Running Without Scissors

Observations

 

Being in New York City this week reminded me how lazy people in Michigan can be. New Yorkers don't bat an eye at walking 4 blocks or 5 blocks or even 6 blocks (imagine!). This past Halloween a suburbanite mom actually drove her kids around our neighborhoood in a golf cart. Heaven forbid they should have to walk...to get candy. Yikes.

But in Michigan (and many othe more rural places), even people who exercise have vehicular tendencies. We drive to fitness facilities to walk on machines with motorized belts. And then we drive home. In college I knew a girl from Sweden who walked 5 miles to the store to get her groceries. She had a car. Her roommates thought she was crazy but her mindset was, "why would I drive when I'm able to walk?" Of course this was before blogging and facebook, when we had more time to spend on other things.

Something else I was thinking about in the city was the trend some time ago for women to wear athletic shoes with their suits/dresses/work clothes on the way to the office, so that their feet would be comfortable during the walk. I saw this in large cities-- maybe it was Chicago? Was this a trend in all big cities? I looked around during my taxi drive through morning-commute time one morning in New York, but I saw not one woman wearing New Balance cross trainers with her suit. Did the Sex & the City fashion vixen make comfortable feet taboo?

Now for an update on my running:

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I have been sick for about 4 days. On Saturday I exercised even though my body was probably telling me not to. By Monday I was a mess of sinus congestion and sore throat. I am starting to feel better today. I know there are some people who exercise despite being sick (as long as it's not chest congestion, they say) but I am not one of them. I am waiting until tomorrow, when my brain will be enthused to get back to it and my body will say, "hey- give me a chance to catch back up!" So I'm looking forward to it. Sort of.

 

Nautilidae Do Not Cross Train

I ended up at the gym on Saturday, using the elliptical trainer and lifting weights- I needed to get my exercise in the morning because extensive studies (of me) show that the longer in the day I wait, the lower the chance of exercise becomes. So I went to the gym where there is childcare in the morning. While I was using the Cybex resistance machines, adjusting all the arms and seat levers to the lowest settings, I was reminded of my first foray into a fitness center- but then it was called a "health spa." The carpet was hot pink and turquoise and the aerobics floor was lined with neon lights encouraging you to "work it!"  If jumping high-impact on a floor of carpet-covered concrete wasn't your thing, circuit training was all the rage. Keep moving around those Nautilus machines quickly enough so that your heart rate remains elevated- and forget the cardio...those crazy 70's joggers had it all wrong! The Nautilus equipment was huge and had enormous black plastic coverings over the mechanical parts. The seats were a classy marbled carmel color. And the ability to adjust for size was very limited. At five feet two inches tall, I did not fit properly into most of the machines, but luckily I was 18 and my youth prevented my poor form from doing too much damage.

I just looked for a picture of old Nautilus equipment on the internet, and while I didn't find anything that looked like the fabulous circuit at the United Health Spa, I did find this picture,

 

which seems to finally explain that swirly logo on all of the nautilus machines. Sort of. I mean, now I know the machines must've been named for this marine creature...but why?

Now where was I? Oh yes- the day when I felt the urge to run was actually spent on the elliptical trainer. But I ran outside yesterday and it was FAB.U.LOUS! The weather was perfect, just the kind of day the god-awful-endless-snowy-icy-frigid-temps-that-freeze-your-boogers-relentless-miserable-cold winter made us long for. I enjoyed it and I'm planning a repeat performance today. Perhaps I will spend a couple of miles pondering why strength training equipment would be named for what is sometimes described as a "living fossil"...

Good Day to RUN!

Wow- I feel like running this morning. Really feel like it- which I haven't been able to say in a while. I think I finally heard what the 'ol body was telling me: cross train already!! My knee injury from last year has started to come back around, and I was feeling down at now being in good enough shape for the 25K this month. I've started going to the gym to use the elliptical trainer and also add some strength training. That has felt good and I think it was what I've needed to re-energize. Of course, we FINALLY have some spring-like weather here (careful...don't jinx it!) so that helps too. I'm working on a plan to bump up the runnning miles while keeping the cross training. There are numerous races 'round here every weekend in the summer so maybe I'll pick a 10k to work towards. But for today, it's Saturday and I gotta run...

