I went running last night for the first time this year. Yes, I suck again, but not as bad as I did when I very first tried it. I love running in this area... isn't it beautiful? So great. It's amazing to get outside in the fresh air and look at those mountains for the whole run.
First Seth got this crazy idea. Then I started to like that crazy idea. Now I think we're going to actually act on the crazy idea. We're going to run a half-marathon. That's 13.1 miles. Or, more than three times farther than I've ever run.
There's a part of me that's really excited. Then there's another part of me that's scared and terrified beyond belief. We've got about 20 weeks to train, a training plan, and enough fear to motivate us. I figure if I run at a slightly slower than normal pace, I can do it in 02:10:00. Since this thing is mostly downhill and I'll be full of adrenaline, I think I might have a chance of doing it in 2 hours even. TWO HOURS. Two full hours of running. Somehow two hours sounds easier than 13.1 miles. I think I'm gonna throw up.
The good news is, we'll be running in a very scenic area. We're doing the Little Grand Canyon Half-Marathon which goes right through Buckhorn Wash, an area where we camped just last year. It's home to many pictographs and petroglyphs and towering canyon walls that seem to be alive. So long as I don't get eaten by a coyote, I may have a chance at this.
Before all you Ogdenites get all huffy, that title was sarcastic. There are tons of great things to do in Ogden including: beer bottle fights, drive-by shootings, and my favorite... drug deals down on the parkway. HA! Just kidding. I hear they have blue fish. Not just any town can say that.
Anyway, looks like we're going to do another 5k here shortly. I got talked into it by my sister, Annie. You'd think I'd know better by now. This one is on May 1st and is going to be up by Weber State. I'm assuming the proceeds go to help Shadow Valley Elementary as that's where this whole thing is going down. I could be wrong though. Head on over to RunWalkJog to sign up. (Be warned... the webpage listed on the form kind of sucks.)
Here is a map of the course:
My goal this year isn't to lose weight. If that's an added bonus to everything else I do this year, fine, but I'm pretty happy where I'm at. I did all my weight loss last year (about 20 pounds! wahoo!) so this year is the year to get really fit. I want to be strong. I want to be INVINCIBLE!! {insert evil laugh here}
In order to keep up and improve my level of fitness, I've decided on a handful of fitness goals I can work towards. Here they are in no certain order:
1. Continuously be able to run at least 3 miles.
2. Be able to run at least 6 miles without stopping by the end of the running season.
3. Do 15 full pushups at a time by the end of the year, with a constant progression of 1 per month (I can currently do 4).
4. Be able to do 4 chin-ups by the end of the year (1 every 3 months).
5. Hike up to the waterfall in Adam's Canyon without having to stop and rest.
which naturally leads me to...
6. Take over the world by Christmas. How hard could it be?
I know I've already done a post on my fitness progress, but I wanted to do another one... this time with pictures. I took some 'before' pictures on May 11th of this year and took some pictures today so I could compare them. To date I've lost 11.5 pounds, 5" on my waist, 4" on my stomach and at least an inch everywhere else. I don't know that anybody can really tell but me. Also, after posting these pictures of myself on here, I've gained a new respect for others whom I've seen do the same. It doesn't ever seem like that big of a deal until it's YOU. By the way, I hate the 'before' pictures. A lot.
*I've wanted to do this post for awhile and finally decided I needed to after reading a post from Seth's cousin, Ashley. I was going to write a comment on her blog but it would've been way too long, so I'll just link you to her blog here so you know where this all came from.
I've never been a runner. I've never been one of those people who loves to work out or who has to get out for their daily run. I've never been one of those long and lean girls who look like gazelles and are naturally suited to the sport. Running is one of those things that is very hard for me and always will be. Which is probably why I've always wanted to be good at it. I run because my body tells me I can't.
When I first started my job I noticed this guy, probably in his late fifties, walking around the plant with a walker. The building where I work is huge. There are a handful of people who are not able to walk very well for one reason or another and they typically drive around the plant on motorized scooters. Anyone else in this man's physical state would use a motorized scooter. But no. This man has MS and literally drags one foot in front of the other with each step, slowly moving from one place to the next. I've never seen such determination and strength.
Whenever I saw this man I would feel a huge wave of guilt. Why? Because here I was, young and healthy, letting my body go to waste. I bet that man would give anything to have a healthy body and be able to walk around easily like everybody else, let alone run, and here I was, with the greatest gift ever and I was wasting it. I finally realized what an idiot I was. This healthy body could be taken from me at any time and what would I do then? Sit around and wish I could do all these things that I was perfectly capable of doing for so long, but chose not to out of laziness? All these years I'd taken my body for granted and it was time for that to stop. I have a wonderful gift and I'm going to make the most of it while I still can.
I'm sure that man has no idea who I am or how much impact he's had on me. But his example has changed me. I run now. I run because of him. I run because I can.
This is the moment you've all been waiting for... race results! Wahoo! First I just want to thank everybody for the encouragement you gave me the last few months. It definitely helps make each run a little bit better. Also, I can't believe all of you who came and participated with me! It was so much fun! There were four people that ran this 5k with me: Seth, my sister Annie, Seth's sister Rachel, and Seth's brother-in-law Marty. There were also several more people that came to show support: Rachel's husband Abraham with their two boys Soren and Liam, Hillary (Abe's sister), Marty's wife (Seth's sister) Collette and two of their kids Tessa and Marty Jr, Marty's mom (sorry I can't remember her name!), and Annie's husband Eric with their little girl Belen. Eric was the mastermind behind all the wonderful race pictures.
I've been consistently working out since May 26th of this year. I've been doing at least 30 minutes of cardio (mainly running... earlier on it was more walking) followed by 30 minutes of strength training (mainly a stability ball workout), at least 3 times a week. I've cut back a lot on soda and try to drink a lot of water. It was a bit painful at first, but now I actually kind of like water. Weird huh? I've also tried to eat a bit less and eat more healthy, but nothing too drastic. I was aiming for something sustainable. More of a lifestyle change.
I'll admit in the beginning it was slow going. I didn't lose any weight for the first month or so. I haven't lost the typical "one pound a week" until recently. I've averaged out to about a pound every two weeks. But I have seen consistent progress, which is more of what I wanted anyway.
I'm 5'6" and at my heaviest I was 150 pounds. I know this doesn't sound like a lot to most of you, and it's really pretty good on average. But, I was starting to morph into a body I didn't feel comfortable in. My clothes were getting too tight, a few extra rolls were popping up here and there, and I couldn't do the things I used to be able to do without a lot of effort. I'd gained about 25 pounds in the last 5 years. Not healthy.
My initial goal was to be physically fit and not worry too much about losing weight. And that's still my main goal. If I end up being 160 pounds of pure muscle, that's just fine with me. But so far I've lost at least 8 pounds. That's almost a whole Gracie! Tonight I took my measurements again for the first time since I started running. I couldn't believe the difference! I've lost 3.5" on my waist, 2.5" from my stomach, 1" on my hips, 1" on my arm and 1.5" on my chest (not necessarily a good thing... but I can live with it :D ).
As soon as I saw my body start changing it just gave me more and more motivation to keep doing it. I feel like I'm actually accomplishing something. Something hard. Something I've never been able to do before. Most people probably wouldn't be able to see the difference in how I look, it's not that drastic yet. But I feel so much better about myself. And with every single little improvement in my fitness, whether it's running a little farther, noticing that extra muscle definition, or my clothes fitting better, I get more and more motivated. I want to eat healthy, I want to go out and run, I want to drink that extra glass of water because I know what will happen if I do.
I know this whole story sounds really cliche. I guess I'm just really excited about all this. And also, I wanted to offer encouragement to any of you out there that are in the same boat I am. A lot of the stories I hear tell about people losing 100 pounds in the same amount of time I lost my 8 pounds. It's always going to be difficult and more often than not it's going to be slow. Much slower than you ever anticipated. But keep it up. The rewards will come.
We're two days away from race time people... do you know where your children are? Oh wait, I mean, are you ready for this?! I don't know why, but I get so nervous for these things! I don't know what I'm so nervous about. All day today I've been walking around with butterflies in my stomach. I think I'm just worried that all this training is somehow going to fly out the window and I'm going to suck really bad or get injured the day before the race or something stupid. Why do I do this to myself? Who knows. I just want to do really good. And I want to run the whole way without stopping. Which I still haven't done on the race course, but have done many times during all my runs for the last several weeks. Even up big hills. But not on the big hill on the course. That's my main goal for Saturday... to run the whole thing without stopping.
Anyway, for those of you who are coming to race, here are the details again:
Ogden Family Fitness Day 5K Run:
•If you haven't already registered, it'll cost you $20 on race day and you probably won't get a shirt.
•Race begins at 9:00 a.m.
•Check-in and Day-of registration
8:00-8:50 am
I would recommend giving yourself plenty of time to get there, check-in, and get warmed up. Here's a map of how to get to the MTC Learning Park. I would recommend taking the 24th St. exit off of I-15 in Ogden because 12th St. is under construction. Plus, then you only have to make one left turn onto Monroe Blvd. and you're pretty much there. The MTC Learning Park will be on the right as you start to go down the big hill on Monroe.
