We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. ~ JFK

Lately I’ve been stalking a little consumed with other people’s running speeds and my lack thereof.

I feel the need for speed… but speed just doesn’t feel the need for me. sigh.

So the past week or so I’ve been having a small pity party for myself. Invite 1.

I’ve also been struggling with a nagging pain that seems to be making a home in the bottom mid section of my right foot. Invite 2.

I had an xray yesterday to rule out a stress fracture. I won’t have the results for a few days. I don’t really think it’s a stress fracture – at least not yet. If it was a stress fracture I wouldn’t be able to run at all and would be having more consistent pain in that foot all the time, right? And I don’t. But I do realize that the chances of this nagging pain becoming a full blown stress fracture are probably high for me. I’ve been trying to ice it more and keep up with my calf stretching to help relieve the symptoms and that seems to be helping.

Up until today, I haven’t thought much about this pain being the start of plantar fasciitis. But maybe that’s what it really is since it’s affecting the mid/arch bottom of my foot. It seems to get better as my run goes on and sometimes (like today) I don’t feel much pain in that foot at all while running. Although it has been bothering me some this afternoon.

So while the party was in full swing, I decided to go back and review my runkeeper stats from when I first started running.

Holy birthday cake batman! (yes you may have noticed from my last post that I have a small obsession with Adam West)

When comparing stats, I wanted to pick relatively similar runs about 2 miles or so.

This first one was back in August 2011. I was still working on getting through the C25K program. This run was probably in the ballpark of week 6-7 of C25k. Since this run is almost 2.0 exactly, my guess is that I probably went out with the intention of running until I got to 2 miles. I remember being so proud of myself for doing that.

And here are my splits from this past Monday’s run.

WOW! My average pace has improved about 4 1/2 minutes per mile. I guess sometimes you can’t see the forest through the trees.

Seeing those numbers yesterday made me feel pretty good.  I remember the first time I tried the C25K program (summer of 2010) I injured myself around 6-7 weeks and didn’t come back to try again for another year. This time I tried to go easy in the beginning and not push so hard right from the start in order to allow my body to adapt to the running. My body is not built for running and throughout high school was in a constant hate/hate relationship with running.

Running is hard.

Running is hard no matter if you are running 14 minute miles or 12 minute miles or 10 minute miles or faster. It really doesn’t get easier. You are always striving to be better no matter what level you are at. You strive to push yourself. To be uncomfortable. To run harder. To run faster. To run longer. To run farther. To become a better runner. Always. Running is hard.

So why run at all?

Running becomes a part of you. There are days where I really really love running and how it makes me feel – like the Mother’s Day 5K – what a rush that was! I love shutting off my brain when I run. I love thinking through problems when I run. I love letting my mind wander when I run. But I also love struggling when I run. Because after struggling comes overcoming. And overcoming is the greatest feeling in the world!

Sure there are horrible days where running doesn’t come easy at all and getting out the door can be a struggle – like this past weekend when I was out running at 7:30 am and it was already 65 out heading towards a 90 degree day. Yuck.

Bottom line… running is hard.

Well the running police have been called and the pity party is officially over (for now). Time to return to my regularly scheduled program.

Same bat time. Same bat channel.

A few months back I learned that Rick’s mom has been seeing a chiropractor and getting a somewhat regular massage. I also learned that her insurance was picking up this cost!!

Hmmm…

Would our insurance cover that?

Yep. It sure does.

Found out our insurance covers 40 annual visits and after our modest deductible we’re looking at a 90/10 split!

HOLY BIRTHDAY CAKE BATMAN!

So I made an appointment to see the same chiropractor Rick’s mom sees last week. I am hoping that with some regular spine checking and leg & ankle stretching and de-knotting I might be able to run better, run farther and even dare I say… run a bit faster?

I wasn’t too impressed with my initial consultation. But I’m not sure it was a full evaluation – well I know it wasn’t.  I had a special get out of jail FREE VISIT for an eval and 30 min massage. Even though I wasn’t sure about the doctor, I did make an appointment to come back for a 30 min massage. Why the hell not? It was free!

