If we did all the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.
–Thomas Edison
Hey, remember when I posted about green issues all the time? I do. And I still want to, but it’s hard for me to discern what people want to read about. I feel like we’ve hit a wall of “as green as we gonna be” without making the investment in solar panels or an electric car, and that I’ve talked those “little steps” to death. As we hurtle into the Christmas season, I can pick up some slack by sharing some eco-friendly gift ideas, but rounding the corner into 2013 I’m going to have to think through where I want this blog to go. Any input is appreciated
Lately, my life mainly revolves around work and my attempts to whip my health into shape. I’m still running; I’ve just started following the training plan for a half marathon. Not that I have a specific half in mind that I’m training toward (although I do have my eye on the Disney World Princess Half), but because it feels easier to have rules and instructions. Week before last, I ran 4.5 miles, and I’m pretty sure that’s the first time in my life I’ve ever done that. This past Sunday I ran five.
I didn’t want to. My knee has been bugging me— just the one, not both like years past. I did it anyway because it was on my schedule. I got about .18 miles before I really wanted to stop; I felt all gimpy, I wasn’t fully extending my right leg and the stride on my left was weird as it compensated. I told myself I’d do a mile.
I felt OK after a mile so I figured I’d go 5k.
At 5k I thought, well, hell, I’m more than halfway there. I’ll go four miles and walk the last mile.
And at four miles my knee finally relaxed and the last mile was cake.
I wasn’t watching the time and I thought I took the whole thing pretty slow. I was wrong, apparently. I finished with an overall pace about the same as my 3 mile runs.
Is this boring? I’m sorry. It’s thrilling to me, the idea that I went out there and did it anyway. I’m winning the mental game. And the knowledge that sticking with it even when I wanted to stop, loosened that knee up so I could run comfortably? Mind blowing.
The next day I went to my second swim class.
The first class was hugely humbling and vaguely humiliating. The instructor has me show her how I would swim “if I could” and afterwards she laughed and said, “Wow. You really have no idea what you’re doing.” Yes, darling. That’s why I’m here, and that’s why I said, “I don’t know how to swim. I’ve never really tried and I don’t particularly like being in the water.”
It’s exhausting. I’m working muscles that have been lying dormant, my lower back aches as I try to keep my legs up. I feel like I can only remember one thing at a time: kick, stroke, breathe.
It’s exhilarating. I’ve been afraid my whole life. I’m still afraid, but I’m out there. I’m doing it.
I’ve been mocked for not knowing how to swim my whole life. Sat on the edge of the pool or waited on the beach while everybody else went off without me. Being excluded doesn’t smart any less as you grow older.
Soon I’ll know how to swim, and then I’ll work to do better. Faster. Stronger. I’ll never be as good a swimmer as those who have done it all their lives, who don’t even remember learning, but I’ll always be better than I was just two weeks ago.
Between the five mile run and the swim class my legs were trash Tuesday, so I rested up. Yesterday I tried to get 3 miles in, but my muscles were still way stiff and sore. I hit 1.8 before the sun dipped behind the trees and I called it a day.
This, too, is a huge step forward. I may not have hit my goal distance, but I put the sneaks on and I tried. I was tired and I needed a break— and I took it, going to bed earlier than usual. HUGE STEP FORWARD. I know the sleep will only help me do better next time.
I think I’m going to start adding in more yoga to help build up my core for swimming, and to help me stretch and relax those muscles after.
I want to find something fun to look forward to each week. Tap class, mayhaps? Rock climbing?
I’m going to keep racing through the cold months for objective feedback on my progress. And I’m totally signing up for a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving so I can eat with impunity. Self-help magazines be damned, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I’m gonna eat it up.
I’m taking my vitamins, drinking my protein shakes, eating regularly. It’s dumb that I have to list those as achievements, but they are so I am.
I feel like my health is something I’m transforming instead of something that just happens, that I have to accept and shape my life around.
For the first time since I started blogging in 2008, I’m not dreading the winter ahead. The months of being trapped indoors waiting for fair weather to return. I know I’ll keep running through the cold and it will suck. But it will get me outside. It will keep my spirits alive.
I’m just getting warmed up.
Do Vitamin C shoelaces help?
They sure do. I never thought I’d be that person who wore neon bright sneakers— in fact I would search high and low for plain black kicks that didn’t draw attention to my giantess feet— but these guys make me feel cheerful. See those “sticky” grey treads? They’re great for quick off the line sprints, for the fast changes in direction on the basketball court (I would often slip in my old Pumas, which admittedly were past their prime, but embarrassing all the same when you’re coaching tween boys), for the machines at the gym. Comfy and flexible and crazy light: when they arrived, I had no idea the package had shoes inside, it was so light.
Fun fact: I first wore these shoes to go vote on Election Day, and Instagrammed a photo with the hashtag #BokTheVote. I thought Jeff was going to wriggle out of his skin in embarrassment for me.
