Mindset

This was a looong week! I ran 9 days straight and the others ran 10 days straight. The whole purpose of this new schedule is to run on tired legs, and boy does it work! We all complained of how sore our legs were. We are used to running 3 times during the week and once on the weekend, this is sure different for us. 

I have been in a funk and not really wanting to run much, so I decided that I needed to change my attitude. I told myself that there would be no more negative thoughts or comments, we were doing this for a cause and I should be happy I have the physical ability to do it. Well, these silly girls that I run with insist on running in the mornings, and that just happens to be when I am the grumpiest! So, this has been a very hard promise to keep. We did actually have a speed workout on Tuesday evening and it was awesome.  We ran 7 miles like this......2 laps around the track for a warm up, then 1 lap at our fastest 5K pace and a slow lap, then repeat.  We were all dreading it because it sounded so hard, but I loved it.  It was so nice to have that evening air blowing in my face...until the next stinking morning when we were back to morning runs.  We ran our longest run to date on Friday, with an 8 miler, and then another 8 miles the next day (that’s the one I skipped).  We all felt pretty good on the Friday run, but the girls said it was much harder the next day.  All in all, I think things are going well (except for my mindset), and we just keep our final goal in mind while pounding those streets.

- Alison

Quote for the day: "You have to want it, you have to plan for it, you have to fit it into a busy day, you have to be mentally tough, you have to use others to help you. The hard part isn't getting your body in shape. The hard part is getting your mind in shape"

 - Amby Burfoot

I'm Thankful!

As we start week five of our training, I’m thankful for the Wellington Running Group.  Last week I ran 16 miles by myself, 11 in the hills of Iowa.  It was hot and humid, like it was here, and I was quickly reminded of how thankful I am for our supportive running group.  On one of my five mile runs, I entered the trees again on the running trail with 1 ½ miles left.  I so badly wanted to walk but it was then I found strength from our Ethan and “ran for those who can’t”.  So, for anyone who runs alone, I encourage you to jump in with our wonderful group and see how much more enjoyable it is to have company on your runs.

On Monday, as we took off at 5:45 a.m. in the 85 degree heat, we had another friend on our minds.  We found ourselves “thankful to be able to run”.  You never know what lies ahead of you in life.

Wow, what a busy week!  We are thankful we have the strength and energy to do all we do.  No excuses for not having enough time in your day to run (or exercise).  With our extremely busy schedules this week, we still managed to get 24 miles in.  We run mornings and evenings, get out and join us!  Great job to all who ran the wHEAT Run!!

The five of us who are training for this marathon have pledged to raise $1,000 each for PPMD.  Saturday night we started our fundraising efforts.  Many thanks to everyone who helped with Team Higgie in the Beer Garden at the Wheat Festival and everyone who contributed to the proceeds for PPMD.  Your support to this organization means so much to us.

As we continue to raise money towards our goal, we ask that you pray for a cure of muscular dystrophy so Ethan can enjoy the freedom of walking or jogging with us!

Next week will be a challenge for us as we increase our mileage and add speed/strength runs to our schedule.  Please join us and “Run for Those Who Can’t” and be thankful you can!

- Mitzi

Quote for the day: "Great is victory, but the friendship of all is greater."

- Emil Zatopek.

Just Keep Swimming!

Wow! It’s hard to believe we have completed 4 weeks of training for the Chicago Marathon! Only 14 more to go! We had a great running week; we got a well-deserved day of rest on Monday, followed by a 5 mile run on Tuesday and another rest day on Wednesday! Thursday, the 4^th of July we had an awesome group run! I think I counted 26 people for a nice 3 mile route through downtown Wellington. It is such an awesome sight to see that many people! Whether it be running, walking or jogging to keep their bodies healthy! I would encourage anyone who even thinks they might like to join us to please do. We have all levels of running in our group and we would love to have you!

Friday was another 3 miler, followed by 5 on Saturday and Sunday. The miles are adding up for sure! We each have different ways of getting through our runs and Saturday I was having issues. My mind kept telling my legs to STOP! I had to find something to get out of that funk because I was NOT going to stop! So, I had recently watched the movie Finding Nemo with my granddaughter and Dori was telling the other fish to “Just keep swimming” so in order to finish that tough 5 mile run I sang that song for about the last mile and a half! It’s funny the things that can motivate you. Another motivation that I have is Ethan! I use him as motivation every day, in everything that I do! He is such a trooper, he is my “why” I get up every morning and put on my running shoes and hit the pavement! He is my inspiration, he is the reason we all must help raise money to help find a cure!