My Knee Hurts

Hooray for daylight savings time and the arrival of spring (well, someone forgot to tell the weather it's spring- there was a generous frost this morning). But it is light enough to run at 6:30 so that is good news! I am positively a morning exerciser. If I don't run first thing in the morning, the likelihood of a run decreases with every passing hour. I have to be out the door by 6:30 to be back in time to dole out the breakfast cereal.

Last spring I had numerous visits to the physical therapy office to ease the pain in my left knee. The nice German lady told me in no uncertain terms: your legs are very weak! (I know...it was embarrassing!). So this year I vowed to cross train more and lift weights at least a couple of times a week. Yeah. Hasn't happened. I've done slightly more than last year, but not enough so that the 'ol left knee wouldn't act up again. It hurt this morning, causing me to walk the last 2 miles. Gotta get to the gym!

Well, the plan is another early morning run tomorrow. I'm hoping my son will help out again. He climbs into bed with me early in the morning and it's too crowded and he kicks and I just figure I may as well get up...Whatever works, right?

Balance, Contentment & Other Important Things

I recently heard the story of someone who had literally acheived the very feat to which we figuratively compare the ultimate accomplishment...climbing the highest mountain. Since the first successful climb in 1953, only about 2,700 people world wide have climbed Mount Everest. This puts them in a very exclusive club, one in which they can probably charge a pretty nice stack of cash to talk to groups and inspire them to "climb their own Mount Everest."

Maybe I was tired or maybe I am not enough of an outdoor enthusiast. Maybe I'm just lazy or don't think big enough..but I found myself thinking, "Why?"What would compel a person to risk their life (10% of those attempting the climb die) to be able to say they climbed Mount Everest? The puzzlement became stronger when I heard that the climber wore the same underwear for 30 days- ewww! But what really cemented my perplexity as to why a person would undertake such a thing was the response to being asked, "How has climbing Mount Everest changed your life?" The answer? "It hasn't."

Setting a goal and achieving it feels good- this I know. And I suppose in some instances, the harder you have to work for something, the better it feels when it is attained. I am guessing that the very air atop Mount Everest is bursting with almost surreal feelings of accomplishment (in place of the oxygen, I guess). I know that people who share these extraordinary experiences do so to inspire others. But I'll be honest- my first thoughts were ones like, "Gee- how much does it cost to climb Mount Everest? I couldn't afford to do that." and "How many people are able to leave their jobs for that long? And what about their families? I have kids..." It was never anyone's intent for the telling of this story to make me feel inadequate...oh no, I can do that all by myself! What I've come to realize is that even though the mantra for the event was "make the ordinary extraordinary," I am the one who determines what extraordinary looks like.

I ran a 25K- it was a great accomplishment. Will I run a marathon? I don't know, but I'm not going to feel like a failure if I never do. I never want to lose sight of the fact that exercise is about me- about feeling good and taking care of myself. I know I'll never climb Mount Everest (it's really the underwear thing) and I'll never swim the English Channel. But I do want to do my best at whatever I do- even the ordinary stuff. The other day I was busy with housework. My four year old son was playing and suddenly decided he needed a drivers license so he could go to work (he sweeps floors in Texas- that's always the job he goes to- heckuva commute from Michigan but it's important to do work that makes you happy).  Anyways, he wanted a drivers license, and though I know that if you stray too far from the washing machine on the weekend you're just asking for mutiny from the dirty laundry, I stopped what I was doing and made him his very own drivers license. He was thrilled, of course, and not just in some ordinary way!

Extraordinary is where you find it. Set ambitious goals. Work hard to acheive them. Do something that gives you that amazing feeling of mission accomplished. Whatever you are, be the best one you can be. But don't forget that it's not being a mountain climber for everyone. If you look, you may just find some extraordinary right there in your ordinary.

You Like Me! You Really Like Me!

Today was a good day for me. People whose opinions I very much value chose me for not one, but two awards. No, neither were an Oscar (not surprising in light of the fact that I have not recently starred in any movies). But it was nice. One of the awards I received was for having a "Healthy Mind, Body & Spirit." Even though choosing to lead a healthy lifestyle is an award in and of itself, it still felt good to be recognized for some of my healthy choices.

BUT.

