New Shoes Transition-

The new shoe transition....

Painful.

Sometimes literally.

You leave a shoe that fit you like a glove, that's why you had them so long.  The arch was perfect support, the sizing kept you from rubbing off your toenails and the the soles were shaped to provide you a perfect hit and roll of the foot.  But now, you get a new shoe that fit when you tried it on in the store - but out on the trail, after repeated pounds on the pavement, give you blisters, hurt your arch and you trip as the rubber hits at an unexpected point off the pavement.

Painful.

Emotionally.

You had those old worn shoes so long and they have been along for the ride...or run, for a year maybe two or maybe five.  You and your shoes ran on new roads together, broke personal bests, pushed through a rough morning of no energy, charged a hill two more times, crossed a finish line, passed that young twenty year old, and doggonit stepped in that dog poo someone didn't pick up on the trail!

Painful.

Mentally.

Will these old faithful shoes feel abandoned?  Do they feel tossed aside now that they don't sport the new hot neon colors so "in" this season?  Am I justified in throwing them in the garage just because my repeated rubbing of my wide feet made holes from my pinky toes?  Should I throw them away or should I keep them as reminders of the segment of my fitness journey between total beginner runner and training for a full marathon where I learned to run with strength and focus? Should I take the old tie clip off and put them on my new shoes or just buy new ones?   So many questions...

The new shoe transition...

Trepidatious.

Will these new shoes break my flow?  Will they jinks my focus?   Will I get out there tomorrow and be all "I don't know how to run in these new shoes"?

Full of possibilities.

I'm going to have to get a lot of new neon shirts to go with these new neon shoes.

Transforming.

Look how old and nasty my old shoes look next to my new one.  Why did I wait so long to get new shoes?  What was I thinking?   Does the trash go out tomorrow? 

Hey get my shoe tie clips off those first.

And to think that 5 years ago I didn't even own a pair of good running shoes...

Leave no Hill unturned....

Running is a psychological therapist.  It exposes the deepest roots of your psyche.

You find out so many things about yourself, the real truth about yourself.  It causes you to face your limits and fears.  It shows you your weaknesses and then surprises you and puts a spotlight on your hidden strengths.  It makes you listen to thoughts from your unconscious memory that you keep yourself too busy to think of usually, but while your Ipod music fades from consciousness for a few minutes, there they are.  All pretense evaporates in the company of a run.

That's why I love 'the Hill" that is positioned not far from where I run on my trail.

This is not "the Hill" - it is however, very much like it.

It stands there totally exposed to the morning gleaming sun, while the rest of the area is shaded with Oak Trees.  Sometimes, it glistens with morning dew or has a thin haze of fog hovering over it's grass and when it does...it calls to me.

Yes, I said it calls to me.

Hills call to me.  They always have.

Don't ask me why.  They just do.  Not every Hill, just Hills that seem to have a cover that is undisturbed.  Like the morning dew.   It's so compelling.  Even if I have run a few miles already, if the Hill looks right and I have to finish my run with a few passes over it.  It really is a compulsion.  Thus, running at my particular running trail, with the Hill,  has made this all the more clear to me.  I must experience the Hill.

It's not like I didn't know it before.  I have many times lost all ability to control myself and taken "for the Hills" before.

Once on a Ski Trip with our Florida Youth Group, it began to snow relentlessly and my husband had to put snow chains on our church vans to get up the mountain to our cabins.  As we were parked at this gas station, he had made it clear in no uncertain terms that everyone was to stay in the van while he took care of the snow chains with the station attendant.  You know how young people are restless and he left me in one of the vans to keep an eye on them.  But as I sat there in that van I looked over across the street to this amazing hill with a foot of freshly driven snow from top to bottom and then it happened.  Yes, it happened - the Hill called for me.  It cried out for me to jump out of that van across the street and as fast as I could and run to the top and back.  I was not a runner back then but I did it.  I don't think I consciously gave it a logical thought because by the time I got back to the van in what seemed only like 30 thrilling seconds, my legs were like wet noodles under me.  I think I even fell at the bottom when I got to the flat surface of the road.

My husband told me later he was so angry as he looked over at some "youth" running up the hill against his explicit instructions and then heard someone call to him that it was me. He couldn't believe it!  Little, and young at that time, quiet, intimidated and insecure Carmen had bolted in freezing cold snowing weather to a hill while the group of young people stared out the van windows!

That's what running does.  It draws something deep out of you that seems to not even be there.  But running finds it, makes you realize it and live and breathe it!

And so my Hill reminds me every time I see it who I really am.  I am a woman who likes to run where no one else has before.  To make my own mark.  To conquer even if my legs give out on me.

What's your hill?

The Morning Run....

Anyone who knows me knows I am NOT a morning person.

It's not that I just love to stay up late and sleep in, but I truly have always, as long as I can remember struggled with going to sleep any earlier than 10 pm. I can remember being made to go to bed and laying there awake until about midnight. It's almost like an internal clock that is just set on that rhythm. No matter how early I get up and how strenuous the day's activity is and no matter how exhausted I actually am, I regroup around 10 pm with a second wind.

 Of course, whether it's cause and effect or not, anything before 9 am is a struggle for me. I literally am in a fog mentally in the mornings that even the best cup of coffee or protein shake can not lift.   I can function but don't ask me to use cognitive reasoning on any level. But anywhere after 10 pm ask me for a deadline project, write a chapter in a book, organize a closet, do a complicated algebra problem...(OK, I went to far on that one).....

Anyhow,   after 10 pm I spring to life with excess productivity!

So to now declare myself as a morning runner is so ironic! But I am. Indeed I am.