We will be doing some fundraisers in the near future for our Chicago Marathon, we are running for Parent Project’s Run for our Sons team as charity runners and we have to raise $5,000 as a group. I know we will get this done! I am confident in the people of Wellington and their giving hearts. So if you see, Stormie, JB, Alison, Mitzi or I and you want to help out, let us know. Team Higgie is out to get it done! I want to thank you all for the support and encouragement that we all get in our marathon quest. It means the world to us, keep it up, we only have 14 more weeks to go!

- Lisa

Quote for the day: "Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it."

 - Lou Holtz

Well, we're still running...

This week we began the torturous task of running in the terrible heat with high humidity. It’s so hard to talk yourself into completing a run when you know its 100+ outside! I'm guessing we will be dealing with this many times as we train in the summer. But I guess you just try to put it out of your head and walk out the door and “just do it”. Our schedule called for 4 miles on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, which we completed in the very high temperatures. Sunday was our first sort of long run with a 5 miler.  We were blessed with a beautiful spring like morning on Sunday and it was such a great day to run. Again this weekend, we have seen many new and old faces joining the group to pound the pavement. We hope this continues throughout the course of our training schedule. It’s always nice to have a set time, a set route and a set group of people to keep you motivated. This next week temperatures look very mild, so set a time and get out there and run!

To end, I want to share a personal story with you. It is not my intention to draw sympathy or pity from stories that I share. And those of you that know me well; know that sharing isn’t something I do often. J Rather, my intention is to inspire. Inspiration by definition is “the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something.” If you aren’t mentally stimulated or inspired to do something, what is the point? Inspiration, in my mind is the key behind everything in life. Last week Ethan received a new stander. This contraption is a chair he sits in, we strap him in and then we get to crank him up until he’s in a standing position. It honestly looks sort of like a torture chair. We’ve teased him that we might put him in it if he gets in trouble and add a muzzle… of course we are kidding (sort of). One thing that was discussed during the first time we put him in it is how tall Ethan is. When he is stretched out and standing up right, he really is just about as tall as me. Seeing Ethan in his wheelchair every day, we obviously are constantly staring down at him. It’s quite a welcome gift to be looking at him at eye level. And he sure does light up when he’s able to look at me and tell me how tall he is J  We had a conversation as he’s in his stander and we’ve had this talk before, but this week he said “Mom, I really wish I could walk”. And as weird as it sounds, he’s not really sad about it, it’s just a statement. Struggling to walk has been what he has known his entire life. It’s difficult to realize that what we do every day, we take for granted. The little aches and pains and complaints we have about running and his only wish is just to walk across the room. So, for obvious reasons I remind myself to think about this often. So when you’re feeling down or your legs are tired, or it’s hot outside, or you feel as if you didn’t do very well today, or someone ran faster than you today, I want you to think about Ethan like I do. Imagine him like I do through the eyes of his mother. If only Ethan had our legs, just imagine what he could do. He dreams of it and we get to live it every day. Don’t take that for granted and let him inspire you. Because he sure inspires me. Team Higgie

Stormie

Quote for the Day: "Change your thoughts and you change the world"
- Norman Vincent Peale

Week Two

And only 16 more to go…I’m not sure if it’s the new training schedule or the heat (and humidity) but it sure seems like it should be week 6 or later!  Maybe it’s because we are also doing boot camp and Robert has definitely stepped up the class and made it harder.  We know we’re going to have to quit doing boot camp at some point, but it might be sooner than we think. 

It’s been fun seeing all the runners out and about again. We've split the running groups into morning and evenings since there are some (Alison) that just can’t get out of bed to run at 6:00 a.m. (Alison). 

We added one day of running to our schedule from the previous week so it was a pretty normal running week – nothing out of the ordinary except the humidity.  We ended the week with a great showing at the Head for the Cure race in Wichita on Sunday to support Donna Raschke.  We had several walkers and runners from Wellington proudly wearing our “Team Donna” purple shirts.  There were several of the runners who medaled and/or had a PR.  Congrats to all of you – WAY TO GO!! 

Thank you to everyone who reads the blog and gives us support along this journey – you truly are a blessing to each one of us.  

JB

Quote for the Day: "The thought of later in the day having to explain to myself why I didn't run that morning is enough to get me out the door." 

- Linda Johnson

First Training Week!

Our first week of training is in the books! This first week is actually pretty easy for us as we only ran 3 days. We have been running on our own 3-6 miles periodically, so this first week didn't seem very challenging to most of us. We ran 3 miles on Thursday, Friday off, 3 miles on Saturday and 4 miles on Sunday. The runs this week were pretty uneventful as far as the run themselves go. We are just working on consistently putting miles on our legs. The best part this week was seeing all the new people to join the group runs.

