Gratitude Day 4 - Running (and the community that comes with it)

So.  Today was a pretty shitty day.  A large school district who shall remain nameless got all up in our kool-aid when they didn't know the flavor.  I am having the worst allergy attack of my life.  One of my students has been missing since Saturday.  Ok, I know.  One of those really puts the other two in perspective.  And it was a shitty day.

Anyway, I got home at 4:30 (a record) and it was still light out.  I was in a foul mood and knew I needed to get some exercise.  So I put on my running shoes and headed out the door.

Here's the thing.  You can not feel bad when you're running!  Ok.  Let me rephrase that.  You can definitely feel physical pain, and like you want to curl up in a ball and have someone carry you home.  What you can't feel is grumpy.  There are no foul moods in running!  The adrenaline and distraction caused by the heavy breathing and left over muscle soreness from the body pump class you overdid on Saturday get your mind off the foulness at the beginning.  And then you feel like such a badass, it's like "Hey, shitty day.  You ain't got nothing on me.  I'm running a FOURTEEN MINUTE MILE!!!"  Wait.  Did I just say that out loud?

More important than the running, though, are the running friends I've made since I started running in March of 2010.  They are broken down into two amazing groups.

Group 1: The Maya Angelou Academy Running Club -- Matt, Julie, Chelsea, Leah, and occasional other guests

Why they are special: Whiskey "water" stops on the bridge, creepy runs around the razor wire, deer sightings, doing the hills, and running out the massive nest of feelings that comes with working with incarcerated kids.  This was the group that took me from 5k to marathon, that kept my training up during the week, that always remembered kleenex for me when my nose started bleeding 5 runs in a row, and that pushed me from lily pad to lily pad.

Group 2: Team In Training -- Coach John, Coach Kristin, Dania, Mary, Jen, Joe Funk, and more

Why they are special: Well, they have to be special if I get up at 7:00 on Saturday mornings to run for over 3 hours.  Seeing their smiling faces, knowing I could be wrapped up in Dania's ridiculously warm parka, and hearing their inspirational words got me through some cold, long, tough runs.  And we run for a cause -- finding a cure for blood cancers.

Today I am grateful for running and for the community that comes with it.  I haven't found my running community out in Denver yet, so please know that you guys are logging loads of imaginary miles around the lake for now.

Gratitude Day 3 - Precision Nutrition's Lean Eating Program

Anyone who has known me more than five minutes knows that my weight has been a lifelong struggle.  I always joke that Kelly and Rebecca got the thin and pretty genes, and I got the fat, sweaty genes.  Now, my self-esteem has come a long way over the last 5 or so years, so that even though my weight fluctuates by about 30 pounds every couple of years, I'm pretty happy with myself and find myself beautiful and valuable.

My most recent weight gain (beginning when I was done training for the triathlon in 2011 and continuing through my marathon training, my move to Colorado, a rough breakup, and a knee injury) has done more than make me cringe at what I see in the mirror and have to do creative acrobatics to fit into my largest pants.  It took me away from running and made me feel like crap.

So this July I decided to do something about it.  I joined an online weight loss health coaching program called Lean Eating.  My old rugby teammate Brummer. did the program a year ago and kicked so much ass at it that she won a cash prize at the end.  More importantly, she forever changed how she took care of her body.  So with her support, I enrolled.

What I love the most about LE is that it takes life change one baby step at a time.  Every two weeks you get a new habit.  The habits range from basic (take a probiotic and fish oil every day), to emotionally complicated (eat slowly, eat until you're 80% full).  But each one is bite size enough that it is easy to follow.  In addition to the habits, they tell you how to work out, and give you the flexibility to adapt the workouts.  For example, I like running and doing Body Pump classes, so I've done those on workout days instead of the prescribed workouts.

And people!  The results!  I've lost 16 pounds and 14 inches since July.  Not super speedy, but pretty incredible.  They also have you take photos every month or so.  I finally got my awesome cousin Jenny to take my most recent set of pictures, and holy crap!  I'm slimming down!

The best part of the program, though, is the personal coaching support from Coach Denise!  She is available by e-mail, phone, face time, skype, etc.  She is ridiculously fast at responding to questions, and notices when you haven't signed in and logged your habits and workouts lately.  Then she calls you and listens to you cry in frustration, and tells you to get back on it the way you started -- a little bit at a time.