No matter how tired I feel when the alarm eases me out of my dead to the world sleep, I get up. Not because I know my son has to be at school at a certain time, but because I know after I drop him off and I will get a good 2 to 4 and maybe 5 miles in. In fact, I think my son has never had a tardy because I know I am going running! Even days, when years before I started running, I might have said, "let's just take the day off" and turn the lights back off and make everyone in the house go back to bed, I start the morning routine.

Why? What is it about running that it has had the power to transcend the internal clock of 46 years? What is it about running that inspires me so much that I go against the cry of my own body to stay in my bed? You got me. I have no true idea.

But I did see this post on Facebook today, the place from which all mystic answers come, LOL! No, really, it did kind of fit the feeling of my morning compulsion to run.

 The morning is jealous of your relationship with running. 

 The bed whispers, 

“Don’t leave. What do you seeing in running anyway?” 

 But somewhere in the back of your mind 

 is the thought of the perfect mile,

 politely telling the bed to,

 “Shut up”. 

 ...Hate the morning less and love running more... 

 - NB

Are you a morning runner?

Ready for Change!

"Little changes can lead to huge leaps and bounds in the overall destination!"

It's the beginning of 2013!

I need to reflect on 2012 before I project 2013!

Last year brought some transitions in my running and training.  After the Half-Marathon in early January, I only did one race, a mid-night 5k in Dunedin.  My running buddy, Lisa and I ran across the Causeway in the middle of night with a full moon beaming on the inter-coastal waters!  I can't wait to do that one again!  But when that was finished I didn't have another race in mind, so for the first time I didn't have a race to use as a goal or motivation in training.  I had to set my mind on the personal desires I had for my running.

I decided to do away with my Galloway Walk/Run method.  I was going to go for straight running at long distance.  I have always been secretly envious of long distance runners!  I had to discipline myself to not bolt out of the gate but to take a nice and easy approach.   I also found my perfect pace and learned to listen to my body when I hit my perfect stride and just keep it there.  I was so stoked to reach a run at six miles without any walk breaks! After many months I found that my daily normal run distance was four miles, doing a six mile long run once a week and that was a huge and joyous accomplishment!

Throw out the timer!

This all happened, I believe, because I threw out my timer...not literally...it's in my iphone, duh!   But I threw my mindset on timing out and concentrated on the long haul of finishing and it gave me distance in exchange.  So if you are looking for distance - forget your time and let your body take you there!  Sometimes it's really pushed on us runners to concentrate too much on speed and time!

Do what works for you!

I also took great pains...and that is what it was...in strength training.  I found a few awesomely intense workouts that worked for me in strengthening my core and more importantly my upper thighs!  The key words I want you to pay attention to is "that worked for me".  That is main ingredient to any success!   It's all about what WORKS FOR YOU not what works for everyone and anyone else!   The older I get the more I realize that nothing is cookie-cutter.  Stop trying to do the latest fad, the things that someone else is selling you and discover what fits you and you will most likely find your greatest success right there!

Take in more protein!

Lastly, I got my internal health in alignment regarding my Thyroid journey.  I found an amazing holistic MD who open my eyes to the importance of daily high Protein intake (I gulp down an awesome protein shake, or two, daily).  Ladies, let me tell you that I have watched my muscle mass increase, which had depleted greatly in my forties!  Protein is the answer to that aging problem!  I also got my thyroid numbers nicely balanced so that my energy and weight control is finally at happy levels!  All of this is a big piece of my health and fitness pie! (I'm not really sure pie should be used with the word fitness!)

Make small steady changes!

Although most of these transitions happened in the last 6 months of 2012 - it has led me to make some great overall CHANGES!   And CHANGE is really good!  Little changes can add up to huge leaps and bounds in the overall destination!  

Keep setting new goals!

So as I close the chapter of 2012 in my running and fitness logs I am very happy BUT NOT SATISFIED!  Although I don't really have a drive to do a big race I am searching for new and different goals.   I see some 5K's in my future with my hubby who has now entered the world of running as a beginner!   I also see more concentration of strength training as well as slowly increasing some distance.  I would like to see myself in a half-marathon again running all the way to the finish.

So - 2013 - I'm ready for you!   

WHY I RUN...

I am fully into my maintenance running!  Sounds weird - like I should be saying TRAINING!!!!  

I think running without a race in mind takes MORE discipline than training!   It challenges your commitment to running on a whole other level.   You have no "real" reason to get out there.

It just simply comes down to "should I go ahead and do this today?" and the answer is a resounding "of course- DUH!"

There is SO MUCH more to running than training or a race!

I can list just a few right now:

1.  It's cheaper than therapy!   The renewal of the mind that happens when you are running at a consistent pace for a distance is just incomparable.   To do something where your mind is "sorting through" all the crap that gets all jammed in there is like therapy or more practically like going through your computer files and putting all your pictures and documents in the right files after you have just dragged them to your desktop for months.

2.  It releases stress.   This includes stress that you don't even know you have.  You may be able to identify the stress in your life - like put a name and face to it.   But some stress is just normal life happening that builds up.  Stress goes somewhere in your body and sets up housekeeping. I am convinced of that!  Stress is an energy and mostly a negative deathlike energy.  When it comes in, it finds a place to "stick".  I believe - and this is just my little ole belief - that stress ("a negative  & killing energy") sticks and manifests itself in the form of sickness and disease.  It can find itself a place to stick on your thyroid (my personal stress home) or anywhere else and begin to accumulate and to kill what it sticks to.    So the vital thing is to find a "stress releaser" and running does just that.  It is like a "back door" where stress that has come in goes right back out!  All that pent up energy is released as you exert your energy into running.  The weight of the world literally is lifted.

