Garbage Day and Dogs

I love that the sun is rising earlier so I can run outside earlier in the morning.

I had an eventful run this morning.

There are two things that I hate when running: garbage day and dogs that are not on a chain or a leash. And today was my lucky day because not only was it garbage day, I got chased by a big black dog.

I had forgotten what day it was when I walked out my front door and then I saw all of the trash cans lined up down the street like little soldiers standing at attention. Luckily, it was early and not many people were driving around so, for the most part, I stayed toward the middle of the road. The truck had not been around our sub yet so most every can was overflowing...at least the sun wasn't beating down on it or it would have been a lot more foul smelling.

I made it out of our sub and headed down the road to a neighboring one. When I entered the sub, I heard a dog. Now, when I hear a dog, I am instantly on high alert...because that dog could be running free. And this one was... a big, black dog. Then, I saw that he was running out of his yard toward me barking. Not a good sign. I tried to speed up. He must have saw something he liked better in the yard next to me because he disappeared behind the house in to the back yard. It was then that I prayed he would be hit by a car before I had to loop back by him...oops.

After that little scare was over, I heard the garbage truck and knew we would be crossing paths on a road up ahead. The truck was heading straight and I was about to make a left hand turn right in it's path or behind it if I didn't hurry up. So, I sped up a little and managed to get in front of it. I think it was incentive to speed up because I heard him chucking the garbage in his truck faster than what it seemed like before. Nothing is worse than being behind the truck. Now, I have this truck on my tail (not really, but it sure did sound like it) and I was rounding the loop and heading back toward the house with the dog on the loose.

I was relieved to see that the police had been called by the neighbor whose yard he ran in to instead of chasing after me. They had the dog under control...looked like he was off to doggy jail because the people weren't coming to the door. At least he wasn't hit by a car. :)

So, that's the story of my eventful run...and wouldn't you know, this is the morning I picked to go without my ipod.

Ridin' Solo

I sold my beloved double jogger back in March and in April I found a single jogger in a town nearby on ebay for $20. I couldn't pass it up. Training and joggers really don't seem to go together for me. When training, I have a hard enough time keeping myself rolling and can't imagine pushing a jogger ten plus miles. But, since I am going to take in easy for a month or two it works out rather nicely for me.

So, here's my youngest riding solo.

In the fall when my other two start their first year of full day school, it will just be him and me. I got a taste of what it will be like yesterday and decided to take him on a run with me.

He's a talker and I really should have brought my headphones and something for him to do for the half hour we were gone. It was difficult to concentrate...but he was so very cute.

About a half mile in he started saying, "Good job, Mommy, good job." It put a smile on my face to hear him encouraging me.

I decided to take him out of our subdivision and down the road. When we turned out of our sub he started telling me that I was doing a bad thing. He told me to turn around because we were going to get in trouble and Daddy was going to be so mad at us. Apparently, my two year old is the boundary police...and yes, he did tell on me.

Around mile 2 when I started to slow down a bit, he started saying, "Go faster! We're going too slow."

It was tough pushing him and I couldn't keep a pace that I was hoping for, but he was good company and I am looking forward to making it part of our morning routine.

Labor and Running

I am convinced that running a marathon is a lot like giving birth. Don't get me wrong, I am not an expert by any means...I have only run one. But, I have had three kids and in a lot of ways that was much easier...especially since both of my drug free labors were shorter than it took me to run my marathon (yep, both were less than 5 hours).

With both labor and also marathon training, months are spent preparing and making sure you are ready. It is so exciting but the closer it gets to "game day" you just want to get it over with. No matter how ready you are, there are still doubts if you will be able to get through it.

With a marathon, you know exactly what day things will happen....giving birth you do not. But, when the day arrives, the adrenaline is crazy and you are nervous and excited all at the same time. It's the moment you have been waiting for...no turning back.

Now, I had my last two kiddos with no pain medication at all and in a strange way, the pain scale was similar. You start out confident. You are feeling great. The further in, the pain is building and the fatigue is setting in. You dig deep and find something with in yourself to get you through to the end...but it's painful.

When labor is over and you are holding your baby in your arms, you very quickly forget the extreme pain. The moment you have been waiting for is here and you did it.

Just as it is with labor, when you cross that finish line and you are wearing that medal around your neck, all the pain was worth it and the accomplishment that you feel is out of this world. Because really, why would anyone ever put themselves through that again if they truly remembered in exact detail what it was like.

Now, I am in no way saying having that medal around your neck and being able to say you ran a marathon and finished is like holding that little life for the first time, but it was really bizarre to me just how similar the processes were. I had heard they were similar, but until you do both, you can't seem to reconcile the two.

Although, I will never give birth again (those days are over for us) I will run another marathon. With my first one under my belt, I now know what to expect and I only plan to improve my time from here. Shooting for an October marathon...more on that later.

Change

Running has the power to change your life. It will make you fitter, healthier, even happier.

Selene Yeager, "Let's Get Started," May 2010 issue of Runner's World

Rockford Half Marathon

This one was special.

My sister was supposed to come out two weeks ago to run Kenosha with our group. She was originally going to run the full Marathon, but had to change to the half because she found out she was pregnant. Well, a day before they were supposed to leave to come out her whole family (minus one) got the stomach flu. So, their trip was cancelled and we were both very bummed.

After running the Wisconsin Marathon, I started looking for half marathons that night. I found one in Rockford and called her to tell her...just to share...I had no clue that she would want to do it with me. But, that's what happened...I signed up and so did she. This time, she made it out here.

We got up this morning and left the house around 5:30AM. I was not nervous at all and I slept great. Having her by my side was wonderful...although I was a little worried about her (being pregnant). On the car ride over, a bird hit my windshield and I watched the feathers fly in my rearview mirror...wondering if that was bad luck.