Good luck everybody!
Blackie (our black Pontiac) decided her two power windows were no longer needed and thus quit allowing them to roll up or down. I don't see window function as an option, so I took Blackie into the shop today so they could change her mind.
I called the shop this afternoon to tell them I'd be bringing Blackie in and asked when they closed. They were only open until 6:00pm so I knew I'd have to hurry home from work so I could pick her up and drop her off on time.
Now the other part of my plan, since Seth still works nights, was to drop the car off and run home. If I took a slight detour it would be just over 3 miles. Perfect. I drove the route on my way home to check it out and started to get a little nervous. It was pretty much all uphill. And it was 90 degrees outside. But, I could do it, right?
So I got home from work, changed into my running clothes and drove down to drop off Blackie. I had my ipod and stopwatch with me like usual, but today I thought maybe I should carry a bottle of water with me too. I walked about a quarter mile to warm-up and then started running.
Holy crap it was hard. I started out running on a steep part of the hill and it didn't get much better after that. I ran about a half mile before ditching my water bottle because it was throwing off my rhythm. Don't worry, I threw it in the proper receptacle.
After another half mile I came to a fork in the road. This was the point where I could either take the shorter, easier way, or take the harder way which would end up equaling the 3.1 miles I needed. It must have been the heat that made me delirious enough to choose the longer hard way.
I ran for another half mile up the hill until I couldn't run anymore. I ended up walking 3/4 of a mile. After this point the running was all slightly downhill, but it was hot and my legs were tired. I ran half a mile with the sun in my eyes before I stopped again. The heat and sweat was starting to get to me and now I was dealing with some chafing between my thighs. Yes, I'm going there. My legs were now Jello and my thighs stung with every step. I could either run the rest of the way to get it over with faster thus speeding up the friction on my thighs, or try and walk bow-legged for the last stretch. I settled on a combination of the two.
By the time I made it through the front door, my thighs were rubbed red and stinging, my legs were about to collapse underneath me and sweat was pouring into my eyes. And I managed to add six minutes to my time. Wahoo!
I've actually had a lot of successes in my training this last week or two and it took today's experience to make me remember something very important. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Anytime you do something clearly out of your fitness range you are going to end up frustrated. It's good to push yourself in order to improve, but you've got to set reasonable goals.
I'm going to run again once more this week. I'm going to try running the race course. I almost did it a week or two ago without stopping but didn't quite make it. This week I'm going to.
You better watch out race course. I'm coming for you.
*I had to mention apple pies so you'd read this post. And it made the title sound more cheery.
I was wandering around on the Runner's World magazine site the other day and happened upon an article that talked about how much water you need to drink while you're running. I've always heard these studies about how you need to drink about 10 gallons of water for every hour you exercise (or something like that). It always seemed excessive to me... there's no way I sweat that much! If I really lost as much water as they say I do, my shirt would be drenched, right?
So this article says that you should weigh yourself before and after you exercise and then drink 2 cups of water for every pound you lose. I immediately thought "there's no way I sweat enough during my run to lose any weight, let alone enough to be measured in POUNDS." So I decided to prove that article wrong and weighed myself before and after my run.
One whole pound. That's how much I lost after a half-hour run. Isn't that crazy?! And I lost at least another 1/2 pound after adding in 30 minutes of Pilates. I couldn't believe it! Who would've thought that dainty little old me could sweat that much! Apparently that evaporation thing they talk about actually exists. And I guess all those self-righteous scientists and doctors with their data and tests were right this time.
Today I finally ran 3.2 miles without stopping. Yes my friends, that's 5k. I did it. In 31 minutes 17 seconds no less. I'd say that's pretty damn good. Although, I would suggest not running on garbage day. It was a little smelly out there. And the goats were back in the field on the corner of Church St. and Antelope Dr. I'm pretty sure I heard them cheering me on.
As a somewhat related side-note... have you ever tried smiling while you're working out? There's this girl named Tawyna on my stability ball workout. She wears her hair in braids and has a toothy smile the whole time. I decided to try it once. I felt ridiculous. It's just not natural.
This week I'm supposed to run for 20-30 minutes straight. Don't know how I'm gonna manage that. I'm probably gonna die. It was nice knowing you all. I'd like to be buried holding my fly rod and please sprinkle some Grape Nuts around the casket to keep the insects away as long as possible. Throw in a can of Dr. Pepper too just in case I get lost on my way to the afterlife and get thirsty. I'll try to write.
I've been stuck on a training schedule of running for 5 minutes and walking for 2 for the last two weeks. With vacations and such I haven't been able to stick to my regular training schedule, so I've fallen behind a bit.
Last night I figured I'd be in for my third week of the 5 minute run segments. Which is no big deal, really. I mean, I've still got about 8 weeks left which is how long I trained last time I did a 5k. So in all reality, I'm ahead of the game. Back to the story.
When I first started running last night I felt a bit weaker than in past runs. I figured I'd barely make it to five minutes like usual. But at the five minute mark, all of a sudden I felt pretty good. Maybe I could try running just a little longer... I felt like I'd gotten a second wind, my legs were in a rhythm, my breathing was steady. I ran for 9 minutes. Then I walked for just under 2 minutes, and then I ran again. For 17 minutes! It was amazing! I couldn't believe it.
Maybe it was the playlist on my ipod, maybe it was because I was running at twilight, maybe it was the bowl of Grape Nuts cereal I had for dinner. Who knows. But somehow I finally felt like a real runner. I had my breakthrough. I hope it sticks around.
In order to keep up my new found running skills, I want to do everything in my power to stay motivated during my runs. For me running is very mental. Music plays a huge part in how long and how well I run. I have a special running playlist on my ipod, but quite honestly, it kind of sucks. I put songs on there that I imagined would motivate me and would be enjoyable to run to, but I find myself skipping over a lot of songs because they aren't quite right.
So I ask you, my dear readers, what's on your playlist? For those of you that are training with me, what are your favorite songs to listen to when you run? For everyone else, what songs pump you up and give you more energy when you work out? I need some help here! Back in the day I was known as Mix Master-K, but I'm not as hip as I used to be I suppose. Or maybe I am, but not when it comes to workout music. To get your brains moving I'll offer up a few of my favorite running songs:
Canned Heat by Jamiroquai (you know, the song Napolean Dynamite dances to)
Such Great Heights by The Postal Service
The Enemy Guns by Devotchka
Jerusalem by Neil Diamond
Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins (Footloose is also a good one)
No, my shirt is not supposed to be see-through. Yes, there is a reason I'm folding my arms.
Not bad eh?
p.s. In case you can't tell, Blogger didn't feel like paying attention to my spacing, so this post looks kind of dumb. Sorry. I tried.
So Seth and I finally chose the 5k race we want to do. It's the Ogden Family Fitness Day 5k on Saturday, August 29th at 9:00am. This race is along the Ogden River Parkway where Seth and I have been fishing many times. It's a beautiful spot!
We've already got my sister, Annie on board to run with us and I thought it would be fun to invite all my devoted blog readers to join us too! So if you want to try it, go ahead and go to the Ogden Family Fitness Day website and sign up (they'll send you an email with the address of where to send your $15 registration fee... and you'll be guaranteed a t-shirt!)
I posted this as a comment on one of my other posts, but I liked the training schedule I used so much, I'm gonna put it here too. I swear it works really good. And it's not complicated. For me, running for one minute when I'm just starting out is really hard. But the cool thing is that you can see results and improvement really fast so it motivates you to keep doing it! I'm already running for two whole minutes! WOW! Plus this 5k schedule says it will train you in 8 weeks and if you start training today, you'll have 13 whole weeks! Also, I learned the hard way last time I tried this that having good running shoes makes a huge difference. Having crappy shoes is a good way to hurt yourself. If you live in the general Ogden area, go to Striders. They will do a foot analysis and tell you what shoes work the best for your arches and "stride." Made a huge difference for me. Ok, here's the training schedule:
It's raining. I can't do it by myself. I should have started 2 months ago, it's too late now. I need to clean the bathrooms. I just ate dinner. It's getting dark. I can't find my pants. I don't want to carry my keys. I'll have to start all over.
That last one. That last reason is the one real reason I knew I didn't want to run today. All of those other things were reasons my brain came up with to try and talk me out of it in a "it's not your fault" kind of way. I have a lot of will power, just not the kind that gets me to do things. My will power is great at talking me out of stuff.
So here I am, a mere what, 6 months later? Six months ago I ran my first 5k race. Six months ago I was on top of the world. Six months ago I told myself I'd keep running. Six months ago I quit.
It really is depressing. It's amazing to me how many excuses I can come up with. You know why I didn't keep running? I told myself it was too dangerous to run outside in the winter. There was too much snow. "But you could run inside," I thought. But I HATE the treadmill. I'll just do workout videos during the winter. But I didn't. And as the weeks went by I kept thinking I should run again before I waste my efforts, but then there was this nagging voice in my head telling me it was probably too late and I'd have to start over again. Looks like another self-fulfilling prophecy.