I’m sooo glad I did. I really, no REALLY liked the massage! Now it wasn’t like a spa massage. It was a deep stretching muscles you didn’t know you had tissue / therapeutic massage. The massage therapist worked on my shoulders and back along with stretching out my hamstrings, quads and calves. If felt really great. She also gave a really deep massage to my toes which actually helped with my run the next day. One of my toes on my left foot has been falling asleep or feeling strange when I hit about 2 miles. The toe massage seemed to help that.

Typically when I lift weights after more than a week from my last lifting session I can get really sore for two days after. No.. I mean REALLY SORE. WIMPY SORE. Sore where just a little squeeze on the muscle will make me cry.

I’ve tried various ways around this – from only doing 2 different exercises instead of 6, not doing as many reps to not lifting as much weight. But it doesn’t matter what I do, I’m always “cry like a baby” sore in the beginning. It’s just a reality of my body. I’ve always been like that and it has gotten progressively worse as I’ve gotten older (which is more an incentive for me to stay with my workout routine this time).

So after my massage on Monday, I was a little sore on Tuesday but on Wednesday my lower back and right calf were really bothering me. My back feels fine today so I’m hoping it was just my normal delayed onset muscle soreness from the deeper massage and not anything to do with my last run.

I’m scheduled to go back on Monday for my first official visit and massage. The massage therapist said my legs and calves were extremely tight and the doctor said my hips were really tight. I already knew this from the multitude of yoga poses I can’t bend myself into. I’m hopeful that with some regular visits, this will help me stretch out my hips and legs better which will ultimately help them run better.

A girl can hope, right?

I’ve been thinking about starting to run with Rogue on a regular basis. I’m not sure about running through my town with her because of the crazy dogs that come out of their backyards and surprise you… but when I’m running the prairie path trail having her along would be nice for sure.

So on Monday I picked up a Gentle Leader harness. Rogue is notorious for pulling during the first mile on walks and I knew she would pull me when running – at least in the beginning of the run. I had also been considering a Gentle Leader head collar.  I just couldn’t get my head wrapped around something holding her mouth shut when she’s panting (i.e. sweating). I know the product claims the dog can breathe and drink with it on but there is just something about it. I also didn’t like that it didn’t connect to her collar either. So I went with the harness.

The morning of the run, I took her with me to drop Dan off at school. Can you say excited? Oh she was thrilled to be going somewhere at that time. Even sat pretty in the backseat. lol!

Now, I already knew she could be a royal pain in the ass on walks – getting tangled in her leash, crossing in front of me, stopping in front of me to sniff something and having me trip over her, crapping right on the sidewalk about a half block from our front door after she just went right before we left the house, pulling me over to a bench to rest and my favorite… just plain stopping in the middle of the sidewalk and deciding she isn’t going to go any farther. She can really wimp out on longer walks (anything over 4 miles and sometimes not even is long for her).

But at the speed I run that’s really still a walk for her maybe a slow trot. There is no hard running. There is no fast running. Just an easy dog trot. She should be able to do a few miles, right?

Um… can you say candy ass?

Teasing aside, our run ended up working out better than I thought it would. With the harness, I was able to pull her back or to the side easily without breaking my stride. I was also able to keep her at a decent pace where she wasn’t too crazy running ahead – think first .5 mile. Holding the leash didn’t bother my hands or my arms either. Bonus!

The only problem I really had is she wanted to run on my left side and not my right. Every time I tried to put her on my right, she’d trot ahead of me, end up right in front of me and then drift off to the left of me.  I found it easier for her to run on my left actually. But when I pass people (meaning people coming towards me not me actually passing anyone going in the same direction. LOL!) having her on my left could cause problems.

But for our first adventure, we only ran into three people – two were walking dogs and one was just a runner. When we passed the first dog person, Rogue still had energy to try and sniff towards the other dog. A gentle tug was all she needed to get moving forward again which was nice. No excessive pulling. But after that… well there was no more sniffing anything as she was more focused on just trying to keep moving forward.

Around 1.5 miles, I could tell she was starting to drift. She was no longer running a little ahead and to the left but now she was trotting along side of me. I started walking briefly to see if she would walk but she didn’t really. She kept up her slow trot so I just started running again.  But at mile 2.8, Rogue was done. She was now running behind me. I didn’t even know that was possible.