We found our way to a parking garage near the starting line, hit the icky potties, and took our places at the starting line. We were freezing. The horn sounded and we were off. I wanted to keep a 10:00/mile pace to meet my goal of finishing between 2:10 and 2:15. During the hilly first half of the race (where aparently my sister was cursing me) I didn't know if I could keep it up. The hills were tough and a few seemed to go on forever. We got separated at about mile 3 or 4 and I literally thought about her and prayed for her and my little niece (just a guess) the whole rest of the way.

I did just fine keeping it below my 10:00/mile pace until mile 10. I looked at my watch and saw 1:39 and just imagined The CRIM and thought of how I would be done if that was the race that I was running. Well, that's not exactly something you should do during a race when you have a bit more to go. The mind games started and my knee was killing me. It was then that I thought of my two friends Jamie (who I ran the full with two weeks ago) and Hollie (my bestest and my encourager) and told myself that I had come too far to stop. I kept truckin.

I slowed down a bit from mile 11-12. I was pretty disappointed in myself that I couldn't seem to keep my pace below 10:30. But, at mile 12 I put the pain aside and decided I was going to finish strong. I turned the corner at mile 13 and the finish line was beautiful...but, more than .1 of a mile away (turned out to be .26 according to both my Garmin and my sister's)...it was a nice sprint though.

I crossed the finish line with both of my arms in the air, a big smile on my face, with 2:13:12 on the clock, and I thought to myself, "I love running. That was a blast!" It was probably the most enjoyable run I have had. I stood just beyond the finish line and waited for my sis. Baby on board, she finished in 2:17:32...I was so very proud of her.

We were so excited to get to the start line, we paid no attention to where we parked the car...oops...eventually we found it.

It's great to have something to share with my sister...a passion that we share...memories we make together.

Calist, it was a blast. After this kid is done cookin, we'll have to do it again sometime. :-)

Dreams

We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.

Jesse Owens, American track and field athlete and Olympic gold medal winner

Playlist : Ain't Nothin Wrong With That

Running and Life...

I run because it's so symbolic of life. You have to drive yourself to overcome the obstacles. You might feel that you can't. But then you find your inner strength, and realize you're capable of so much more than you thought.

Arthur Blank, American businessman and a co-founder of Home Depot

Another Half

I am on a bit of a high right now. The last few weeks of training for my marathon, I was convinced that I hated running. I was going to give it up after May 1st because I had lost all love for the sport. It was no longer enjoyable...it was something I had to do. I was burnt out.

After crossing the finish line on Saturday, I could feel some of the enjoyment coming back. Although I was in pain and having some serious stomach issues, there was still hope.

When I woke up the next day, I knew that there was no way I was going to give up running. I felt great and felt like I could accomplish anything. So, I began looking for my next race.

I found it. On May 16th, I will be running the Rockford Half Marathon...and I am extremely excited. This one I am doing for fun...and to try and set a new PR for myself.

Goal: finish between 2:10 and 2:15.

I will never finish in first place, but I. will. always. finish.

My first 26.2

I sit here at a loss for words. It's hard to sum up this marathon experience or even put it in to words. It seemed to go on forever, but I can hardly believe that it's over. It was, by far, the hardest thing I have ever done. Now I can say that I have finished a marathon...a whole 26.2 miles.

I did not sleep very good at all the night before. I was up a few times during the night and then up for good at 3:30. I stayed in bed for about an hour and prayed off and on. I was missing my sister (who was supposed to run the full, but got pregnant - yay- and switched to the half. The day before they were supposed to leave to come stay with us, her whole family, minus one, got the stomach flu). I was also so nervous and having stomach issues because of it. Even though I didn't feel like eating, I managed to down a bagel with peanut butter and a half of a banana.

We got to the race and I had to pee really bad. We had ten minutes until starting time and I was still in line for the icky potties. Luckily, runners know how to get in a get out in record time and we all made it to the start just in time.

After the horn sounded and the race began, I felt really good. Mind games started around mile 10...I really don't know why other than reality had set in just what I was about to make my body do.


At mile 11, I saw my princess and my man standing there on the sidewalk and it gave me a little push to keep going. A little after mile 11, I got it in my head that I needed to stop and walk. Luckily, Jamie wasn't having it and she pushed me to keep going, reminding me that I said that I would not walk before mile 13. Up until mile 19 I felt pretty good...as good as you can feel after 19 miles. At mile 19 we turned around and headed back to the finish. And even though I wondered what all the hype was about the last 10K, I quickly found out that the last 10K is so tough...literally like a roller coaster ride.



At mile 23, I was having the worst stomach cramps and sat in the icky potty for a bit. A little bit down the road, we spotted our families again and this time our friends who completed the half were there to cheer us on too. It was so good to see everyone, but it made me want to just hop in the car and be done with it all. My best friend, came out with my princess to give me a pep talk and encourage me to keep going...I have never loved her so much in all my life. I kept going.

"The talk"



Mile 23-24 seemed to pass by pretty quickly. After, Jamie and I separated...I said a little prayer for her and kept her in my sights until she rounded a corner and I knew she was on her way to the finish. That last stretch seemed to be the longest 2.2 miles of my life. Ugh, they were so hard. Dani (another friend) met me and ran the last mile with me.


I found what little bit of speed I had left and gave it all I had in the home stretch. With a huge smile on my face and a big sigh of relief, I finished my first Marathon with the official time of 5:13:10.

I was a pretty happy camper.

I am a marathon finisher.

The girls...Jamie and I are on the far left...the other four rocked out the half marathon.

And next time, I will be faster....but 10 miles and 13.1 miles seem like a much better distance to me right now.