Our first day training we were joined by a big group of about 19 runners. It was awesome! We have some new faces joining us this training go round and it's always great to see new people wanting to get out and move! One thing that might hinder others to start running is the feeling that you aren't at the same level/age/ability as the others. There are many different abilities and ages of runners on our group runs. We have the speed demons aka Tracy, those of us that make up the middle, some joggers and then we have people that are using a run/walk strategy. The point is that if you're reading this and are inspired or thinking about joining a group run - JUST DO IT! We all started by taking that first step and that's the hardest part! Finding it in yourself to just get out that one time and do it. If you have two legs that work, you have the ability to run. Get your mind set, put your shoes on and get out the door.

The one thing that is so great about this group of people is how encouraging and positive everyone is. If you're the first or the last, you will have a feeling of encouragement by everyone! Being mentally positive is so important in running and when others around you help you feel positive, that's even better. If you tell yourself you can't, then more than likely your legs will agree with you. But if you tell your tired legs, "Hey, I think we can do this today" then those tired legs will follow you. Our minds are that powerful! Our ongoing theme for us is the motto "run for those who can't". Think of those people out there who only wish they could do what we are doing: slow, fast, crawling or whatever you choose to do. That is inspiring in itself.

Next week, we will be increasing our total mileage and running 5 days with 4 of those days in a row. This will be new for us and we'll see how our bodies hold up. We will run Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. See you out on the roads!

Alison, JB, Mitzi, Lisa and Stormie

Quote for the Day: (Another picture quote today)

WE'RE BACK!!!!

Well if you're reading this, you've heard the great news!! We are running the Chicago 2013 Marathon! WooHoo!! That being said....HOLY COW WE ARE NERVOUS!

Running 26.2 miles was probably one of the hardest things the five of us have ever done. However, it was also one of the most rewarding things we've ever done. To embark on a journey that involves so much time and dedication and to cross that finish line is something that you only know if you've felt it. So, we've decided to torture ourselves again for that feeling :) 

As with our first marathon, we've decided to raise money for the Run for Our Sons organization. JB, Alison, Lisa, Mitzi and myself will be considered charity runners for the Chicago marathon. We wouldn't have it any other way. We will again be running for Ethan and Team Higgie and this time, we all 5 are required to raise $1,000 for the race. This is something we will be fundraising for in the near future, so get your wallets ready :) It is our hope that maybe next year we won't need to run a marathon to raise money because they will have a cure or treatment. Here is a link to our Team Higgie page: Team Higgie 

Our first dilemma - TRAINING. This is by far the hardest part of running a marathon. It is very difficult to tell yourself that you are going to dedicate 5-6 days of your week for the next 18 weeks to run. That's tough. Anyone who has trained for a long distance race knows how taxing that can be on yourself and especially for your family. But again, it's the torture we put ourselves and our families through.
One thing that we've gone back and forth on is our training schedule. For our first marathon, we followed a strict schedule that included 3 days of running during the week and one long run on the weekends. It worked for us the last time, but we've decided to try something new this time around. We will be following a new training plan called the Hanson Marathon plan. The strategy behind this plan is that you don't have to kill yourself on one long run, you can get the same mileage by spacing it out over the course of the week. One thing that will be different for us is running 6 days in a row. And they throw in a speed workout on the 6th day. The theory is that we must run faster  when our legs are tired on that 6th day and that is simulating the end of a marathon when your legs feel as if they've grown roots. We will be completing our speed/strength runs on the track or in the street with designated distances and specific pace times. On this plan, the furthest distance we will run is 16 miles three different times. Again, we will still run similar weekly mileage as the schedule we followed the first time, it's just more evenly spaced between the days of the week. Mentally, this may be tough for us. It is hard to think that the longest distance we will run is 16 miles during training, but we will still have 10 more miles to go race day. So... we may alter the schedule a bit depending on how we feel?? 

Here is the training schedule if you're interested to see how it works. Just like last time, we would ABSOLUTELY LOVE to have some company on our runs. We are planning on doing most of our runs in the mornings since we are training over the summer, so hopefully some of you will be able to make a few. Remember, the first step is just getting out the door.

So that's the beginning.... we will update the blog each week with our trials and tribulations of running and life. Hope you check back and follow along with us on our second journey.  

Stormie, JB, Alison, Lisa and Mitzi

Quote for the Day: