Slowly but Surely

Running takes some faith and wisdom

I have a necklace that I love.  It's a brown leather necklace with a runner girl charm, a faith charm and a pearl of wisdom.   It is to remind me that I have become a runner, to have faith in myself and to have the wisdom to not hurt myself.  It is all a work in progress.  I may have run myself a 5k a couple of weeks ago, but I continued pushing myself on that week and ended up irritating my back (which felt great that week) which causes pain down the side of my leg.  So I missed a whole week of running after that, and now I am back to short runs with intervals.  I'm happy to be doing the short runs, I just wish the wisdom thin would have kicked in last week because now I have blown any chance for a half marathon this Spring.  It's ok though.  I don't think my body was meant to do a lot of half marathons, it fights me on long runs.  Instead I am going to train for a 10k that runs over a local bridge.  Very cool!  I need the wisdom to balance the Tae Kwon Do and the running,  so I can't get caught up in what everyone else is doing.  Just because a friend does a half, doesn't mean it's right for me.  I still have two big tests and I can't do big races at the same time I do these tests.

Back in the Race

I'm training for another half marathon and already I know this is going to be good.  I ran this morning.  For the first time since I started running I ran and felt good the whole time.  It's damn cold and snowy around here, so I'm holed up at the gym these days.  I'm ok with it, because I actually feel good when I run now.  This morning I was able to run a 5k.  I was back to my original 5k time from my very first race.  34:50  I may not be a speed demon, but I ran the whole distance, something I have never actually been able to do.  I think I am going to kiss my Dr when I see her. She has changed my life.  

Red Belt~yahoooo!

I have run, jumped and kicked my way to a red belt in TKD.  Wow. I am now two belts and one and a half years away from a black belt.  yay!

A New Lease on Running

I ran this morning.  I got onto the treadmill (it's dark and very cold at 5:45, so it's treadmill time) and I ran.  For the first time in a very long time I ran for a 15 whole minutes without feeling like I was going to collapse.  Recently even running three minutes was pushing it.  I have felt like there was no oxygen in my muscles ( which, due to anemia, there wasn't and they responded as such). So this morning, I got onto the treadmill planning to do 5:1 intervals. I love intervals!  They got me through my first half marathon, so I have a huge loyalty to them.  But today, when I got to 5 minutes, I felt no need to stop. The point of intervals is to stop before you feel a need to stop, so you have as much energy at the end of the run as you did at the beginning.  So in theory I should have stopped.  But I wanted to see if I could make it to a mile.  I haven't run a mile willingly in a very, very long time. Guess what? I made it to a mile.  ME!!  I made it to a mile and I felt really good, so I kept going.  I made it to 15 minutes and for the most part I felt great and wanted to keep going, but a nasty stitch in my right side insisted that I walk a bit.  So I walked for two minutes and finished out to two miles.

This is huge for me.  Now I need to look at some races and make some strategies for myself.  My first goal is to complete a 5k without walking, if not the full 5k then maybe walking at distance breaks rather than time breaks.  I'm going to play with it.  There is a piece of me that felt like a runner today.  I got it today.  I got how people can go out and just run and enjoy it.  I've never gotten that before.  It's a whole new running life for me, I think.

already looking forward to running this race again

Merry Christmas to all!!!

Modern Cranberry Noir Christmas

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What's new?

I posted the latest development in my training over on the Big Yellow Tent.  If you've ever had an issue with chronic fatigue during training, you may want to check it out.

Get Out!!!

I ran a half marathon! ME!! I completed a half marathon doing 3 minute runs and 1 minute walks and I was in pain for the last three miles and I smiled as I ran across that finish line. I completed it in 2 hours and 45 minutes. I'll never win one, but I will definitely try another one. If you asked me a year ago if this was something in my future I would have laughed at you. I never would have believed that I could do a half. And I don't know how many more I have up my sleeve. But I did one, and it was so unlikely that I would have completed one that I smile and giggle every time someone asks me about it. I ran with some very good friends. We chatted and cheered and complained as we plugged along and we saw beautiful scenery. It was amazing and I am glad that I had the opportunity to try it.