3.  It helps you sleep.  This is probably because of #1 and #2.  I find if I am having a restless night I stop and always realize I haven't run in a couple days.  When I run my mind is at ease, my body is de-stressed and frankly I'm worn out and I fall into a deeper and longer sleep.  This is all the reason I need to get out on the trail!!!

4. It opens my Spirit.   This is something deeply personal.  When I run I am captivated for an hour or so.  While I'm running my time is locked in as well as my mind and body.  God goes deep into my "business" when I'm running.  I usually spend a lot of my time completely surrendered to whatever God is speaking to me.  I "get real" with myself and with God.   I can't tell you how many times I have gone down my list of "forgive and release" and it's a thorough work in my spirit!   I have to be honest and say I probably would have found a way to avoid that list in my usual prayer time. But God has used my running to work through some really rough things in my heart and if it weren't for running that would have never happened.

So I want to make it clear.  Running isn't something I do to SHOW OFF or get flattery or awe inspired "comments on my facebook posts"!   It isn't to get a medal or be able to make a list of "look what I can do" for people to see.   Running has saved my life and my sanity.  It has been a deeply and I mean DEEPLY spiritual journey.  I refuse to CHEAPEN it with any of that other stuff.   


So, I run.

What Happens After The Race???

This is what happens...LIFE!

For me at least.

I was so wrapped up in training for eight months, spending so much time and energy pouring into getting myself ready for 13.1!   As soon as the race was over and I had spent two whole days laying around and basking in my victory of accomplishment  and then I went back into my normal life and the focus of my life...motherhood and ministry.

The timing of the Half was perfect, in January!  It was right out of the gate of the new year and that meant everything that was starting up after the first of the year with my son's school & sports and everything  ramping up for our ministry did the same. Taking two hours every morning to run, always thinking about training and the race was not practical for me. I began to pour my creative time and energy into all of my new year's activities and tasks which meant all FOCUS turned from training to creating, launching and carrying out ministry.

My blog had to wait and once I did start writing it I was so far into my other focus that I was uninspired. Thus no part 3.  Talk about an eternal cliff hanger!

So this is what happened after the race - for ME!  Almost like a full balloon just released to fizzle into oblivion! The blowing up part was the best part of it for me!  I think this also tells alot about my philosophy of life.  I almost like the build up better than the event!

At least that is what happened to my TRAINING but not to my RUNNING!  Thank God.  Running is just a part of my life...I'm running my normal runs.

Now the saying is this:   The FINISH LINE IS ONLY THE BEGINNING OF A NEW RACE.   And I believe that whole-heartedly.  Every race shows you where you need to focus, what you need to improve and gives you a new perspective on strategy for running. You just pick up working on your runs where you left off in some ways.  The desire to continue to challenge yourself and increase and grow is a basic element of running.

  I feel a push in myself to work on shorter distance with a faster pace.   I completely abandoned my Run/Walk system and decided to start with a basic 4 miles straight with no walk and it's been a challenge but it's going great.   So this is what I work on every time I run now. I'm not timing, just pushing a consistent fast pace and timing will come later because I officially do not want to get in a training mentality yet.

I know that I will indeed do another Half, probably in a smaller venue.  But this won't be in the next few months,  I will probably shoot for the fall.   I may do a few 5k's and 10k's before that.

In the mean time...it's almost Spring and my hubby and I have already hit the beach two times.  You know what that means....abs and arms and butt baby!   These are my focus areas....running can only do so much to get you ready for the beach!  Hey, I'm a Florida girl in her mid-forties.  Give me a break!

The Big Story Part 3 - Race DAY!!!

3 am is beyond early for this non-morning girl.  I can stay up until 3 am but I struggle with getting up with any sense of cognitive connection at 3 am.  However as my alarm aroused me from my short sleep I pounced out of bed with my heart racing and flipped the coffee maker on to give me the hot water I needed for my oatmeal breakfast. Within just a few minutes I felt like I was in a panic mode, about what I am not sure.  I think I was fearing that my lack of total consciousness might make me waste time and end up being late.

I got all my gear on that I hadn't worn to bed  and gulped down my oatmeal, a few swigs of coffee and bounded out the door into the elevator to the lobby.  On the way down I picked up one runner who was quite chatty - obviously a morning person - ugh!  She talked to me excitedly until I reached the fountain and announced this was my meeting place for my running buddy.  She seemed disappointed to stop her conversation for five seconds until she started walking and talking to another lone runner headed to the bus. I waited barely a minute for Lisa and off we went wasting no time out the front door across the valet area and right into a line that went directly into a waiting bus and just like that we were in transport to EPCOT!  The bus was dark with a low humming of  conversations going on.  We unloaded and into the cool pre-morning dampness and walked to a gathering area already crowded with waiting runners.

Off in the distance was a large screen that showed a group of "cheering leading aerobic" enthusiasts warming up to excitable music.  UGH! This usually would have been irritating  but my excitement for this big event had already begun to wake me up enough to disconnect from my lifetime hate for happy early morning people.

We stood talking and scoping the surroundings when we spied about five long rows of Porta Potties  With responses like middle-aged Pavlov's dogs, we had the urge to use them and went and found a line.  It took only a few seconds when the wind shifted and the aroma of these rows of Porta Potties just about took us out.  But our strategy was take advantage of this convenience while it was yet available!

Then like a subconscious subliminal message had been sent through our microchips on the back of our number bib, a mass of people began to move toward and through the bag check-in area. This phenomenon continued for the next 30 minutes as tens of thousands of people walked...I mean shuffled, from the parking lot to the corrals located somewhere on a dark road.  I had previously been informed about this mass movement which had been referred to as a "death march" to the corrals.  I thought it was more like a call from aliens to earthlings to come to their space ship.  Apparently someone way up front knew what was going on and we all were just blindly following the crowd...so dangerous and close to a social experiment as it can get!   As a Leader it was out of my character to be in the back and not in charge but I went with it!