I feel so much better.  I can run two miles without stopping again.  My pants fit.  I love vegetables.

So thanks, LE, for reminding me that when I take care of myself, I'm better.

Gratitude Day 2 - Facebook (No, seriously.)

Ok.  Before you decide that I'm a shallow human being who lives my life through propaganda of other peoples' lives on facebook, please hear me out.

Here is a text message exchange from today:

Now, you're probably thinking, that's not even a funny message, it sounds kind of painful.  Plus aren't you just thankful for text messages?

No.  And here's why.  Annie was my SCUBA teacher when I was 15.  She introduced me to the beauty and magic of breathing underwater.  She showed me sharks and coral and the most beautiful blue tropical water I have ever seen.  And when I broke my leg in college, she called me up and told me about her recent health scare and told me I would be ok.  And when I met up with her in San Francisco three summers ago, she took me to fun places and didn't laugh too hard when I injured myself on a slide.

Oh.  So you're grateful for Annie?

Yes.  And also facebook.  Because without facebook, Annie would have just been another memory.  We would have slowly stopped writing each other letters, moved on in our studies and our careers and our lives.  And we would probably never have reconnected because we wouldn't know where we moved, or what we were interested in, or how hilarious we still were.

And facebook hasn't just kept me in touch with Annie.  My old camp counselor Rachel and I trade groans and motivational words about our running adventures.  I'm up to date on Henry's life even though he's horrible at staying in touch.  I've built a stronger friendship with Melissa through our discussions about Brandi Carlile.  And I've been exposed to Samir's gorgeous musical talents by downloading the recent recordings he shares.  And babies.  Jeez I've seen a lot of adorable babies.  Plus I've seen my mom and dad learn about emoticons, hashtags, and likes.  Truly a beautiful thing.

So thank you, Facebook, for helping me connect with folks from my past and present, and for violating my privacy in all the right ways.

Gratitude Day 1 - Amanda (Duh.)

Well, it has been a MINUTE since I last blogged.  Ok, well, it has been almost two years.  Time to get back at it.

The month of November is a month of thankfulness, and thanks to the people behind Kid President, we all know that showing gratitude can increase happiness.  So, each day in November, I will blog about gratitude.  I will find something or someone, old or new, to be thankful for.  And you'll read about it here.  Who knows...it just might be you!

November 1st: I'm thankful for Amanda Hollander.  Amanda is my best friend in the world.  It sort of happened by accident.  We went on a boat together for a long time and ended up on the same watch.  We spent hours in the darkness sipping on cocoa and watching for (and sometimes not seeing) giant cruise ships.  We wrote letters for years to one another, and maintained a casual pen-pal existence.  And then one day we met up in New York (over 5 years since the last time we had seen one another), and slowly our minds and our hearts and our decision making ability became one.

Amanda does big things.  She arrived in DC from Maine in a flash when I was in the hospital in 2010.  She stayed with me for a few days, managed family communication, and made inappropriate jokes a little too soon.  Amanda does little things.  When I complain about the ticking of my biological clock, she says things like, "Going out on dates with a bunch of wrong people isn't doing your uterus any good either."  And when I don't call her for a few weeks because I'm trying to be tough and deal with things on my own and pretend I'm not sad, she knows it, and she calls and calls and calls until we talk, and loves me even though she can't understand what I'm saying because I am laugh-crying too hard.

I don't know what took us so long to figure out we were meant to be best friends.  I'm just so grateful we did.

And of course, I can't be thankful for Amanda without expressing my gratitude for Toby and Lucky, her incredible, hilarious, hippie, wood burning stove, 30-year-old-guitar-playing, composting, lobster-roll-eating, gay-loving, activist parents.  And Katy, her gorgeous, brilliant, funny, crafty wife.  Thank you guys for giving me and sharing with me my best friend.

Perspective + Garmin + Cupcakes = Awesome Saturday

Weekly Mileage: 21


Top three things about this running week...

3. Cupcakes: We had a bake sale today that I organized as my group fundraiser, one of my TNT mentoring duties.  5 sellers, 2 hours, 1 grocery store.  We sold out in record time and had a blast.  Bake sales are much more fun with other people when it's not 90 degrees out. 

