getting an old dog to run

How do you convince a unmotivated new mom to run…have her son hold a sign to cheer her on!

It worked.  Despite having only run 5 miles before the Fox Cities Half Marathon, and taking a 3-year hiatus from distance running, I picked up the pieces and ran a comfortable 2:31 half marathon last Sunday.  It was the first race that I have ever run so close to home.  It was so much fun having own little cheering squad along the route.  I met up with Brent and Little Man- who was a trooper.  Several volunteers along the course recognized me and cheered, even a few fellow participants were old acquaintances.  I had sent an email out to family and friends to let them know about when I was hoping to finish (only off by 1 minute) and I was pleasantly surprised to have a small little cheering section waiting for me down the final stretch.  Even my mom on the other side of the world caught wind of my finish.

Usually the adrenaline wears off and the day after I am regretting it…instead I spent the day celebrating my niece Dakota’s special day and it was nothing but go,go,go. I think that aided my recovery as I really had very little soreness.  For the first time after a race there were no blisters and no chaffing to report.  Yay!

(My former running partner and friend Borys just notified me that she qualified for Boston this past weekend by running a 3:37 marathon.  Way to go Becks! Must help to not have me slowing you down 🙂

Damn Coffee

The cup of absolutely delicious coffee was such a good idea around 6 PM, but right now (12:07 AM) not so much.  I thought I’d post on how I function most of the time- completely random and unrelated sequence of events.

Since the last post was about me, I’ll start with a little on Little Man- it’s been almost a week.  This morning he was up and at ’em around 5:30 AM.  Seeing how the husband is much more of a morning person he tended to his needs while I slept.  I had just cleaned out the 3-6 month clothes and a my husband noticed an outfit in the pile to get packed away.  He could resist putting this outfit on him one more time, and I couldn’t resist one more 6 month photo shoot.  He’s so darn happy when I woke up at 6 it was irresistible.

The outfit actually came with a du-rag and jean jacket with the Harley Patch on in (which is also one the back pocket of the jeans) but the photo shoot really had enough black and orange!  Little Man LOVES the camera…I pull it out he smiles.  On that note, I did something similar on Sunday.  You might notice the excessive drooling, looks like he takes after his father after all! Oops did I just say that out loud…er, type that…you know what I mean 🙂

Of course the second I get the camera out, the photogenic dog wants to take part too.  What can I say, Little Man and Diesel are more like brothers than I originally thought.  Caleb plays with his food instead of eating it, Diesel eats everyone’s food and it’s never a game. Diesel licks Caleb’s face, little man pulls his ears.  They fight over who gets to play with each others toys and who gets mom and dad’s attention first and longest.  But at the end of the day, Diesel is one gentle giant of a big brother who puts up with a lot!

Speaking of Diesel- he’s on a diet.  He gained 7 lbs since April, (which to dogs is like 25 lbs to humans) so he and I are both joining weight watchers.  Not really but we’re both tracking our food intake to make sure we aren’t getting to many treats.  We’ve stocked up on vegetables since they are okay for both of us.

Speaking of that, my new favorite iPod App is My Fitness Pal.  It’s my tool for losing weight and tracking all the particular things that are kind of important in order to lose another 5-7 lbs.  It’s a free app that allows you to type in any food you’ve eaten and it has a library of food to choose from whether homemade or at a specific restaurant.  So for example tonight I had a Cheddarwurst and a salad.  Type those items in and I get a complete nutritional profile of each food item.  To set up the profile I get to enter some information about myself (Age, weight, etc) and my activity level, goal weight and it calculates how many calories I get per day in order to reach my goal weight by my desired date.  It also has a similar function to enter any exercise I do….which should be more seeing how I’m running a half marathon this weekend.  I’ll let you know how that goes.

My husband has received his Master’s, which I’ll take partial credit for since I was the Editor in Chief for his thesis.  I’m currently working on my thesis since I took a break while on maternity leave.  My research study is “adults perceptions on youth technology use and it’s impact on the educational setting.”  I’ll be looking for a few Middle School Parents to participate in a survey, which I’ll post on my blog if you fit the criteria and be so kinds I’d REALLY appreciate it!  Just waiting for the final approval from the IRB board before I can start collecting data!  No stress here 😉  As you can see, my son definitely learns from example, and likely has more computer skills than most of his relatives.

