Running, in part, is so exciting because it's very much like a mini battle, in which you win every time you complete the run. When done, I'm all smiles and beaming for hours later. The struggles of each particular run is soon forgotten for the afterglow felt at the end takes all that away and makes it vanish. The sheer glee experienced from a task accomplished glosses over any discomforts felt during that run, the burn, the breathlessness, the restlessness, gone! Therefore, it's no surprise I define this feeling after each run as a 'triumph'......my daily dose of triumph.
I use to have a bumper sticker on my car that read, "Running is cheaper than therapy" and I truly feel that running is only cheaper, but also much, much better than therapy, or drugs, or anything else one might think up to fix our everyday issues. As someone who has bordered depression all her life, I can attest to the amazing, long-lasting change in mood brought about by simply running regularly, being outdoors, and being alone with my thoughts while running and being outdoors.
For this reason alone I feel a huge sense of comraderie towards other runners. I feel like this one simple, common, yet powerful thread of running, is so strong, so right, so precise in its impact, that once I know someone is a runner I not only trust them without question, but I also feel I know them already.
Every day I go out for a run I feel so proud to have this one amazing thing in my life that has brought me so much in so many levels. I feel blessed to be able to move, to learn from my body, to push my limits and to hopefully inspire others to do the same. Now I need to head home to make dinner and then go out to get my DAILY TRIUMPH.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Snowy Run
It snowed today and I waited for my hubby to finish his exercises and then off I went for my one hour jaunt in the snow. My sacred time, my time to be in nature, in the elements and only worry about me. It was in the 20s and therefore I wore two warm tech pants, 2 thick, long-sleeve technical tops, a warm hat, long woolen gloves, wool socks and my yak tracks. (The Yaks came off a block into the run, there was not enough snow to have them function properly). I carried my Iphone, which I use for both music and for the MapMyRun app, inside my gloves for they tend to not work after half an hour in the cold.
Snow quietly covers DC
My Bridge is slushy, yet free of other runners today.
Me looking out the window wondering what it's like out there.
Look, I've got silver mascara!!!
My son and two friends in the snow.....
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Lessons from the jiggling ass...
I was at mile 4.5 of my 5-mile run and every time I passed someone on my path I could not stop thinking about the fact that every part of my body was probably jiggling as I ran past these strangers and wondered what my big bouncing ass must look like to them. It's slightly funny but also somewhat a very serious subject to all women. Although most of my body has tightened up quite a bit during this two years of running, I find myself still having to shove these annoying insecurities right back from the dark hole from where they came, during each and every run.
I could easily do what most people seem to do when they feel insecure about their rear, they cover it up with a fun running skirt, or with long shirt. But a stubborn part of me does not feel like covering anything up, and wouldn't that communicate to me that I feel shame in my body. After all the respect I've grown to feel over my body after running the 50k, then the marathon, there is no way in hell I would act in any way that would communicate shame to myself.
Yet still, the insecure feelings persist, each and every run comes with its own set of mental battle. But I think running in daylight, and letting my body freely jiggle without a care as I pump forward with power, strength and pride has a bigger, very important purpose. I am a regular sized woman running, and in simply doing that I claim strength, pride and power as something inherently mine. In doing so I allow other women, just like me to also feel the same sense of entitlement regardless of their body type, or size. As I chug along with head held high, claiming my streets, my body as mine, my power I am saying, "Girl, you too could feel strong, free, and shameless in your beautiful gift of a body."
I could easily do what most people seem to do when they feel insecure about their rear, they cover it up with a fun running skirt, or with long shirt. But a stubborn part of me does not feel like covering anything up, and wouldn't that communicate to me that I feel shame in my body. After all the respect I've grown to feel over my body after running the 50k, then the marathon, there is no way in hell I would act in any way that would communicate shame to myself.
Yet still, the insecure feelings persist, each and every run comes with its own set of mental battle. But I think running in daylight, and letting my body freely jiggle without a care as I pump forward with power, strength and pride has a bigger, very important purpose. I am a regular sized woman running, and in simply doing that I claim strength, pride and power as something inherently mine. In doing so I allow other women, just like me to also feel the same sense of entitlement regardless of their body type, or size. As I chug along with head held high, claiming my streets, my body as mine, my power I am saying, "Girl, you too could feel strong, free, and shameless in your beautiful gift of a body."
Friday, January 17, 2014
Update on current struggles....
