Emotional Running

Several runs to catch up on! This week we had a 3 mile, 4 mile and 7 mile run. JB, Alison and I ran our own individual 3 mile run which went well.

Tuesday, December 20th: JB was going to be gone on Thursday so she decided to ran her 7 mile run this night. She ran 3 miles with Shawn and then caught up with us at the storage units to finish her remaining 4 miles with us. Alison was out of town and could not make it, so myself, JB, Ryan, Jeff and Carmen ran this night. Good weather, a bit warm.

Thursday, December 22nd: This was our 7 mile scheduled run that was to take place at 4:30. Well, mother nature had a different idea so we had to get our run in early as it was scheduled to snow in the afternoon. Alison and I started at 10:45. This run was one of the hardest for myself as I wanted to quit 1 mile into this run. The glory of running with someone is that they are there to push you when you feel as if you want to quit. It must be a dependency that we have on each other. We have all had a run of weakness where we felt as if we wanted to quit..well, I can only think of one for JB, but who's counting :) Anyways, there are so many times we have pushed and comforted each other through that difficult run. Let's just hope we don't have that moment of weakness all at the same time because then I'm not sure what we'll do? If Alison didn't stay back and run with me and tell me it was going to be OK, I would've quit at that 1 mile. Because of her, we stuck it out and we finished in the snow. Alison's back has been hurting her after the last few runs and this was one of those runs. We stretched and hope that Alison's back gets better soon!

Saturday, December 24th 10 mile long run: Well, can I just say how awesome we are to run on Christmas Eve :) We had a good group starting out at 10 am. Myself, JB, Alison, Mitzi, Carmen, Jeannette, Amy, Melissa, gosh.. I know I'm forgetting others?! Needless to say we had a good group running! Dawn joined us about 2 miles in and ran about 7-8 miles with us. Route was down Washington, over to Mill and up to a big hill, then Washington to Carroll Glass (water), up B to Hillside to Theurer's (water) through 22nd and JB's area, through the park (water), back to Washington, to Ice house (water) then up the big hill and back over to Washington. We finished in around 1 hour and 43 minutes which included all stops, so this was a great run for us.

Emotions: First, I have to say that since I am the one authoring this blog, I feel as if most of the posts revolve around my feelings towards our training and so in the next few weeks, I'm going to give the blog to JB and Alison and have them give their perspective on here. So, that's coming.. I'm getting sick of listening to myself.
Saturday's run evoked emotions inside of myself that I've never experienced before. You know that moment of awkwardness that you feel when someone is out of control and emotional and you don't know what to do or say? Well, we had one of those moments this Saturday. Me being the out of control crazy one, and JB, Alison and Dawn the spectators who didn't know what to do. The vulnerability you feel when you're out on a run is only something that can be described and felt by a runner. When you bare your soul to the pavement, there is bound to be a moment when you feel out of control and overcome by some emotion. Fear, glee, happiness, sadness, anger, defeat. Maybe this is why we keep going back to running, to feel that emotion. For myself, running is very personal. Running is a metaphor in my life. I have been blessed in being surrounded by people in my life that cannot walk, let alone think about running. And I don't take this running experience lightly. So, there are many times when I am in pain or when I am feeling good during a run, that I feel so many emotions. And if you're a runner, you feel these same emotions...whether it's the same as myself or a feeling in another way, only you can describe and know what it is. This run was my emotional roller coaster. And this run proved that running has so much to do with life. Or maybe it's just my perception in my life. We are all so thankful of the friendships and people we have made in our lives through running. And we only hope that it keeps growing because the more we share our love for running and life, the better each one of our lives will be.

I am including two videos at the bottom of this post. Enjoy and until next time..

Quote of the day: "Running and life are much the same. A fantastic support system of friends or family can make a big difference."
-Running Quotes

Cheers!

Well, we haven't quit marathon training, so that's a good thing! :) We ran our furthest long run with 13 miles last Thursday, December 15th. The idea of running a half marathon on a weeknight was both frightening and exhilarating at the same time. We all were nervous about the long trek, but the good news is that we made it! We started from WHS: it was myself, Alison, Dawn and Steve and JB started from the bank and met us along the way. We met up with JB on Harvey and she ran her first mile in 9:19! That's even up the hill! Well, we all know how awesome she is :) It was a nice run, it started out nice and when the sun went down, it did get quite chilly, but it wasn't too bad. Dawn and Alison finished their run with a time of 2:04, and JB and I finished with a run time of 2:05. The times do not include drink stops, but we didn't take very long at the stops, so it was a good pace for the mileage. Injury update: Alison was in pain for about 3 miles with her lower back, JB has had a left hamstring pain, and I was feeling the pain in my knee. We all stretched and tried to work out the kinks. Lisa is still dealing with some pain in her foot. Mitzi has foot pain and some knee pain. They are working on speed and distance.

Saturday we were to run a short 3 mile run. We had a good group again from the Donut Shop at 8 am. Alison was still not feeling good, so she stayed home. JB and I ran our short 3 miles and it was tough! Its amazing how different you can feel from one run to the other. And it's amazing how the shorter ones almost seem worse than the longer ones! We did run well at about a 9:20 pace considering how tough it was. Mitzi and Lisa also ran 4 miles. They are moving right along also!

Saturday night was the Wellington Boot Camp/Runners party and it was awesome to see how much our group has grown in the past year. Lots of boot campers and runners were there enjoying great food and a few beverages :) Ok, so the great debate/conflict in running is how to properly fuel yourself so that you can run in the best way possible. Well, I made a pact with myself when I began training that I wasn't going to drink. Because I wanted to give everything I had to training for this once in a lifetime event. Of course JB, Lisa and Mitzi thought I was crazy, but were troopers and encouraging me, all the while drinking without me :) Alison also jumped on wagon with me a few weeks into our training. Well, I forgot how difficult that might be over the holidays. So..my pact came to an end on Saturday with my consumption of a few drinks. We didn't get crazy, so we were all good girls. With the weekend fun, I think I'll be OK and training will continue just fine.

So, here's an article on drinking and it's affect on running. You be the judge :) Until next time..
Alcohol and running

Quote for the day: "If you resolve to give up..drinking and loving, you don't actually live longer; it just seems longer"
-Clement Freud

Been awhile

Our marathon training mileage keeps getting higher and higher and we're still working hard! This weekend, we did our longest run to date at 12 miles and it was Alison's Birthday! I can't think of a better gift than a good run for your birthday :) The long milers were myself, JB, Alison, Dawn and Kitchel. Dawn didn't start out wanting to do 12, but somehow she finished with us :) It was a cold run..Alison actually had icicles in her hair during the run and we also had frost on our jackets and faces. Needless to say, it was a bit chilly. You always warm up when you're running though. For being as cold as it was, we actually had a bunch of runners. There were some doing 3, 4 and 6 miles along with our crazy 12 milers! It is very exciting to see the enthusiasm and dedication of so many people in Wellington running. There are different levels, but the cool thing is that we are all encouraging each other to just keep going and get better. Such a powerful, amazing thing to see.

We had drink stops every 2 to 2.5 miles and that works well for our training. However, when you get up in the mileage, the starting and stopping tends to get much harder! Our last drink stop, we all groaned as we had to get our feet going again! But it is always a good feeling to know you're getting closer and closer to being done. As usual, JB and Alison were fine running 12 miles, and I'm the injury prone one! My knee was fine up until about mile 11 and then I could start to feel some pain. It got intensely worse and by the time we finished.. I couldn't even bend my knee. I looked like a fool walking straight legged for the next 4 hours, but after 4 whole hours I could walk normal. Not sure that is normal.. but I figure I just need to stretch more..we'll see on the next run. Mitzi and Lisa did their longest mile to date with 6 miles. They are increasing their mileage gradually and they will be marathon ready come February! They will be ready, they just don't know it :) 

Alison and JB already ran their first 3 mile run of the week yesterday, I will make that run up later this week. Tonight, we run 6 miles. Wednesday will be a rest day, Thursday will be our long 13 mile run and then Saturday will be our 3 mile to finish out this week with 25 miles. Whew..it's getting up there! We'll just keep on working. Until next time...