In the event you enjoy watching long distance running (I’d compare it to watch the most exciting paint you’ve ever seen dry on a wall) you are welcome to cheer me on at the Fox Cities Half Marathon on Sunday.  As always, my training has pretty much been non-existent.  But I did manage to get a 5-miler in this week, and a few 2-3 milers in the past 2 weeks so I probably have about 13 miles under my training belt, I’ll be good.  After a 3 year hiatus from running races, I’m pretty pumped and quite shocked that I’ll be running a half just 6-months after the birth of my son.  I know you are dying to come cheer me on- so check out the race details here.

My parents left today for Thailand were they will vacation for the next 15 days.  My dad’s first time headed over the big lake.  We hosted a Thai exchange student so they will be meeting up with her during their stay.  I just realized that they likely won’t have their cell phones on over there, so not talking to my mom for 15 days is going to be really weird.  I did get a call just before they boarded that they got AWESOME seats…for a 12 hour flight, I don’t know if an awesome airplane seat exists.  I just did a search on a few places they are going to see and here’s what I found…

They’ll start in Bangkok to get a taste of the city and meet up with Toon.  I’m curious of their impression. It sounds like you’ll either love it or hate it.  The next few destinations will be more their style

(Bridge over the River Kwai) sound familiar.  It was made famous after a movie documented the bridge being built by POW during WWII who were captured by the Japanese.  It’s also in the lyrics of Billy Joel’s song “we didn’t start the fire”

The land of Mai Pen Rai – pronounced “My pin rye”. According to a Thailand travel tips website, You will hear it many times before you get out of Thailand, often when something goes wrong or someone looses their cool. This simple phrase sums up life in Thailand and the attitude there in general. This famous attitude is what allowed them to keep their cool and get back on their feet after the devastating losses of the 2004 Tsunami.  There are lots of different opinions on the direct translation, but it literally means “no worries” or “its nothing“.  Really hoping my parents can bring back a little bit of that attitude and it will rub off on us in America 🙂 The picture is of the Erawon National Park, right up their alley.

On that note, I’m completely in need of a relaxing vacation and going to attempt to go back to bed.  (PS- it’s now 1:34 AM, hoping I’ll convince the coffee that I really am tired before 5 AM)

An open letter to my running shoes

Dear beautiful display of running shoes,

I’ve been dreaming of you!  The other night, I envision us running a marathon with a slight breeze whisking through my hair and the rhythm of our stride keeping the beat of the latest trendy song.   And then I awoke to a screaming child ready for yet another feeding.

I recognize the weather has turned to summer and it should be time for us to reconnect, however I can’t find the motivation to formally introduce you to the pavement again!  You have been so patient waiting there for 9-months while I went on a hiatus to have a baby. Despite the sweet nothings you whisper in my ear; a nap on the couch snuggled up with my son always seems so much better than a run.  I just wanted to let you know I’ve been thinking of you often.  One of these days, you and I are going to bond again.  I’ll nestle my little toes in, lace you up, and run off to the streets to embrace a steady stride.  We’ll eventually work our way back up to racing miles…someday.

But right now, I’ll keep admiring you from afar.  I ask for your forgiveness and continued patience as I once again will pass on a run a head off to bed.  So many opportunities, so little time.

Sincerely,

Your once-motivated-now-out-of-shape-running-buddy.

Note:  I’m thinking about signing up to run the fox cities marathon in September.  But like always the motivation to sign up isn’t the problem- it’s the training that puts a slight dent into my schedule for the next 4 months that is the problem.  And seeing how running 2 miles at a 10 minute pace is enough to kill me right now, the days of running without training are out the forecast!  Anyone else interested???

Oops…finding motivation to run in the cold!

I’d like to thank the angel that suddenly decided to drop some motivation right square into my lap 🙂  I have found something that has been missing and I’m so appreciative. 