Sweatshirts with thumbholes help too. Grey and black sweatshirts over tank tops are pretty much my standard uniform through the cold months. Most of mine are hand-me-downs from my husband or brother, so they’re big and frumpy. I’ve created my own thumbholes in a lot of them where the sleeve meets the wristband, which is comfy but admittedly looks a little… I don’t know… sloppy. I don’t know what it is that makes thumbholes so satisfying; it’s not like I usually go around marveling at how cold my wrists are. I think I just like the comfort of sleeves that aren’t too short, and it’s nice to have that in a sweatshirt that isn’t also huge and formless.
Thumbholes up!
This is the Reebok Play Dry Jacket (but really it’s a sweatshirt, dangit). It has a lot of flexibility and is surprisingly warm for how streamlined it is. You know how I hate when my clothes are too grabby; this is flatteringly form-fitting without me feeling tight in my man-shoulders. It comes in (modern) blue and pink (excuse me, aubergine) too, for those of you who don’t wear grey like it’s your signature color.
man shoulders
So that’s my big secret to getting out the door. Put the gear on. Hear your husband and kids say, “Oh, going running? To the gym?” It makes it about 1000x harder to wuss out.
Want a chance to win some Reebok gear of your own?
I’m co-hosting a Twitter chat (using the @FitFluential handle) with @Reebok TONIGHT at 9pm EST. We’re going to be talking about ways to #getafterit through the holiday season. And FIVE randomly-drawn, super-lucky chatters will win a $100 Reebok gift card to choose some gear that puts a smile on their face, a spring in their step and their ass out the door.
The reason we race isn’t so much to beat each other… but to be with each other.
―Christopher McDougall, Born to Run
Today we drove an hour to Philly for the opportunity to stand in line in the 103° sun with what appeared to be a large percentage of the Tri-State area.
We were picking up our race packets for the Color Run Philadelphia. Tomorrow we’ll haul our carcasses out the door by 5am, drive back to Philly, hopefully find parking without having to circle for an hour, and then run a little over 3 miles.
And we paid cash money to do it. It’s sort of crazy when you think about it.
But I’m wicked excited. With 23,000 registered, the Color Run Philadelphia will be the 3rd largest 5K in America, and it will end in a cacophony of color on the Art Museum stairs. I’m running (well, probably more like “intermittently walking/jogging”) with all three of my kids, and I think it will be quite something to remember.
Then next week, we’ll repeat the whole process. Sunday will be Cass’s 8th birthday, and she specifically requested that she be able to run an obstacle race. How’s that for #FitFluential?
There’s a Spartan going on in the Poconos, but that’s a hike and frankly, I don’t know that I’m Spartan tough yet. I was super relieved to find another one on the same day going through Fairmount Park: the Merrell Down & Dirty Mud Run. Jake and I are running the 5K (which looks to be hills and trails in addition to mud and obstacles) at 8:30am and then Cass runs an Adventure Kids 1-mile obstacle/mud run. There’s also a pull-up competition; I’ve no doubt I will be severely outclassed but I’m not ashamed of going on record doing the 15 I’m capable of.
Coming up:
August:
Sadly, I’m not going to the BlogHer conference in NYC anymore, so I won’t be running that 5K. I’m more bummed about missing the race than the conference: I knew a LOT of people running and think that would have made it a really awesome experience. On the flip side… I’ve no doubt running in NYC in August bites. If you know of a fun 5K in August in PA-NJ-MD-DE, let me know!
September:
Jake and I will be doing the Delaware Mud Run at Frightland. (Wish I’d known about the Junior version of this one for Cass back in June!) I don’t know a whole lot about this one, other than it’s pretty close to home.
October:
Jake insisted on the Run For Your Lives 5K. This one happens a few days before Halloween in Baltimore MD; there are natural and man-made obstacles and… zombies. If you sign up as a zombie volunteer, you get a professional makeup job and are expected to go feast on runner brains. Runners are equipped with 3 flags; if you cross the finish line with at least one flag remaining you’re “alive,” if your flags have all been taken by the undead (and it looks like there are both fast and slow) you end up a zombie.
I am fully prepared to sacrifice my son to the zombies to ensure I get out alive. Just sayin’.
November:
In the back of my mind I’m toying with the idea of training for a November half-marathon. The front of my mind insists this is crazy talk. It’s a decision I’ll need to make in the next week or two if I want to be prepared in time.
On the weekend of Jake’s birthday (November 9-10) Disney World is holding its Wine & Dine Half, which is run at night through 3 parks and followed by an International Food & Wine Festival. There’s also a Mickey Jingle Jungle 5k and kids’ races. This would be absolutely perfect… if I can get my legs and bank account on board.
December:
In December I’ll rest. Sort of. As much as a mom of 3 can rest before Christmas.
Trust me:
Much like you I’m looking at this and wondering just what the hell happened to me. I’m incapable of planning my day tomorrow, but I’ve got my running planned out for the year. And I’m excited about it.
And I want to know when the FoamFest 5k and the Karaoke 5k are coming to my part of the country so I can run those suckers too!
Have you run or heard of any more fun races I should add to my schedule in 2013?