it, the shock value of it lessened just a bit.  On Friday, I decided to submit my application.  Yikes!  Ever since then I have been on this crazy roller coaster of "gosh I hope I am picked" and "I hope I don't get picked so that I have an excuse to not do it."

There is a huge side of me that wants to be picked.  Somehow I have rationalized that if I am picked that not only will I get a training plan but I would also get super powers.  With these super powers I would be able to train for a marathon and actually run one.  I fantasize about spending my mornings training on the trails. These super powers would give me the ability to cook healthy meals, organize my day to fit in all the training that I would need and my super powers would rub off on my family and they would love the new meal plans and help more around the house so that I would have more time to train.  Man the more I think about these super powers, the greater they become.

Then there is this tiny part of me called fear.  Fear tells me that I am not ready.  That I will lose my enthusiasm early into my training and I will have to hide from everyone out of shame.  Fears says my family will look at me and say, "See we told you, you are trying to do too much."  Fear says that this will just end up in failure and when I think about that failure, it is an infinite thing.  It reaches into all areas of my life.  My home would become messy, I would eat horrible food everyday, stop running and just sit on the couch each day and regret quitting and never forgiving myself for doing so. Fear is horrible and never nice.

I don't let myself stay in that head space for long...too sad.  So I fall back on "Where there is faith, there is no fear."  And faith is belief.  So I have decided to Believe.  My mantra will be She Believed she could, so she did. I'll remind myself that I have walked 20 miles three days in a row, if I can do that, then I can run 26.2 miles in one day.  I will believe that I can do this and remind myself it is not just saying yes and then the next day going out to run 26.2 miles.  No, it means I will start out small and build up miles over time. It is the same concept as couch to 5K and I believe in that concept.

When I received my application, it came with a note about the timeline for training.  She set out dates to run certain types of races. When I compare that to what I have already signed up for, I realize that I am already doing that part.  I am already building my mileage over the next few months.  I am doing a 5K this coming weekend and will sign up for more between now and August.  In September and October I am doing two 10Ks and in December I am doing a half marathon.  All of a sudden this huge task of running a marathon seems attainable.

So the big goal of doing a marathon will be at the back of my mind but I will focus on the task at hand and when it is done, I will check it off and move to the next.  So I will run a marathon, 5K at a time.