We were directed to our given corral and there we waited another 45 minutes while a big screen in our area "entertained" us with a joking MC with Donald Duck and Goofy.  Soon a woman would sing the Star Spangled Banner and the first wave would be signaled with Donald's ducky voice saying "GO" and the sky lit with fireworks and pyrotechnic flashes!  Total Disney!  This is why I was in THIS race!   Yay!!!  My love for Disney was gonna propel me through this morning!!

Lisa and I were in corral "F".  Not exactly a motivating connection..."F" for fail..."F" for FAR away - like waaaay in the back.  The corrals went from A to H.  So you get the picture.  The race officially would start at 5:30 and but our wave wouldn't cross the start line until 6:05.  I say it is "F" for frustrating.  And there you have it.  The feeling I had most the rest of race.

We crossed underneath the fire shooting start line and off we went into the dark down the main road.  I would say there were 13,000 people in front of us and 9,000 people behind us!  But I didn't notice at first because I was breathing in DISNEY!  I could see displays on the side of the road up ahead and hear exciting Disney music playing.  Yay for me I am running my first Half at Disney!

Then in the midst of that Disney magic I saw the first man peeing in the bushes. Wah, wah, wah! (Debbie downer music)...  Seriously!???!   Can you do that at Disney??  Desecrate Disney Property?...the happiest place on earth...the cleanest place on earth?  Walt would roll over in his grave!   Where was the allusion of perfection??? Then two more men down the ditch at the bushes...then a man too lazy to go all the way down the ditch to the bush line, he was peeing on the light pole!   You can do that at the Boston Marathon but Disney has provided Porta Potties every mile, I could smell them up the road - couldn't they have just ran to them??  MEN!

After that initiation we honed in on breaking out of the crowd to run our trained pace.  Lisa and I had been training for a good period of time before this race and we knew our time average and felt confident of a strong finish and a decent time.  But we started getting frustrated from the very beginning with our pace.  The crowds were thick and there were walkers everywhere.  We had read that in a large race it is a challenge to get into your full run for the first mile.  It takes that long for the crowd to thin out.  But in this race the crowd NEVER thinned out.  In fact I came to realize that with us starting so far back, other runners in the waves before us who slowed down were now bottle-necking together with waves from behind.  The crowd remained this way for 13 miles.   In addition to that,  the roads that were just wide enough to run in a large throng of people became even more squashed as the road narrowed into a sidewalk or tunnel!  This was the TRUE Goofy Challenge!!!

Then there was the frustration of the continuous need to pass slower runners with a lack of area to do so. The law of runner's etiquette is faster runners to the left and and walkers to the right.  Passing is always done on the left.  But this was not the reality of this race.  For 13 miles walkers were everywhere - right, left and middle.  Not only that but another etiquette is to only be in two's across.  Larger groups have to give way for people to pass.  Not in this race.   Groups were 4 across a lot of the time.

The majority of our race was spent in logistical maneuvering.  We hopped curbs to run on the grass until it seemed more dangerous with holes and dropped clothing items.  We weaved in and out between people sometimes shifting our bodies sideways and tapping people with an "excuse me".  We would split and I would go around one way and Lisa the other and then search for one another to join back together again.   Had we known this would be the main part of our running I think we should have trained more like football players!  Around mile 8 we realized we were probably NOT going to keep our training pace.  That was hard for me to accept.  We never broke into our training pace.  AHHHH!

The highlight of the journey definitely was THE MAGIC KINGDOM!  Dawn was just about to come upon as we passed through the Magic Kingdom Car Entrance.  We ran past the Contemporary Resort, one of the only hotels we have never stayed at, and down under the tunnel and through a behind the scenes entrance.  I almost didn't want to go behind the scenes and ruin my little girl fantasy but oh well!   We entered main street from the side and I tried to get my little video camera out and taking video of our entrance and of course couldn't get it to work at that moment. I quickly put it away so I wouldn't miss anything myself.  We made the all too familiar right turn to Tomorrow Land and ran past Space Mountain with flashes of years of lines and fast passes in my head.  Now the crowd was thinning with people stopping for character pictures.  But I wasn't thinking speed - I was taking this in!

We rounded to Fantasy Land and I got a good look at the new construction of a ride and there was the back of Cinderella's Castle!   When we ran through it every one spontaneously as if we had practiced it, screamed.  Then we came down the side and the instructions of another experienced racer who for-warned us to veer to the left and get a picture in front of the castle echoed in my head.   Man this was going to cost us time!  There was a line for these pictures!   We did it anyway.

 We took off  through Liberty Square past Country Bear Jamboree and then out a side gate to behind the scenes where they store the parade floats!  The crowd was thin as a long line formed to get a picture of a total NOT AT ALL LOOK-ALIKE Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow.

I have to just add one more "they never told me this" to the race day experience.  Runners are slobs.

  There were drink stations every two miles.  This was a nightmare scenario with such crowds because this caused a lot of slowing down and dodging people who were merging over to get water and merging back into a run.  But imagine with me for a moment in the race behind 12,000 people who have grabbed a water cup and thrown it on the ground!  A sea of squashed cups everywhere for over 100 feet every two miles!

 Then the greatest slob nightmare was around mile 8 or 9.  They were giving out "energizing gel".

  This disgusting total sugar gel was grabbed by about 15,000 people and either consumed then thrown to the ground or one slurp taken and then with disgust thrown to the ground upon which thousands pounce the remaining gel out of the package.   For almost a mile and a half running shoes were splatting and sticking to the pavement.  WAY TO GO DISNEY!