Since Monday, I have gotten back on a schedule of rising and shining at 4:40 IN THE AM…which in itself is a feat!  However, not only did I get up…I met up with my girls again for our once regularily 5:05 AM 3-mile jaunt of a run. :::Insert huge grin here:::: 

Oh the fun pre-wedding, pre-honeymoon, perfect running weather bliss days…well this week has been a bit different, but still so amazingly spectacular.

On Monday I was by my lonesome feeling all sad and lonely, however by Monday night I had convince the girls it was time to get back to our regularly scheduled program.  We created a game plan and by Wednesday morning we were back in action with 5″ of snow.  Yes my friends, it was so amazingly wonderful having the snow ridden streets filled with bright and shining little crystals. The occasional car that drove passed kind of pissed us off since we were running clear in the middle of the street and avoiding traffic meant hitting a nice little snowbank, but worthwhile none the less.  The entire course went by so fast, I was overcome with my childlike tendencies and desperately wanted to just fall back first into the fresh little fluffy stuff and make snow angels, but my partners in crime were less than thrilled about the idea.  So I trudged along without the snow angels.

I learned a few things in this wintery little journey:

A.  Running shoes are not the best paraphernalia for running in snow.  In fact those little valley areas in the heel….snow likes to pack in there nice and tight.  I had one giant snowball accumulating under my feet with each step.  It literally was the closest thing I hope I ever experience  to running in high heels. 

B. Snowy days are much warmer than we anticipate.  I was dressed perfectly in my latest cold gear Under Armor pants and spandex shorts to keep my bum warm. In addition to my new Nike cold gear shirt***and Nike dry-fit jacket.  I was PERFECT, but my homies were dowsed in sweat.

*** (THEE best gear I have ever warn in the cold…the fleece feeling interior keeps you all warm and fuzzy while the outer shell does all the technical absorption-drawing sweat-wicking-phenomenon.  It was form fitting , but not so much that all looser skin was suctioned to opposite sides of the fabric either.  Seriously you should buy 7!)

Oh yes, back to the point- I figured since I was so perfectly snuggled in my amazing gear, that it would be just as perfect the next day.  I neglected to take note of the temperature before beginning the trek on Thursday.  Hmm, somewhere between my friends driveway and the end of the first block I knew I was in for a real stifling treat ,of cold fucking air!  I’m not sure if I decided I didn’t like running in the cold by block 2 when my face and fingers went numb immediately followed by a burning sensation, or if was stopping at block six so Chris could unfreeze her eyelashes.  Unlike I she was wearing a scarf over her mouth so she could breathe, the moisture from her breathe exhaling into her scarf was freezing.  Literally I looked at her and thought we were in Antarctica.  Her eyelashes, front of her hat, top of her scarf and hair on either side of her face were covered WHITE in frost.

It wasn’t until I was pulling into my driveway, after the run, that the radio announcd a windchill of -14 degrees.  I walked into the house to see 4 degrees glaring at me on the thermometer. Note to self- check the temp before heading out for a nice little jaunt in the cold.

C.  There is a limited supply of hot water in the house.  It took many attempts at snuggling in various locations, 2 showers and 1 scorching hot bath in order to regain feeling and a live-able body temperature. 

D. Apparently pet dogs like the taste of bath water-even with bubbles added.  Hence the 2nd shower to clean my body of dog saliva- which subsequently squelched the hot water dry.

Hope you can all learn from my experience…oops.  Or just not run in the cold, but what fun is that…be adventurous- run in snow/cold!

Learning how to run again

Since this girl ran her 6th marathon last October in San Fran, She really hasn’t given the idea of running another race any thought.  ….Okay enough talking about myself in third person.

We finally were settling into our new house, life routines with a puppy have been established but the thought of working out with a quickly approaching wedding, wasn’t really a priority.  However connecting with a group of ladies (I really can’t say they are girls if they are well into womanhood can I) that I play volleyball with, also happen to run every morning and they meet just blocks from my house. 

Ooo, that could be a means of social interaction for me. I immediately accepted the invitation to run, without consulting my need for sleep.  Start time: 5:05 AM.  That was shock to my system.  However the first day I showed up we ran, we talk, and all of a sudden it was done…just like that. 