2. My Garmin: I recently purchased (well, my parents' generous Christmas giving purchased) a Garmin 205 GPS Watch + Heart Rate Monitor.  I've had it a little over a week and it has completely changed the way I run.  I keep a more continuous pace because it says it right on the watch!  I push myself the right amount to keep my heart rate in the fat burning zone.  And I know exactly how far I've run, taking the guess work out of meeting my training schedule.  And And AND it saves your location and then transfers all your data to the internet and you have a PERFECT MAP OF YOUR COURSE AND ALL YOUR SPLITS AND YOUR PACE AND EVERYTHING RIGHT THERE!!!  See you later, map my run and your glitchy clicking and advertisements that chase me around the screen!

1. Perspective: I was re-reading last year's post-race blog, and amazed that I felt so accomplished after only 13 miles.  I talked about my legs creaking and my knees hurting at miles 7, 8, and 9, yet today I took a 12-mile jaunt through the woods.  Now, it wasn't super fast and I wasn't completely ache free, but my perception of what a LONG run is has completely changed.  One year ago I thought Julie was CRAZY to train for a full marathon.  I thought 13.1 miles was the longest I would ever run.  I thought I had reached my peak.  But that's the thing about endurance training.  You can't ever reach your peak!  You can always run just a little bit farther, a little bit faster, or up a little bit bigger hill.  It's all a mental game and if you push yourself, you can get there.  Last year my first 12-mile run was the second longest training run of the season.  This year, it's not even half way to my goal.  What a difference a year makes...

Disappointment

I don't run for time.  I run because it feels good (except when it doesn't).  I run because I want to set and reach goals that seem ridiculous at first.  I'm training for a marathon because I want to run 26.2 miles, however long it takes me.

So I signed up for the Rock and Roll Marathon because it was being held on my 30th birthday.  I convinced several of my friends to sign up for the race.  Courtney's family is coming to watch her run the half marathon.  It was to be an excellent event weekend.

And then one day I got an e-mail that made me cry.  There was a time limit on the race that was previously unannounced.  The race course closes at exactly 5 hours and 30 minutes.  For those keeping track at home, that's a 12:30 min/mile pace.  And you know what, these days I can run about 6 miles at that pace or faster.  But when I put my recent 5K PR into a race calculator, it had me finishing the marathon at best in 5:45, at worst in 6:15.  Like I said.  Crying.

I have over two months to train.  Maybe I could get my times down and my speed up.  But remember...I don't run for time.  I'm not in this program to get faster, to pressure myself with time goals, or to worry about speed.  Everyone says your first marathon goal should be to finish, and that's my goal.  So sadly, I am bowing out of the Rock and Roll Marathon to avoid unnecessary anxiety.  But don't fear...I am bowing (?) IN to the Yuengling Shamrock Marathon, to take place the day AFTER my 30th birthday. 

The bright side:
- I'll get to actually cheer for Courtney and my friends, instead of thinking about how they are already done with their race and I still have 13 miles to go!
- I'll get to return to my original half marathon course and kick it's butt x2!
- I'll get to finish my race along the beach, and my mom loves the beach so she'll come watch!
- The finish line festival is filled with delicious Irish stew and beer!

Good ol' silver linings...

Courtney Goes for a Run

There is nothing like the thrill of finishing your first road race.  I remember almost exactly a year and a half ago I finished my first 5K.  I had been training for 9 weeks and participated in a tiny little race somewhere out in Virginia.  I thought I was going to pass out the entire time.  It pretty much sucked.  But I did it!  And after that I knew I was going to keep this up for along time to come.  I love crossing the line to the cheering of crowds both small and large, grabbing a water bottle and feeling the relief in my legs as I slow to a jog and then a walk after the sprint to the finish.  Over Thanksgiving I participated in my first 5K race since then, and I finished seven minutes faster!  And even though I have run 10Ks and a 1/2 marathon and a triathlon, I still felt so satisfied for running hard those 3.1 miles and finishing in the middle of the pack.

Today I was so excited because I got to share that experience with Courtney.  This morning Courtney ran her first 5K ever.  She beat my first time without training at all, and pretty much kicked ass all the way through, despite the number of short but super steep hills on the course.

So why this sudden surge in running for my girl?  This season, Courtney will be participating with me in Team in Training. She'll be completing her first half marathon and raising funds.  I'm so excited to go through all the milestones of becoming a runner with her (the pain and fear of the first training run, the first 5-miler, the first 10-miler, the first ice bath...) as I train for my own first marathon.  Yay for goals!