I have no idea how DISNEY was able to clean up all that refuse before Park Opening!   I am pretty sure they had to have Tinker Bell sprinkle fairy dust to get that job done!

Part 4 - THE FINISH AND AFTERMATH!

The Big Story Part 2 Pre-Race NIGHT!

The night before the race was marked by incredible anticipation.  We, (my husband, children and I), checked into the Dolphin Resort Hotel around 4:30 pm.  I chose that hotel after doing a lot of research online regarding the transportation for runners in the morning of the race.  It seemed to be one of the most highly recommended for that process.  Buses taking runners to the EPCOT starting point  would begin at 3 am from the hotel.

I have to say that I did a lot of research during this entire process from choosing this race, training methods, details regarding the race itself, procedures for the night before and the morning of and even details on spectators and anything else regarding this particular race.  I also have to say that knowledge is power, that is my personal philosophy of life and in this case it truly paid off!

It was obvious that a lot of runners were indeed staying there.  Of course, with tens of thousands of people converging on Disney that one weekend, runners were everywhere!  We got in our room with two things on the agenda:  when to eat the "final dinner" and finalizing details on how my family would get to the spectator sight and when.  My husband began to get his plan together.  I really didn't have a stream of thought left to do that with him and I was uptight they would have to get up so early and stand and wait hours.  He finally got a final confirmation that buses would run around 7 am to the finish area.  That seemed good...SEEMED being a key word to emphasize!

It felt so odd that my family was all together at Disney and we weren't going to go DO DISNEY!   We opted for a walk on the "Boardwalk" and a possible little boat ride around the lagoon that is surrounded by the boardwalk and hotels in that area.  I was giddy yet too focused with the looming race on my mind to totally enjoy it.  But it was sweet.

I highly recommend the Dolphin or Swan Hotel for the Marathon Weekend!

We couldn't all agree on a restaurant on the Boardwalk area so we went back to the Dolphin to eat there.  I was determined to not eat junky and thought for sure I could get some pasta or something energy storing.   We sat down in a crowded cafe-like place in the Dolphin as the clock now ticked toward my bedtime preparation.   The menu had NOTHING Marathon worthy and definitely no pasta.  FAIL!   I ordered the best thing I could find and justified this epic fail of the sacred last meal by recalling how dedicated I had been in the weeks before to fueling my body. Certainly one meal wasn't going to cripple my entire training efforts besides I had lots of energy snacks!

A good pre-race meal:  carbs like pasta

What I ended up having:  falafel balls...

 As we sat there my racing buddy, Lisa and her hubby, walked in.  They joined us and I cringed as they looked the menu over.   I had now led her into my delinquency of proper last meal nutrition! After the meal we headed to our prospective rooms agreeing to meet at "the fountain" in the lobby at 3:30 am.  I could let out a 13 year old girl scream right now thinking about it!

This is when the swirl and haze of the weekend took over.  As soon as I got back in the room  I laid out all of my race gear on the credenza.  I made a last minute final decision of wearing my hair in pig tails for the race.  I was going for a whimsical - not pimped out in Disney Costume (aka tutu) - I'm a runner but fashionably so!  I tried everything on to trouble shoot any anticipated needs.  There would be NO TIME for indecision in the morning!  Fortunately the weather was going to be cool to mild, so I wouldn't be struggling with heavy clothing and my decision was pretty concluded on how to handle the cool to mild transition as the sun came up by simply taking my lightweight jacket off and wrapping it around my waist.  (Other people would be wearing old stuff and throwing to the ground as the morning progress.  This isn't littering, it is actually a part of a clothing charity Disney does. They picked up several tons of clothes and donate it to local charities!  I didn't have anything I wanted to throw away... is that bad?!)

 I then made sure that I had access to every important thing I would need while running for almost three hours. (I was hoping more like 2:30).

- On top- my sport bra, duh!  Hot pink Cami, my new "runGIRLrun" shirt from the venue,  and a very lightweight running jacket with convenient pockets inside and out and thin enough to wrap around my waist when I got warm which I knew would be my mile two.  On the bottom - Capri running pants with running shorts over them - I hate running pants and cellulite - just not right.

The back of my runGIRLrun top.  Love their line of clothes!

-My Nike hat and sunglasses.  (I never wore the hat and it irritated me to have it in my jacket pocket the entire time.)

- My race belt with my number attached with two attached Velcro pockets with as many protein bites I could stuff in one and a small ipod in the other for no other purpose but to take video.

- In my running pants hidden zipper pocket I put an extra mini cliff bar and in my shorts hidden pocket two segments of toilet paper. (I was alerted to the possible need for this in the porta-potties...I never needed it)

-My iPhone & earbuds in my armband which would be giving me the run/walk interval prompts. (Unbelievably my sacred Gymboss Interval Timer broke the night before we left for Orlando! )

-Lipgloss.   Yeah that's right - I am a running DIVA! I struggled with a place for it during the race- in my sports bra, in my protein bite pack, in my hand, my jacket pocket and finally squeezed with Ipod.  But my lips remained moist and shiny!

I then set out my breakfast for in the morning.  I had brought from home a packet of oatmeal, a plastic spoon and a paper bowl.  This was one of my smartest strategies.  My hubby got me a banana and some milk from hotel store.  I knew that I would do best with some breakfast and coffee since we would be boarding the bus at 3:30 am and not cross the start line until almost 6 am.

So about 9:30 pm, which was right on cue, with my hair in my pig tails, and my running clothes on, minus the belt, jacket and shoes, I got in bed!

It was a little struggle but I finally fell into a light sleep at an unknown time while worrying the bizarre occurrence of my alarm not going off happening.  I woke up intermittently and even woke myself up once talking.  I obviously was not going to get a good night's sleep and I knew that all along.  I only sleep well in the best of circumstances.  I knew this night would be hard this being part of the pushing through.  I was just too geared up and excited.  I think I got into a deep sleep about 2:30 am because when I heard the faint sound of my alarm  at 3 am I was grasping at consciousness.


The rest is a story of its own!  To be continued in part 3- THE RACE!

The Big Story PART 1 - Pre-Race

So here it is, the BIG ACCOUNT of one best achievements I have experienced!  My FIRST Half Marathon!  I am going to put it into 4 segments - just in case it gets too boring and trivial you can take a break and check in later for more tantalizing details of my big moments!  I would equal this blog to decades ago when people made friends and acquaintances sit for long slide shows of their vacations!

I just have to say from my perspective, that the race is so much more than just the 13.1 miles.  At least for the Disney Half Marathon, it is so so so SO much more of an experience!  Put all eight months aside and narrow it down to 24 hours and there is an experience that puts you into a daze that has to be picked apart and sucked out of your sub-conscious just to recall it in detail. It wraps itself up into one big ball, more like a cloud or a foggy swirl of energy and leaves you with almost a post traumatic syndrome where you have to debrief yourself to make sense of it.

It all begins with packing hastily and getting everyone in the car, even though I've known about this for almost a year.  It inevitably now is at the end of a busy week, jammed between the start of more busyness, so there's a little "let's just get in the car" attitude!   I have packed my race bag with several extra pieces of race clothing in case I change my mind on my "race look", along with my number belt and various attachments like my iPhone strap and energy boost packets.  The most important thing I carried in my race gear was likened unto the holy grail - the race waiver!  You can't get your packet without it - that was the warning in the repeated email reminders!

As we arrived on Disney property toward the hotel....  I have to digress here for a moment.  I must make it VERY CLEAR to whom ever is reading this, THAT, DISNEY WORLD is one of the most favorite places in my life - I love love love just being on Disney Property.   To me it IS THE HAPPIEST PLACE IN THE WORLD.  Perhaps because I remember as a little girl born in Orlando, when it wasn't even built yet and we went to see the little schematic of the park and I got my first Winnie-the-Pooh and Tinkerbell.  I remember a book of tickets that was lettered A-F for the different park areas.  I remember many "Nights of Joy" with my youth group and later taking my children there to scream in terror as the characters came near them.  GOOD TIMES and SWEET MEMORIES.   So to have my first Half Marathon there is SERENDIPITY...which I' have always wanted to use in a sentence!

SO - as we arrived on Disney property towards the hotel, we passed the ESPN Sports Complex where the Expo and Check In was and I had an instinctive urge to go there before we checked in and THANK GOD we did.  The place was swirling.  This is when the enormity of the race became too clear!

As we got out of our car, my husband turned to the right to walk toward a white tented area.  I quickly corrected him- he thought we were going to this little tent to pick up my packet.  He thought that because the Triathlon at Ft. Wilderness two years ago with about 800 people had that....this however was over 20,000 people running not counting their entire families with them...it was in the COMPLEX.   As we now turned to walk with the sea of people toward the complex a wave of excitement hit me.  I was now possessed by a girl 13 years old going to see Justin Bieber!  I was pointing and jumping a little...I wanted a picture of everything.

On the way into the complex

Still on the way into the complex

In the complex...race packet pick up

The Expo with a lot of awesome vedors....

On the way out of the Complex!

I just had a compulsion to remember it all! 

What struck me the most was how organized, welcoming and detailed this part of the event was.  For a first timer coming into this type of race it could not have been more special!  There were plenty of workers directing you to the right place to go.  I am sure we all had a look of "first day out of the egg"!  We were directed in a perfect flow into the Check-in Building with everything clearly marked as to where to get your packet.  The woman who have me my packet explained everything so explicitly that I felt entirely confident of what was happening even though it was overwhelming! 

 I was only a little miffed when I saw an entire Kiosk with printers for people who hadn't brought their Race Waiver.  They made it sound like you would be jailed and fined if you didn't have it when you came but there were plenty of empty printers waiting for the negligent waiver criminals.  I was miffed because before we crossed the bridge out of St. Pete I had my daughter climb over the back seat to confirm I had it in the outside pocket of my race bag!   Later my racing buddy Lisa commented on it as well.  I then knew my intimidation with the waiver was a well organized move by the Disney Race Organizers.  Brilliant!

Signing the racers wall on the way into the Expo!

 As we exited the Check-in building the flow of people went right into the Expo Center with the vendors.  This was a very exciting because I had come determined to get a really cool, girly shirt to wear.  It HAD to be black and hot pink and voila - there was a perfect one for me!!!  I could have bought so much more but I had my hubby with me and I felt a little restrained on that end! He did splurge on me and bought me one packet of some super delicious energy bites that I ended up eating throughout my race!  Thank you honey!

love these

We then took a family picture at the HP Printer - "don't you want to buy our printers"  booth and I practically floated to the car with my excitement energizing me!  I had my own CLEAR Race bag stuffed with papers, samples, a huge glossy thick program, my race number with a chip on the back, and my new super cute race shirt.  WHAT MORE could a Virgin Half Marathoner want!  

More to come on my Pre-Race NIGHT!         

No race blog yet....

Really it is unbelievable to me that I have not sat down and blogged about this momentous moment in my life that happened exactly one week ago today!   This event was huge to me and had so much compiled in that one moment and I have not had one inspiring moment to sit down and articulate the picture in a blog.

There are two very real reasons for this. First,  I had put a lot of things on "hold" until after the race.  These "things" had deadlines looming the week or two after the race.  As soon as I got home I had to get on these things - and there were many and still are - that I had to devote not only time but all my brain power of creativity that I have.  This left not one ounce of inspiration to replay the half marathon in my mind and recreate it online with the word pictures I am used to putting out.  Even today I am sandwiching this little blog in a window of time before I head out the door.

The second reason is this:

The day after I got home one of the bloggers, whom has been such an inspiring and entertaining force in my blog reading about running, posted a horrific blog.  This blogger is usually hilarious with a touch of raunchy that makes it beyond very realistic truth about running and racing.  So this particular blog was a stark contrast and it has stuck with me like glue all week as she updated her news.

Her cousin who is 43, lives in Montana, is a mother of 5 and a math teacher, went for an early morning run on Saturday, (at 6:30 am, just 25 minutes after my wave crossed the start line), and never came back.  The police found one of her running shoes on the route she took.

Even as I write this - a cousin of a blogger I don't even know - I am still shook up about it.   I can't explain why.  Maybe its the little tiny tiny concern every time I go out to run, when I'm looking around to see who's on the path, trying to sense if it's a safe day to be running that day at that place, are there enough people to keep an eye on me, sprinting through slightly isolated areas....maybe it's that kind of stuff that this story I identified with.   The fear in the back of all our minds as women whenever we go out alone, shopping or running - just alone as a woman - we can never assume we are safe.

Perhaps it's because she is or was middle-aged and had children waiting at home.  Maybe most of all because she was doing what I had been doing for a year - going for an early morning run training for a half marathon.   I could cry.

All week I have checked the usually "funny" blog to get heart-wrenching reports that she hasn't been found yet.   Yesterday I checked again....she's dead.  They haven't released all the details.  But she's dead.  She went running and didn't and won't come back.

I''m not saying I am stricken with fear and will never run again.  I'm not trying to feed fear.  I refuse to do that.  But I'm just saying it really just hit me and I'm hurt.  It's just not right that we can't do something we  love and sets us free and makes us healthy without having that little voice always warning us and the possibility there.  It's crazy.

So I haven't run all week.  I just couldn't.  Not physically, just emotionally.  I just couldn't run thinking about this woman and what she suffered.

She was a fellow runner.

And that is the ONE THING I can blog about last Saturday.  Running and training puts you into a community of people.   You definitely become A PART of something bigger than just you and your earbuds.   I didn't totally realize it until I read about my running blogger's running cousin. Last week I came home with more than a medal and time (I wasn't happy with).  I came home a runner.  I came home a runner of 20,000 runners in one race.  A runner of millions across the nation.  A runner of hundreds of thousands of running women going out for daily runs, experiencing the same freedoms, benefits and thrills that I blog about a lot.

I just gotta sort out and work through how this threw me before I could relish the awesome time I had last week.  I just didn't feel right articulating details of an overwhelming race knowing at the same time I was experiencing that wonder she was experiencing other things on her run.



Read about Sherri here.     Follow "shutupandrun" here.https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shut-Up-and-Run/289007011347

HALF MARATHON - the end of the day...

So it is 6:48 pm as I post this blog.  I have been "up" since 3 am after only intermittent sleep for 5 hours.  I did grab- more like fell into - a nap on the car ride home for an hour and got 20 minutes collapsed on my bed at home.  I'm just setting up the fact that my brain is in a fog as well as my body, so there is no way I can lay out a good blog on the day before and the day of the race until Monday.

"Why Monday?" I can hear all five of you asking.  Because "life" stops for no one, not even half marathoners!   I have gotten home to unpack, change the much needed-to- be sheets on the bed, done a load of laundry and now am preparing for a packed Sunday of ministry from start to finish tomorrow.

All I have in me in energy, focus and time is one picture!  So take it all in and I'll get back to you on Monday with my full report, in detail, blood, guts and glory!

Me and my awesome run partner Lisa Johnson!

Oh, and this....

That's right!

RACE WEEK!!!

It's RACE WEEK!  So many things happen during this week!

-You start looking at the weather report for race day hourly.

-You start worry about how your family is going to get to the spectator sight correctly.

-You really start focusing on fuel intake and rest and guarding your body.

-You read all information about the race:  schedule, packet pick-up, what to bring, the course map, the procedures.

-You get your game plan.  What will be our focus?  Speed, just finishing, finishing strong, enjoying it, making up time, where you can buy time, what you'll do when you're freaking out, how to motivate yourself, how to conserve whatever energy you can for a strong finish across the line, and smiling at the designated photo areas.

You start evaluating your progress and getting totally sentimental over your achievement!


Monday of Race Week,  I got out in windy cool sunny day and ran up and down the overpasses outside my neighborhood - just a 2.1 mile total. The run went by SO FAST and I never slowed down even with the wind against my face on the inclines.  As I made it back to my house finishing the 2.1 I was amazed how short the run felt and how I wanted to keep running.  I thought back 8 months ago when those inclines were so hard that I thought I might have a heart attack before I reached the first peak!  Now my heart and energy wasn't even fazed by it.  I almost was choked up!

It's at this point when you really take in what you have accomplished.  Where you started, how hard it was, how daunting the goal mileage seemed.  Every new extended distance seemed like the end of your strength and ability. You recall the mid training line in the sand when you lost your breath thinking there was no way you would be ready for 13.1 miles and maybe you made a big mistake telling people you were going to do this.

But now look at you.  You have actually done it.  You made or found a training plan, starting at zero ability and faithfully persistently did what was required....and IT WORKED!

This is where I am on this first day of RACE WEEK!  And I suppose this is exactly why I am doing this.  There is really NO OTHER GREATER FEELING than that of this accomplishment.

 It really is a boost for a woman over forty- in the second half of her life.

When you are watching major changes happen in your body that look like decline.  When you start assessing your life and how satisfied and fulfilled you are with everything around you. Then something comes along that brings increase, satisfaction and a sense of well being.
 Why isn't EVERYONE doing this?

You never know what a run will hold!

SEVEN DAYS TO THE BIG RACE....

We spent almost 11 hours in our car driving straight home from North Carolina yesterday.  I had a lot of time to think about my running plan for the next two days.  Should I get a long run in?

I am happy with the two miles I snuck in on the treadmill at the hotel we stayed at on the way up to our North Carolina destination.  I'm also happy that I got four miles in on a winding, rocky mountain road by our cabin.  But for the next four days I didn't have a chance to run.  We were busy opening presents, eating out, sight seeing and of course making cookies and eating them!

I'd like to think that the .2 mile staircase up and down to see the biggest water fall in the SouthEast, and the five story stair case and 3 hour walking tour at the Biltmore Estate, and the many trails in the woods going up and down hills that we walked on our vacation amount to something that will be valuable for me.

BUT TODAY- my first day home I hit the park trail with high hopes for a long run.  I basically rolled out of bed got dressed, gathered my running gear and headed out.  It wasn't until I was pulling into the park that I realized I had a pounding sinus headache lingering from the night before.  My eyes had continuous pressure behind them that made me tempted to just keep them closed.  But I had calculated that today was the day for a possible last 12 miles.

As I got out of my car I realized one important fail - I hadn't worn my typical running shorts with the convenient tiny pocket inside just the right size for my car key.  (My legs are just too white to wear running shorts at this point in the winter so I'm all about leggings.)  I had no where to put my key.  Nothing.  I got creative and slid my keyless key into the space between my arm band where the velcro loops back through the feed.  It was snug but had no bottom.  I figured if it slipped out surely I would feel it before it hit the ground.
YOU KNOW WHERE THIS IS GOING!?!!!!

NEVER to be mistaken for a key holder...never, never, never!

I ran a strong mile, feeling pretty good other than the continuous pressure behind my eyes.  I hit one mile- reached over to my mile tracker to hit the "lap" to record my time and VOILA- my key was gone!  I had felt NOTHING!   Somewhere over the last mile it had slipped out.  TERROR!   The key clearly is marked with my car model and my car model is usually the ONLY ONE like it in the parking lot!  TERROR!

I turned around and ran incredibly briskly backtracking my mile and scanning the side where I run.   I then proceeded to interview everyone coming toward me if they had seen a keyless key.  Of course this is really a feat as most people have headsets on so every encounter consisted of me asking and them saying "WHAT?" as they pulled their earbuds out and me repeating it - all this while still in running motion.

FINALLY - a lady says YES- she has seen it and placed in on the side of the trail.  (Possibly not a bright idea)  but at least its been seen.  She says a way back- obviously it fell out early.   I ask 4 more people on my way to this key and they all proceed to tell me it now is on a journey to the Park Ranger via two women walking.   Now I am SPRINTING back as fast as I can.    I see these women and I am trying so hard to catch up with them!   This is TOTALLY RUINING MY RUN!  I mean I AM running but not timing - not a consistent long distant run/walk-   I know this sprint will kill my long distance!~

I reach the women - I am WINDED - I get my key - I thank them over and over and turn back around and RUN!

Now my run is exhausted, my legs are already done, aching and about to give out from a long sprint and I am stopping for the next two miles answering the repeated question of "Did you get your key?"

The neat thing is I got to actually speak to people I have been sharing a trail with for the last year.  I especially was glad to speak to the "little old Asian man" who inspired me to shuffle more as I watched him do long distance runs at a consistent pace.  In the beginning he would pass me - now months later I pass him.  He has no idea he inspires me.  But today I got to ask him about my key and he smiled and told me about the ladies.  Trivial but cool for me personally.

So as I hit six miles I knew there was no long run for me.  I am toying with the idea of maybe running to the church and back tomorrow trying for 10 miles.  I've never done a straight run outside the park.  This would be something new.

You just never know what a run will hold.

HERES A NEAT VIDEO MY FRIEND SENT ME ABOUT THE RUNDISNEY RACE.  ENOY!

CHRISTMAS ...

So it's the week of Christmas.  School is out- I think I've made it clear what that does to my routine!  There are several if not a myriad of things to do that do not include running.  But thankfully I am so entrenched with my training so this year those things DO include running.

 I have made a purpose of getting UP and OUT to do a run this week.  Today I put in a good six knowing that for the next two days we will be traveling up to the mountains.  What I will find there in the form of trails - SAFE trails- is unknown.  So I am looking at this as an adventure.

What I do know is that RunDisney's Official Trainer, Jeff Galloway, was just up in the Highlands of North Carolina holding a Run Conference!   Too crazy to think that he was staying 2 miles from where we will be staying.  He and his conference attendees ran in the snow, so I know there is good running up there!  I am predicting a couple miles every other day at least.

I am already missing my long run - and the thought of not doing one this week after months of weekly long runs is a STRANGE thought.  Its widely known that runners especially two weeks from a race are like pent up animals with this craving to train as much as possible before the race.  I feel it - but I am very satisfied with my accomplishment in training that I'm not concerned about ability right now - but LOSING it is daunting.  I have to trust my body to have memory of all that was developed and keep my fitness with the normal runs I can fit in over the next 7 days.  By the time I get back it will be too late to try a long run....we will see.

So - here's to the effort to not overeat and fit in good 2 milers when I can!   Say a prayer!