I couldn’t believe how the 3 mile stint just was done and over.  My attempts to run with the dog rarely lasted a mile before I was wanting to walk or ready to be done.  But this was like really running, with people, and it was GREAT! 

It has been just over 3 weeks now and I look forward to that 4:45 wake up Buzz (well not literally) but knowing there is a group of girls to run with makes everything so much less painful. 

I realize also that this weekend is my beloved Chicago Marathon.  I however will be frolicking in wedded bliss this weekend, hence no race…but I  truly have a bit of yearning to return and add on a few more miles.

Glory Days

Update: the hotel didn’t have a pool.  Running and weights instead.

Reviewing my play lists in a desire to find something motivational and inspiring I opted for my San Fransisco Marathon play list…sigh.

In running to Let’s Get it Started by the Black Eyed Peas, I found myself envisioning the starting line and the hoards of people amidst the cool San Fran morning.  The fantasy land of Niketown (aka heaven)…I have a pretty good pace going. 

Next song, TNT by AC/DC which is symbolic of Team In Training, an organization who got me started in the marathon running arena, all in an effort to raise money for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  I reflected on the patient honorees, the memorials, pictures, the signs of hope and encouragement, but also the pain and suffering.  It reminded me of Amy Barlett’s story of choosing hope.  I had a few flutters of emotion.

Born to Run by the Boss himself (Bruce Springsteen) brought me back into running mode.  Intensity, Care free, Peaceful, Just me and the road (along with 10,000 other women).  It  took me back to the place of happy thoughts: the view of the sunrise on the golden gate bridge, rounding the corner from a bluff for my first glimpse of the ocean engulfing the horizon, and the feeling of empowerment when running with thousands of  women and crossing the line of accomplishment (and greeted by cute men handing out Tiffany’s necklaces)…..YES!

Yet inevitably there is always a wall to be hit.  As luck would have it, the next song (while being a great song) didn’t do much for the inspiration.  Glory Days again by Bruce.  Hm, you mean the days when I was working out 3 hours a day.  Or the days when I set the school record in college in the heptathlon (that’s seven track events in one meet with the results added up to produce a score).  How about the day I qualified provisionally for nationals in the High Jump?  Or better yet, just 3 years ago when I was running sub-8 minute miles in training for the Chicago Marathon.  Yep, as the lyrics state: “They’ll pass you by, Glory Days.” Seeing how my past 3 marathons have drastically increased in time, and most recently I was striving to maintain my 10 minute pace…who am I kidding, more like 11 minute pace. 

I have a feeling my glory days are gone.  Especially when I find myself sweating profusely, and feeling the burn in every muscle in my body after only 15 minutes on the ‘mill. Wow…that sucked, but thanks for trying Bruce.

Looking on the bright side, I did manage to make it to the exercise room at 10:30 PM and fit in a 45 minute workout.  That’s more than I can say for the past 39 days.

You’ve got to be kidding me, this is no accident!

It’s not everyday that I get a comment from someone who randomly finds my pointless blog about the weather and my current reading selection of Eat Pray Love….Coincidence, maybe.

I might agree with you right about now, until I “met” my new friend. And of course in meeting her I clicked on her blog, read a few things and instantaneously added her to my blogroll…thus I met her and we are friends.

Honestly, things like this don’t just happen.  Granted millions of people might be from Wisconsin and experiencing the chilly (times 10) weather we are experiencing.  And since I think Eat Pray Love is a fascinating book, I’m sure there are plenty others.  However, she runs marathons.  Not only that…her first marathon was the Midnight Mayor’s Marathon in Anchorage Alaska.  Gasp, oh my gosh, so was mine.  And is she wearing a purple jersey, cause the sea of purple jersey’s could only mean 1 thing…she ran for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team in Training.  Honestly this is getting a bit scary.  Prior to running with “the Team” (as I like to refer to them) I had never run more than 2-3 miles, and it certainly wasn’t my willingness to do this.  It was pure torture the entire way.