When the award was given, THIS SITE was mentioned! And so I felt bad because I have been so very poor at blogging about running (or anything!) for quite some time. If you are here because you were at the (very prestigious) awards ceremony with me this evening: WELCOME to my blog! And um, sorry it's not up to date. And while I'm confessing, I must also say that my training for the May 25K derailed somewhere around January, when some health issues forced me to take a bit of time off from running. I am back to running now- just not enough to complete the 25K in 4 weeks without much agony and despair. I will probably run the 10K because they have pierogis at the finish line, even for those who just ran the 10K. Yum.

As an update on my running, I did not run today but following the (very prestigious) awards ceremony there was a great party. And at the great party was a dance floor. And on the dance floor was a spot just for me, and I most emphatically raised my heart rate, burned some calories, and had a ton of fun. I told you it was a good day!

Losing My Religion

It's official: I am still a beginner. Last year, I followed the official race training guide for beginners religiously. This year I decided I have so much more running experience I couldn't possibly still be a beginner, right?  But the only other option on the training guide is "expert." I am here to tell you, an expert I am NOT! What I am finding though, is that I really responded well to having my daily workout described very specifically for me. Last year I bordered on obsessive, even making up any missed miles on the next day. Maybe in the back of my mind I was thinking if I crashed and burned on race day I could take my Training Guide to the race organizers and wave it wildly in their faces, screaming "I trained! I did exactly what you said! I want my Saturday mornings back!" At any rate, I've decided that I liked/needed the mindlessness (is that a word?) of reading my running assignment and just doing it. So while I will reserve the right to add mileage on those days when I just can't help myself (or when I've just eaten a chocolate cupcake), for the most part I will probably be sticking to the beginners schedule. I think it's okay to stay a beginner for a little while longer- it will just force me to plan on some longevity for my running career. :)

Dear Molly

I'm sure you're a very nice dog. I'm sure your owners like you very much and spend many happy afternoons frolicking with you in the yard. But I don't recall inviting you to join me on my run on Sunday. See, Molly, it's like this: the roads were very snowy and the cars that passed us were driving very slowly. And when you take your frolicking directly in front of the cars, they don't like that. And when you bound along right beside thier vehicle? They don't like that either (I must add that I wasn't thrilled myself when you cavorted directly in front of me, almost tripping me in an already precariously snowy situation). But here's my real point, dear Molly- all of the drivers of these cars assumed that you were my dog. I felt their stares boring into my back and their accusing glares practically screamed, "Hey lady! Why don't you tell your dog to get out of my way." I really wished for someone to roll their window down so I could yell "IT'S NOT MY DOG!" When the lady in the black Jeep honked her horn at us I decided I would have to find which house along my route that you belonged to, so I could stomp up to the door and demand that your owners pay attention to what their dog is doing while they watch Sunday afternoon football. Truth be told, I'd really never do that. Oh no- I just stewed and steamed and negated any possible stress reduction that my exercise may have provided. And then I felt just a little bit guilty when your owners, who presumably were not lounging on the couch, drove up behind us and called for you to come jump in their truck and go home where you belonged. Just a little bit guilty though- positively not so much that I would ever want you to join me again. Ever.

Starting Line

Running is a lot like having a four year old. Sometimes it's totally awesome. And sometimes it's, well,  not. Sometimes it makes you want to rip your toe nails violently from their beds.* Love/Hate. Up/Down. But like parenting, the good tends to outweigh the bad. And even though unlike parenting, you can quit if you really want to, once you've dug in past a certain point, you generally don't quit. I think it's around 8 miles, personally. If you're running 8 miles or more on any given day, yeah- you're hooked.

I started running in the fall of 2007. The city I live in hosts a 25K every year, the biggest in the country, although I hate to brag. Well, I don't actually hate to brag but truth be told I had nothing whatsoever do with the race being organized. Anyways...I always said I would do it someday. I never actually put any plans in motion, however, and so not surprisingly...I never ran it! Until that fall, when I stumbed on the training schedule online a week before it started. I guess I took it as fate- I needed to jump start my fitness program and I decided that it might be just the thing to be "my thing." Because I didn't really have a "thing." No hobbies, really. No clubs, organizations...pretty much just wife/mother/employee (Not that those things weren't enough to wear me out- but I was looking for something that I would do just for me.) I wrote about my training for the 08 race on another site, but I've moved a few posts over to my new place.