I've been debating back and forth about whether to do the marathon I have planned in February. There is apart of me that thinks that doing so would signify that I am giving up, but the logical side of me is telling me that I have other priorities that are more meaningful and those are (1) I do not want to get injured. I have not had a chance to train as well as I should have and (2) I have a more important (personally meaningful) marathon in June I want to be ready for and (3) If I get injured I won't be able to run for some time and THAT would be just a really bad place to be for me. Running helps me stay balanced, not only physically, but emotionally, so stopping would be even worse than not doing the race.
I've been following a high fat, low carb way of eating and I'm only on day 4, so I will report back soon how that's going. So far it's been very good. One immediate change I notice is the lack of cravings. I did not have a lot of that anyway, but I do have a sense of satisfaction all day and am not searching for mid-meal "snacking" at all.
Been hitting a rut with motivation lately. Took 3 days off because the bottom of my right foot was stiff and sore. It's less now and no matter what I am able to run with it, but the dull, persistent ache is there for most of the day. Also, I cannot seem to get out of bed at all anymore. I talk myself back to sleep and convince my sleepy mind at the moment that I will make the run up later, which of course, happens maybe only half the time. On that note...it's 3am and I am going back to sleep....need ot be up at 4:40am to run at 5. Nite!
I've been following a high fat, low carb way of eating and I'm only on day 4, so I will report back soon how that's going. So far it's been very good. One immediate change I notice is the lack of cravings. I did not have a lot of that anyway, but I do have a sense of satisfaction all day and am not searching for mid-meal "snacking" at all.
Been hitting a rut with motivation lately. Took 3 days off because the bottom of my right foot was stiff and sore. It's less now and no matter what I am able to run with it, but the dull, persistent ache is there for most of the day. Also, I cannot seem to get out of bed at all anymore. I talk myself back to sleep and convince my sleepy mind at the moment that I will make the run up later, which of course, happens maybe only half the time. On that note...it's 3am and I am going back to sleep....need ot be up at 4:40am to run at 5. Nite!
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Favorite Podcasts
I love podcasts. Every time I am feeling a bit uninspired to go for run I tune into one of my many podcast subscriptions and listen away. I either listen to them in the car or on the first half of any of my weekend long training runs (forces me to run slow the first half). I seriously feel every serious runner should tune in to these free resources, they seriously have helped me be a better runner, faster.
* Ultra Runner Podcast
* The Marathon Show
* Marathon Training Academy
* Runner Academy
* Natural Running Network
* Endurance Planet
* Talk Ultra
* Trail Runner Nation
* Every Day Runner
Here is my list of favorite running podcasts in order of favorites to least listened to....
(I did not include the links to them, surely you can google them or search them out on your app store).* Ultra Runner Podcast
* The Marathon Show
* Marathon Training Academy
* Runner Academy
* Natural Running Network
Some new one I have found, yet have not yet listened to:
* Endurance Planet
* Talk Ultra
* Trail Runner Nation
* Every Day Runner
Running-Related New Years Resolutions
It's 12:45am January 1st, 2014, this year I'd like to:
* Finish 2 or more marathons
* Improve my marathon time by 1/2 hour or more
* Run the West Virginia Trilogy 50K in October again with a much better time (at least an hour off my last time).
* Investigate both a 12 and a 24-hour challenge and make a decision of whether to do either one this Spring or Fall of this year or Spring of the next year.
* Run 1500 miles total in 2014. (That is 28 miles a week average). That is 3 runs of 5 miles and one long run of 13, or split the 13 into a 10 and a 3 for the weekend. During racing season peak at 40 miles a week with two twenty milers (for 50K peak at 50 miles a week with one 26 miler).
* Run a faster 10 miler than last year. (Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in DC).
* Log in my eating habits on MyFitnessPal for at least 3 months with no breaks.
* Save up for a good GPS watch. (Start a rainy day fund)
* Do all my stretches after each and every run, been known to keep me injury-free
* Drink more water throughout the day
* Sign up to a race (half or more) and travel there with my family
* Wear reflective wear at all times when running in the dark of the morning or night.
* Reduce consumption of breads, sugars, rice and pastas.
* Stop buying multiples of running gear. Try to let go/swap/sell of some gear I don't ever use.
* Sign up to a race (half or more) and travel there with my family
* Wear reflective wear at all times when running in the dark of the morning or night.
* Reduce consumption of breads, sugars, rice and pastas.
* Stop buying multiples of running gear. Try to let go/swap/sell of some gear I don't ever use.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Music I cannot run without......