I stopped and pulled her over to the side thinking she might just have to go which she did. After she peed she started trotting ahead of me again so I thought maybe we could run 4 miles. But once she saw that I started running again, she stopped cold in the middle of the path and looked up at me. “Um… what the hell do you think you’re doing?” was written all over her face. There would be no more running today. lol!

After 3 miles and a quick drink…Rogue was ready to go home.

And once we got home… it was time for an immediate nap.

After a bit of a rest, she was back to tell me how much she enjoyed our run together and can’t wait to do it again.

I can’t believe I haven’t written about this yet! What’s the point of me even having a blog if I can’t find make the time to blog about THIS?!?!?

I ran my first official 5k on 4/22/12!

My time was the best I’ve ever run 3.1 miles.

But first let me preface this post with this…

I am a slow runner.

No. I am a very very slow runner. 

Most people probably wouldn’t call what I do running. But I do. I know I am running. I am moving faster than I walk. I am exerting more effort than I walk.

I am RUNNING! I am a RUNNER!

The Announcement

I wasn’t going to tell anyone I even signed up for this 5k. Who wants that pressure? I had been thinking about running it the week or two before and finally decided to just do it and signed up on the last day of registration.

And then I quietly wrote it very small on the fridge calendar.

I really wrote it there more for me. Not that I would forget it but to make me more accountable for it. To make sure I really did it.

But then… Sam saw it when the girls were washing the dishes that night. She comes running into the front room yelling “You’re going to run a 5k???”. So much for keeping it quiet and sneaking away…

Seriously I was not going to say anything to anyone. I really didn’t want to make a big deal of it because part of me wasn’t even sure I was going to run it.

After Sam spilled the beans, Rick goes “Do you need us to bring anything for you? Or drive you?”

“Well it’s going to be at 8am on Sunday and I want to be there about 7:15… I wasn’t sure you’d want to come.”

“We can drive you.”

Ooookaaaay…..

So that’s how my “quiet first 5k” turned into a “OMG! MOM IS RUNNING A 5K!” family event.

Did you say HILLS? No one told me there would be HILLS in this race!

The Wednesday before the race, I decided to drive the course (since it was all on roads) and then run it. I’m glad I did because the very first part was a large frickin’ HILL! Where I normally run there aren’t really any hills. My town is not hilly at all so this hill looked like a mountain to me and photos never do a hill justice. At the top is where we would turn left but I had to GET UP the damn hill first!

All I was thinking that Wednesday after driving the entire course (which turned out to have several rolling hills) was “What did I get myself into? Everyone knows about this now.”

Can I even do this without embarrassing myself?

The night before the race, I expected to be quite nervous. But the nerves never really came. I went to bed around 9:30-10pm or so and actually fell asleep and slept through the night. No tossing or turning. When I got up on race day, I figured I’d have the nerves and my stomach would be in knots. But it wasn’t. Not at all. As we were driving I mentioned to Rick that I wasn’t nervous at all – not even a little butterflies which for me is VERY STRANGE. I think this surprised me more than anything. Maybe it was because I ran the course once. I don’t know.

I had two basic goals for the race.

1. Run the entire course. I knew I could because I had run 3 miles straight before – just not on rolling hills.
2. Run under 40 minutes. I had never ran under 40 in any of my workouts. 3.1 always comes in around 41-42 minutes for me. (Remember I am SLOOOOOW!)

Race Day

Rick took this photo of me and the girls right before the race began that morning. It was chilly out. About 40 feels like 35 weather. When you’re not running sub-9 minute miles, this temperature is COLD!

I wasn’t sure what I was going to wear. Usually I wear a warmer jacket in this weather but I can also get overheated around mile 2. So I went with my aqua shirt that wasn’t lined for the super cold. It ended up being a great decision and I was comfortable the entire race. But I was freezing just standing there waiting so I wore the big coat.

Sam was in charge of taking pictures and Jess was in charge of taking videos. I guess I forgot to change the batteries in the video camera (just my old camera that also takes videos) so there are no race videos. I’m secretly relieved about that. Lol. But Sam did a wonderful job working my big camera.

She was waiting for me at the top of that first hill. I told her next time to stand IN FRONT of the sign. LOLOL!  The photo still came out okay. You can see me in the back in the yellow circle.