Clearly this is becoming way more than a coincidence.  And she’s getting married….This is just too much for me.  Minus the fact that she kicked my ass by running a 4:07 first marathon in Alaska, we might just be twins. 

Maybe it’s a sign to pick up some motivation I lost after running the San Francisco marathon in October. Hmm. finding where I put that motivation might be the first step, since clearly I haven’t run more than 2 miles since my 1-10 mile magical jaunt in early November. 

Either way, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

Good effort Heidi!

Thanks to the idea that setting a resolution of exercising everyday, I strongly encouraged Brent to join me for a run.  Looking back, I’m pretty thankful he joined me for the simple fact that I may have been curled up on the side of the road from hypothermia. We bundled up in our warm fuzzy clothes, slapped on a hat and gloves and out the door we went.  I think we were both taken back a bit at our first breath of outside air. 

We quickly began running, and progressively the run was being decided to get shorter and shorter.  I’m not sure if the point of my hands and feet turning numb, or my lungs and nose freezing with each breath I inhaled, that we decided to head back in.  Quite frankly I really was happy that we made it 2 miles.  It took a few hours of warmth, and a few thousand puffs on the inhaler to return to normal.  Note to self: Athsma and -10 degree weather don’t mix for a good run! But thanks for trying 🙂

Tonight will be a nice evening at the Y.

This is true

A quote from nikewomen.com

“That’s right. I’m out of here.  Do not chase me down or text me or try to talk me into going out to lunch.  I don’t have time to to figure out if I have time for a run.  I’m just going.  The world will not fall apart in my absence.  I might miss somebody’s birthday cake or a discussion of last night’s season finale.  Even if I do, who cares.  I’m coming back with a state of mind three coffees, two flirtatious e-mails and a week of vacation can’t buy.”

That’s why I run! 

Pure Exhilaration!

There is nothing more exciting than getting lost.  Just dropping everything and taking off on some wild and exciting adventure.  At leaving your worries behind, and seeping in all the amazing intricate details of what surrounds you.  I remembered this feeling once, but it’s so hard to recollect, I needed to go find it again.  I needed to get lost, and enjoy the little things that make me tick.  So last Wednesday I did just that.  I threw on my running clothes, a stocking hat, gloves, my broken in running shoes, and my ipod filled with a playlist of random inspiration songs ready to fill my mind with the juice it needed.  I had no route in mind, no distance, no goal, no time to be back, and no reason to not go….and I loved it. 

It was a blustery day with 20 mile hour winds that chilled you from within.  There were leaves chasing eachother and pacing me down the road.  I just continued with one foot in front of the other.  My mind was blank to what has been going on in life.  It was just me and the road.  As I came to a cross road, I decided I needed a place to go where I could saok in every detail of the world that surrounded me.  Someplace that hadn’t become second nature, someplace new and different.  So I opted to venture down the beaten path to a trail in the woods.  I often avoided the trail cause it was an out and back route.  I hate out and backs.  But today I rolled with it.  I just kept trucking, not looking at the time, and where I would end, I just went.

As I continued along the trail, I finally realized wow, I’m still running.  I haven’t stopped to walk, I don’t need a drink, I’m not worried about my pace, and I am still running.  I opted not to look at my watch for fear that the mind games would begin.  So I kept on not worrying about anything.

When I came upon another cross road, I decided I needed a few good hills.  I needed to face the defeat that I tend to shy away from.  I braved the headwinds and took to the road.  I forced myself to keep trucking….If I walk I get cold.  If I walk I lose the beat of the music, If I walk I am no longer runing…and I was loving this run.  The music helped me get lost on this journey. MMmm, it was delicious.  Everything about this feeling felt so magical.  It was just me.  I was in control.  I decided where to go, how far, how fast, what tunes, and I was rocking this run.

When I finally returned to the cozy place I currently call home, I felt on top of the world.  When I actually figured it out…I just ran 10 miles….10 miles with hills, and wind.  10 miles by myself…no one to pace me, to cheer me on.  I was all I needed.  Runs of 10+ were the runs I dreaded not enjoyed.  I just defeated everything inside of me that has been holding back.  I was back.  Spontaneous and adventurous….it was pure exhilaration!