My iphone has frozen quite often lately on runs in weather colder than 30 degrees. Which will leave me counting my rhythmic breathing to 12 and back again until the run is over, which by the way, is not very exciting. So....I am trying to device ways to maintain my phone dry and warm on my cold runs. Below are some of my favorite tunes this winter.
Speed vs. Distance Runners
As a person aiming to test her own endurance limits purely through distance I find the running community's fascination with speed and fast runners to be over the top, in fact, I find it incredibly annoying. First, does every podcast and magazine article and cover dedicated to running need to be about those ultra-gifted, super-fast athletes who run at speeds most of us would never even come near? Second, most of the running community consists of regular-speed runners who for the most part love running and are not qualifying for Boston anytime soon. How come we don't see more of US reflected back to us in the media, podcasts and articles and covers? Last, the faster runners I do encounter in my runs never say, "good morning" back to me as I chug past them. Somehow, the camaraderie I think I share with all runners is not mutually shared with most faster runners, even in my own community.
As someone who often reads Runner's World Forum, podcasts and running magazines regularly, I too often have come across arguments and debates over the back-of-the-pack runners. The arguments always focus on the legitimacy of these slower runners as real runners. Often it revolves around the the 6, 7 or 8-hour marathoner and "are they actually racing or just watering down the sport". All these arguments are always made, of course, by faster runners, whose legitimacy as "runners" is not questioned due to their established speed. I find that the majority of the running community is very interested in embracing all types of runners into the community, yet, I find most media outlets about running to be quite elitist in their view of slower runners. These predetermined, and very separate views of runners in these categories only serves to separate the running community. What is the big deal I ask? There is certainly room for everyone and the presence of slower runners in the sport should not in any way threaten its legitimacy. In fact, I will go even further and claim that, in fact, slower runners make up the majority of the sport, therefore shouldn't we see more of us reflected back to us in these media outlets? In some ways, I see the running community's fascination with fast running to be sickeningly parallel to the way magazines depict ultra-skinny women back to all women, constantly feeding us with ideas that we are not good enough until we are a size zero. Yes, getting faster is one goal of runners and one that all runners may aspire to eventually, but people come to running for all sorts of reasons and simply narrowing this journey to one goal limits your target audience and alienates the majority of your readers.
I obviously won't hold my breath until the Runner's World posts a regular ol' runner on their cover, but in the meantime, I will search high and low for the community I very well know exists among us, one where everyone is included, regardless of speed, or distance covered. I won't think twice when a faster runner turns up his nose at my greetings . It's their loss I say to myself. Thank goodness most runners I know are some of the most amazing people I know and thank goodness us regular runners far outnumber faster ones, so technically, even though the media might not depict it that way, this is OUR sport.
As someone who often reads Runner's World Forum, podcasts and running magazines regularly, I too often have come across arguments and debates over the back-of-the-pack runners. The arguments always focus on the legitimacy of these slower runners as real runners. Often it revolves around the the 6, 7 or 8-hour marathoner and "are they actually racing or just watering down the sport". All these arguments are always made, of course, by faster runners, whose legitimacy as "runners" is not questioned due to their established speed. I find that the majority of the running community is very interested in embracing all types of runners into the community, yet, I find most media outlets about running to be quite elitist in their view of slower runners. These predetermined, and very separate views of runners in these categories only serves to separate the running community. What is the big deal I ask? There is certainly room for everyone and the presence of slower runners in the sport should not in any way threaten its legitimacy. In fact, I will go even further and claim that, in fact, slower runners make up the majority of the sport, therefore shouldn't we see more of us reflected back to us in these media outlets? In some ways, I see the running community's fascination with fast running to be sickeningly parallel to the way magazines depict ultra-skinny women back to all women, constantly feeding us with ideas that we are not good enough until we are a size zero. Yes, getting faster is one goal of runners and one that all runners may aspire to eventually, but people come to running for all sorts of reasons and simply narrowing this journey to one goal limits your target audience and alienates the majority of your readers.
I obviously won't hold my breath until the Runner's World posts a regular ol' runner on their cover, but in the meantime, I will search high and low for the community I very well know exists among us, one where everyone is included, regardless of speed, or distance covered. I won't think twice when a faster runner turns up his nose at my greetings . It's their loss I say to myself. Thank goodness most runners I know are some of the most amazing people I know and thank goodness us regular runners far outnumber faster ones, so technically, even though the media might not depict it that way, this is OUR sport.
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