I’m not at the point in my running where I can just go “warm-up for a mile” and then run another 3 in a race. Just not quite there yet. I knew I would be using the first mile as my warm-up and I knew I wanted to start out slow.

At this point (the first .25 mile), I was definitely running faster than I normally do but I was feeling okay so I kept going. I probably should have slowed down just a bit. Maybe.

Running my fastest up a big hill right at the start of the race… equals… WALKING!

By around 3/4 of a mile, I knew for sure I was not going to be able to run the entire thing and had to walk. But I didn’t let that get me down. I knew I was pushing my running faster than I ever had so I would just walk when I needed to.

At mile 1, my running tracker told me I was at 12:02 or something ridiculously faster than I ever ran any mile before. lol! Right then I made the decision that I would power walk when I needed to and try to come in under 40. Running the first mile in 12 minutes made that 2nd goal still possible but only if I didn’t let my other two miles slip.

Looking at the photos, I was actually happy to see my foot striking was more mid-foot to fore-foot strike not a heel strike.

But quickly after the race, Dan scolded me and told me “Mommy you don’t run right. You are supposed to run fast and put your legs out in front of you. Like this…” as he sprinted around.

Poor boy… doesn’t quite understand that his Mommy was NEVER FAST and would NEVER BE FAST and will never put her legs out in front and run like the wind. LOL!

Back to the race…

Speaking of back… what’s a good race without a photo like this?!? I know I’ve always wanted a good ass shot. Doesn’t everyone?

Around the 2.6 mile mark, Jessica came out to cheer me on and pace me to the end. It was really great seeing her at this point.  I was still pushing hard but I’m not sure I would have gotten the last mile in 12 minutes if she hadn’t been with me.

But quick note… see the guy in the yellow shirt? Remember him from the photo above? Yeah… he WAS behind me… and now he is a good clip ahead of me. I never did catch him again. I should have stayed with him from the beginning and paced myself with him. He seemed to pace himself much better in the first mile than I did and ultimately finished ahead of me.

Jess was trying her hardest to get me to run faster. She kept trying to run ahead of me and look back to see if I was still there.  Finally I had to tell her “Jess I can’t run that fast and you need to stay closer to me.”

So that brought on some smiles and giggles… or maybe it was just the sign that said “Speed Limit 30”. More like “Speed Limit Turtle”.

But do you notice something in this photo? See it? No look closer.

Here I’ll help you!

YES! Those are my feet. And yes… they are BOTH off the ground!!! Look ma, no hands!

My little pain in the ass helper kept plodding me along. “Come on Mom! Just a little farther. Here let me help. I’ll just pull you a little…”

Coming into the final stretch…

Note the guy running behind me…

Yeah that would be him crossing the finish line before me… lol! My sprint died about a quarter mile back.

I was so happy to see the clock under 40! And at the same time, I was sad I had just missed being under 39…

Until the official results were put up…

Umm… can you say CHIP TIMED! D’oh!

#137 Jennifer Reed @ 38:45

WOO HOO!!!!

I can’t believe I was originally planning on just sneaking out the door that Sunday morning and driving off to run this. I am SO GLAD that my family was there to support me. I am SO HAPPY that Sam was able to capture my race in these photos. Even if I never run another race, I have these wonderful memories.

My family was very proud of me and it felt REALLY GOOD!

I am truly blessed.

So I went back to the gym on Tuesday. I have gotten so off track since I was sick earlier this month. It was time for an ass kicking intervention.

I’ve been telling myself that I really needed to get back to lifting weights not just doing cardio. My plan is to go back to what I used to do when I did the Body for Life 9 years ago (wow! 9 years? really?).

I work on arms one day, do cardio the next, then legs/abs, back to cardio, arms, cardio, rest, repeat.  The weeks get switched up – one week with 2 days of arms / 1 day of legs/abs and then the next week flips with 2 days of legs/abs and 1 day of arms.

It was really good to get back to lifting weights… but wow I get sore like crazy the first week back. Usually after the first week, I’m good but that first week is SORE. The delayed onset muscle soreness (yes it actually has a name) started to be REALLY noticeable when I turned 34-35.

I think my body is telling me that the real answer is to NOT STOP EXERCISING.

“For the past 5 years I keep hurting you more each time you return to working out after being away (even if it’s only a few months of being away). Are you really that stupid here? You don’t seem to be getting my message. Let me spell it out for you. If you would just KEEP EXERCISING and stop falling off the wagon then this crazy soreness won’t happen. Hello?!? Is this thing on?”

So I’m back to the gym. Does that mean I’m stopping running? No. I really do want to get better at running. So I’ve decided to keep trying to run a mile every day after I do my workout at the gym. Hopefully that will change to more than one mile but right now running the one mile is back to being hard for me so I’m sticking with one mile.

I did stay true to what I said I was going to do in January.  Each day I ran I snapped a quick photo.  (The photos with my bare feet were taken after I took a shower. I forgot to take the before photo.)

I wish I could say Feb looks like this on my phone… but it doesn’t. Feb only has two photos from this week.

Hopefully there will be 5 more before the month ends!

I ran somewhat regularly from July-Nov of last year. I didn’t run much in December. I think I got to run twice maybe three times and that’s it. And by running I mean run for about 20-30 minutes with a few 30 second walk breaks in there somewhere (sometimes a few minutes of walking).  I wasn’t consistently running without stopping all the time.

My main health goal for 2012 is to go back to the gym and lift 2-3 times a week and run the other 4-3 days for a total of 6 workout days every week. January is always a crazy month for me and I know I’m not in the right mindset to go back to the gym and stick with it. This time of year also has all the “new year resolution” people at the gym and it’s always hard to find a machine.

Rather than set myself up to fail right off AND to coincide with my 2012 “Good Enough” plan, I have decided to run ONE MILE every day during the month of January.

Just ONE MILE every day. That’s it.

I can do that. It’s only 15 minutes. It’s only 1 mile.

When Feb comes, I’ll make the decision whether to increase my mileage (probably to 1.5 miles every day) or not. Slowly but surely I’ll get to my year goal of being able to run 3.1 miles without stopping.

My old running shoes have taken a beating. I had been good and using them only to run. But then in December I started wearing them every day and they are worn out. So for my birthday Rick’s parents bought me a new pair of running shoes.

I have high arches and underpronate. I had been running in the Asics Gel Nimbus 12 but those aren’t carried anymore as the new version 13 is out. The Nimbus 13’s just don’t have enough area in the toe for me. I decided to try the Brooks Glycerin 9 this time. I’m not sure what I think yet. My calves have been sore the past two days but I think that’s because I haven’t run in so long (or done any form of exercise). My body has a tendency to hurt a lot the first week or so after I start exercising again. lol!

Here’s a look at my bad boys.

As part of my RUN ONE MILE A DAY plan, I am using the Photos 365 iPhone app to track each day. I had seen another blogger (can’t remember who) post a digital calendar showing her shoes for every day she ran. I thought that was a great idea and would be easy enough to do with my iPhone as I head out.

The Good, The Bad and the Have You Lost Your Mind?

I bought a full length mirror a few months ago with the idea of forcing myself to look at my entire body length more (not just look at my face in the bathroom mirror). I am definitely not one for looking at myself in the mirror – I tend to avoid them – but I thought this was a good way for me to keep myself on the weight loss path.

Earlier this week I had texted a friend this photo (Oh.. now don’t laugh. I’m sure you have texted weird s##t like this too.) It’s amazing what you kid yourself into believing. As I was sending this I thought “My thighs don’t really look THAT bad.”

Now jump ahead to today. As part of my running journey I wanted to take a “before” shot. So much for not looking THAT bad…

I can’t believe I’m even going to post this damn photo but I want to share more of my personal journeys on this blog. Hopefully this will help me be more accountable to myself. I mean… if this damn photo is out here then I sure as hell am going to work to have an “after” photo to eventually go with it. Right? Right?  Yeah.. right!

I’ve always carried more weight in my upper legs and stomach. I guess I’m a pear shape.

HATE IT!

I also have a big “Kim Kardashian” bubble butt. Always have. I don’t think I’m going to get rid of much of that. But if I can slim my legs down in general I’ll be much happier.

So hopefully by the end of January I’ll see some improvement… with my long term goal of seeing a nice improvement come this summer.

Just ONE MILE every day. That’s it.

Hope to see you on the road!