Training for the 09 race is underway, and I'm excited to have added my journal to the MyTeamRivals group. While running may not be considered a rivalry type of sport, like team sports, ask any runner who they compete fiercely with. Themselves, primarily. And sometimes the competitiveness gets ugly- not me mind you, but runners have been known to run while injured and some run so hard in races that they throw up and/or pass out at the finish line. Fun, huh? Yes, well, stay with me and if you're not a runner now, maybe I can redeem that unflattering description so that you might try lacing up some Mizunos yourself.  

 *Running actually can make your toenails fall off but it's really not ripping. They turn black and fall off and it's basically painless. Oh gosh. There I go again, not really showing a flattering picture of my sport...

Rewarding!

Remember my plan from December to recommit to exercise and reclaim some "me time" from the busy life of a working mom?  The plan, if you recall, was to train for a 25K run. I don't think at the time that I actually connected with the fact that my "me time" would be running for 2+ hours at a time...which is probably a good thing, because it likely wouldn't have sounded very nice.

As it turns out, there was much to be learned from training for a 25K. Running (especially for 2 hours at a time) is wonderful solitude. Even better, the feeling of accomplishment I've gotten from (A) setting and reaching an ambitious goal and (B) learning what my body was physically capable of, has surpassed any of my expectations. Who would've thought that pushing my body to keep moving along a dusty dirt road would also be such an exercise in mental toughness? I don't think I made the connection until my brain learned to convince my body that it could make it to that next cross street...and then to the next one...and the next (we tricked the body, my brain and I!).

I'm not going to lie- it's totally cool when people are impressed with how far I can run. I'm sure I must sound matter of fact to someone who claims "there's just no way they could run that far!" when I tell them that I thought that too, and if I can do it, of course they can too. This is absolutely true. But it's still cool to be someone who actually decided to do it (and did!).

Even though I'm taking some time right now to revel in my accomplishment, I will admit that my Type A drive has crept in and decided that 15.5 miles isn't really all that far, and what am I going to do now? And couldn't I have done it faster? And those amazing people who run these distances with speed? Wow! Not to mention my new-found awe of marathon runners! So I guess that answers the question of whether I will continue to run: most definitely! I've already decided to set a 15 mile a week minimum (I'm determined to do some cross training and have to leave time for that) and I'll do a half marathon this fall. But I'm still not warming to the idea of a full marathon. Not yet, anyways! But all in all, I can definitely say that undertaking my first 25K was a fantastically rewarding experience. I highly recommend it. Really—you can do it!

Pictures of My First Ever 25K!

Reclaiming and Recommitting. And Running.

I majored in physical education in college. I paid my tuition by teaching a ridiculous number of aerobics classes every week. Quite frankly I didn’t do it for the sense of accomplishment- I needed that paycheck! But back then, I was young and in shape.

Recently I awoke to find that I was pushing forty and a little thing called life had happened: marriage, five pregnancies (two kids and three miscarriages), a full-time job, and a household to run. Where had my commitment to physical activity gone? Sure, I’ve exercised sporadically over the years- walking, teaching the occasional step aerobics class here and there…but somewhere along the line my exercise program took a backseat to all of life’s demands and I realized that it had been a very long time since I’d really made taking care of my physical self a priority.

Every May, my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan hosts a 25k race. I’ve been saying for years that “someday” I’ll do it. I happened to stumble upon some information about the race in late November and I noticed that the training schedule began in December. “I’m doing it,” I told my husband. “Okay…we’ll see!” was his skeptical reply.

I’ve never been a runner- in fact, despite all of the aerobics classes I’ve logged over the years I’ve never run further than five miles at a time...and I think that may have been only once! But I printed the training schedule and on December third I started with a twenty minute (slow) run. One month later, my “long run” has progressed to three miles. I’ve gotten into the habit of setting my alarm for six a.m. and slipping out of bed when the house is strangely quiet. I pull on my running shoes and check my training schedule. And I run.

Sometimes I glance ahead on the schedule and have a bit of difficulty picturing myself hitting the road in April for a twelve mile jaunt. I don’t feel like “a runner” yet (will I ever?) but I am already beginning to reap the benefits, both physical and psychological, of making a commitment to myself. Race day is May tenth…fifteen and a half miles, just me and my running shoes. Wish me luck!