Quote for the day: "But I know no matter how fast we are running..somehow we keep..somehow we keep up with each other."

-Dave Matthews Band

Keep on stepping

Because the weather was supposed to be cold and rainy on Saturday morning, we decided to do our long run on Friday night. I guess we aren't exactly "true" runners just yet because we tend to change our runs around the weather instead of those die hard runners that run regardless of what the weather is. I'm not sure that we will ever be the type to run in any weather element..so we like to adjust to fit our liking!

It was a really good run for JB, Alison and I. This was our long 7 mile run and we ran at about a 9:30 pace. It is actually pretty running at this time of year as the sun sets. We are beginning to see the Christmas lights appear and it really is a neat site to run the streets of Wellington and look at all the lights. Weather was chilly, but we dressed accordingly and felt good. Lisa and Mitzi ran 5 miles on Friday also! They are doing awesome and if we can just convince Lisa that she can do a full marathon, all 5 of us will be making the long haul to Fort Worth in February! She can do it and we want to do it together! It's the convincing HER that's proving difficult :)

It was nice to have Saturday morning off to sit in our pajamas instead of run in the cold rain. That was a good call! Of course, we still had to meet at the Donut Shop to have our Saturday morning ritual of donut sugar. Because of some conflicts this week, we started this week's miles on Sunday. We ran 3 miles and this was a hard run for all of us! Not sure if the weekly miles caught up to us or what the deal was, but our legs and seemed heavy and our breathing was out of control. We did finish at about a 9:20 pace, but man it seemed like we were going slow! When it was over, we were glad. Also happy to have the next few days off.

This week's miles: we'll run 3 miles on Tuesday, 6 miles on Wednesday, and our long run will be Saturday for 12 miles. 12 miles seems a little nerve wracking but we'll do it! And who gets to say they ran 12 miles on their birthday---ALISON! What a great birthday present :)

Quote for the day: "To get through the hardest journey, we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping".
- Chinese proverb

Like a Roller Coaster

This week, we ran 3 miles on Tuesday, 5 miles on Wednesday and 3 miles on Thursday. Tuesday's run was a great run as all 5 of us MM's ran together for the first time in a long time! Though we are staggered in our pace, it is comforting to see each of the ladies during a run whether it's in front of you or from behind. Except for Alison who only sees us at the beginning because she seems to be leading the pack more and more lately! She's getting and always has been really strong. Oh and did I mention how good her butt looks in running tights :) 

Wednesday's run we had a few other runners run with us. They all joined us for our 5 mile route. Dawn, Dawn's son, Anna and Ryan accompanied us 5 MM's. Even though they are much faster than us, it's always nice to see familiar running faces. JB and Alison rocked this run! They started out strong and ended strong. I on the other hand was just the opposite. I had a difficult time not only physically but mentally. I decided not to wear my knee brace instead invested in Rob's compression softball socks and thought that would solve the problem...big mistake! Not only did my knee hurt about 3 1/2 miles in, I couldn't catch JB and Alison and I just felt alone and so frustrated that the crocodile tears came out. Ugh..bad run! Lisa and Mitzi finished 5 miles, which is so awesome for them! They need to do the marathon with us, no matter how fast or slow!! Thursday night for our 3 mile run, we ran separately. JB and I ran on treadmills at the Fitness Center. Alison, Lisa and Mitzi ran on their own time. JB said she had a rough time with this treadmill run. This lead into our discussion about how up and down running is. 

One day you feel like you are running on clouds and everything around you is sunny and bright and your smiling and happy and you swear you can hear the Gods signing..and the next day you feel as if your legs have suddenly grown roots.. Running is much like a roller coaster in that one day your up, and the next day your down. But the good news is that as long as we stick with it...there is always an uphill to a downhill. The downhill doesn't last forever, there is always an up to that hill. When we feel down and frustrated and like we can't do it anymore, there will always be a good day looming around the corner. Maybe this push and pull is the reason why we love running so much. 

This weekend we have our long 7 mile run on Saturday, the weather is supposed to be snowing, so we'll see how that works out for us. Until next time..

Quote for the day: Training for a marathon started out as a life-list thing, but it turned into a lifestyle.

- Mike Post