So here I am six months later. Seth sent me a text today daring me to guess what he'd just done. For some reason I immediately knew he'd gone running. Maybe it was because we'd driven past Brigham City the day before and Seth said, "Remember when we ran our 5k?" Yeah I remembered. I'd brought our running shoes with us on our trip to Idaho this weekend. Not to use for running... just to have in case we needed to do lots of walking or something. Seth unpacked the car when we got home and handed me the pairs of shoes to put away. I saw a certain look in his eye when he gave them to me. I felt a twinge of guilt and pretended not to notice.
After Seth told me he'd gone running, it immediately gave me a little nudge of motivation. I thought maybe I should go running when I got home. But on the way home it was raining. Ok it was barely sprinkling and by the time I got home it had stopped. Then I was hungry. So I made dinner. Then I wanted to watch my shows. So I did. It's definitely too late to go out now. I'll do Muscle Motion again. In fact by that time I'd given up on the idea of doing any sort of physical activity for the day. My plan was to watch more tv. Then Seth sent me another message suggesting maybe we sign up for another 5k. I cringed at the thought. I'd have to run again if we did that. But then something clicked in my brain. YOU'RE NEVER GOING TO START. YOU WILL NEVER RUN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO. YOU WILL NEVER START WORKING OUT AND YOU WILL ALWAYS BE OUT OF SHAPE.
For some reason that woke me up. I knew I needed to sign up for another race because otherwise, I would never accomplish my goals. It worked last time and I knew it would work again. So, before I even signed up for a race, I put my running clothes on and walked out the door.
As I began to walk down the street to warm-up, I thought, "Maybe it won't be that bad. Maybe I'll still be able to run good." But, after about a quarter mile of running, my chest and throat hurt too much to keep going. At that point I realized I was going to have to start all over. I would have to start at the very beginning. Run for 1 minute. Walk for 4. Upping my running gradually one week at a time. I'd finally procrastinated for so long that I'd made myself start all over.
At this point I should have been congratulating myself. You're finally doing it! You're running! You're outside and you're trying! Seth isn't here to cheer you on and you're still doing it! You're doing it all by yourself! Look at this beautiful place you live with the green grass and blooming flowers and towering mountain views! You did 40 minutes of physical activity! But all I could think was how much I'd lost. How far I'd fallen and how far I was going to have to go to get it all back. I told myself I'd never get back to this point and here I was. Sigh.
It's no wonder I've talked myself out of running for so long. Who would want to with this brain throwing out guilt and belittling comments for a whole 2 miles? I know I'm not going to get very far with this attitude. So I'm using this post as a way to vent my frustrations. A way to get rid of all these negative feelings and to just start over. Again.
I can do it. I know I can. I've done it before. This time is going to be harder. I'm on my own. No Coach Seth around every night to make me get off the couch. It's all me. But I can do it. And I'm not going to quit this time.
Some of you may remember a previous post about Seth and I signing up for a 5K race.... the Snowman Shuffle. It was our attempt at forcing ourselves to run on a regular basis to try and get in shape.
Well, after training diligently for 8 weeks, race day (December 6th) finally came. The weather was beautiful that morning and I was very nervous and excited for my very first race. The race started at 10:00am, but Seth and I were both up and raring to go at about 7:00am. We wanted to make sure we got up to Brigham City with enough time to get our sweatshirts and do a warm-up walk, so we arrived at about 9:00am.
I was surprised at how many people ended up coming to the race. The route followed the area around the Eagle Mountain Golf Course and the old World War II Army hospital buildings.
Seth pulled ahead of me very early in the race and stayed in the group with the faster runners. He did very well and ran the whole time... even up the very steep hill by the golf course towards the middle of the race. He came in 35th place overall with a time around 26 minutes (I'll update this when I can get the exact times).
The Snowman Shuffle course was pretty challenging... very hilly. It was definitely harder and probably about a half-mile longer than what we had trained on, so I thought we both did really good. I was at the back of the middle group (or the front of the slower one!) and came in 56th place overall with a time around 32 minutes. The benefit of me coming in way behind Seth was that he was able to get the camera and take some really flattering pictures of me crawling across the finish line.
Seth mainly wanted to run in a 5K so that he could get a t-shirt. We ended up getting sweatshirts so that was even better. Seth was a little disappointed because red isn't his signature color. I however look ravishing, especially when flashing my million dollar smile.
We both decided that signing up for races was a great motivator for us. I'm sure we'll be signing up for another one soon!
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