Running Away From Colds and Excuses

Well, I'm one month into the school year and, overall, things are going pretty well.  I haven't been running as much as I'd like because the germy little 5th graders gave me a cold...sigh...however, I rocked my 10k last Saturday WITH a cold.  It is the first time I've raced a 10k and it was a challenging and hilly course.  I managed to pull off 1:14:18!  I was planning on averaging a 12:30ish pace and came in under 12.  I am so thrilled!  I even took a couple of short walking breaks up some of the hills and it is still my fastest 10k time yet (at least, during this round of being active).  Until last weekend, I didn't understand how someone could run/walk at about the same pace someone else runs, however, now I see that it can work if you take short walking breaks.  It gives your body a chance to rest and let's you run faster when you do run.  There were a few people who kept pace with me for most of the race even though they walked more than I did.  This will be valuable knowledge for my longer races.

I was very close to skipping the race altogether.  My head was trying to tell me to give in to my cold and to curl up on the couch all day.  But, I decided that I wanted to earn my race shirt.  I decided that it would feel weird to wear it without actually participating in the race, like I cheated or something.  I finally convinced myself to go.  I told myself that since I only lived 1 block off of the course a little over mile 1 (and just before mile 5, as it was out and back), I could always drop out if I felt too sick.  However, I felt so much better once I began running that I just kept going.  I did end up getting sicker and missing work on Monday, but it was so worth it and I would do it again in a heartbeat!  I knew that if I let my head talk me out of my third ever race, I would set and evil precedent and probably try to convince myself to skip future, more important races, which would ultimately lead me to give up on running altogether.

I tried to run a couple of days ago.  I felt fantastic!  I was energetic and light on my feet, BUT...my lungs wouldn't let me fly for more than a few minutes.  Once I started coughing, I couldn't stop.  This is the stage where my exercise routine usually ceases to exist.  I get sick and have to take a week or two off.  I fear that exercising too soon will make me sicker and it is really difficult to take a sick day when you're a teacher.  During this time off, I lose fitness and then get frustrated when I can't run as far or as fast as I could before.  Wednesday's run attempt was me defying this habit.  I'm determined not to let this setback stop me this time.  I am so tired of giving up and having to start over.  I'M NOT GOING TO GIVE UP!  I will try again tomorrow and see how my run goes.  I'm supposed to do another 6-miler this weekend, but I know that won't happen and that's ok.  I'm hoping for 2 miles tomorrow and 3 on Sunday.  Hopefully, next week I'll be able to work back up to my regularly scheduled long run.  But if I can't, that's ok too, just as long as I don't quit.  NOT THIS TIME!

I've realized that I love being a runner!  I finally feel like I am becoming the person I've always wanted to be.  Tonight, I registered for my first Half-Marathon!  I will be running in my hometown, on very familiar paths, the weekend before Thanksgiving.  I'm so excited!  The general plan is to cut back my mileage for a few weeks after that and then dive into my marathon training schedule in mid-December.  I don't have my actual marathon picked out yet, though.  I'm waiting for one to get approved to begin registration.  I also have a couple of backups if this one doesn't go through.  The general idea is to run my full marathon in late April or early May.  For me, this is the perfect time of the year.  I love cool, cloudy weather and that is usually what we have here in Oregon during that time frame.  I'm not a warm weather kind of gal in any situation.  I can tolerate it to some extent, but I do not enjoy it.  :)  Plus, I recently became a Swirlgear Ambassador and I have some cute long sleeve shirts/jackets on the way.  I'm so excited to have some nice quality running clothes for this rainy Oregon weather.  Click on the badge below to learn about this company.  I'll let you know what I think of the clothes when they get here.  I'm just so excited that, of all of the running pages out there, they happened to find my little one and liked it enough to include me in their group.

This girl is ecstatic that the rain is finally here!  I've been feeling all dried out for months.  We are supposed to get a storm this weekend, but I plan to fit my runs in anyway.  Running in the rain makes this pluviophile one happy girl.

Cheers for now, Run Lovers!
Ashley

Back to Work

Ok, so my summer has ended and I'm back to work.  Last week was Inservice and the kids come back tomorrow.  I have always had a difficult time maintaining an exercise routine when my schedule changes.  In college, I was thrown off every term or whenever I got a new job, my work schedule changed, or I got sick.  Work and school always came first.  This year, I'm determined to keep up my running schedule.  It will be my main priority once the kids leave my classroom.  I honestly believe I can do it this time for many reasons:

1. I'm still very focused on running a spring marathon.
2. I have a running schedule set to take me through to my first 1/2 marathon at the end of November.
3. I'm so tired of quitting and having to start over.
4. I'm finally noticing changes, both physically and mentally, and I like them and don't want to lose them.
5. My district is trying to improve employee wellness and health, so exercising is encouraged.
6. I'm looking forward to running in the rain again! (I'm a true Oregonian!)
7. I'm learning how to flex my running schedule to fit into my life schedule.
8. I love the person I am becoming.
9. I feel like I have a purpose.
10. I WANT to keep running!

So that's an even 10 reasons.  There are probably more, but the point is that I'm going to do what I can to keep my momentum going.  I do worry about getting sick and missing runs, but hopefully nothing too bad will develop and I'll be able to keep running.  I've been running for about 5 months now.  I think this is the longest stretch of continuous exercise I've maintained since college.  August has been my best month so far!  Last spring, I discovered that it worked well for me to run at 4 in the town in which I work.  That gives me time for a snack when the kids leave and then I can drive home when I'm done and be able to worry about home stuff when I get there.  My running bag went with me all last week and will remain in my car so that I can run whenever I have time.  The biggest challenge this year is that my husband now works at my school, so he'll have to wait for me to finish running before we can go home and no one will be home earlier to let the dogs outside.  I don't think it'll be too big of an issue, though.  He's also started running again with our big dog, so we may come home in time to run with the dogs.  We'll see.

I took this little monster running with me yesterday.

 This is Steve.  He used to run with me years ago, but lately I haven't been taking him.  He pulls and that worried me since I had knee issues earlier this year.  Also, I constantly seem to run into loose dogs.  Most of them are friendly, but my little Stevie is overly protective of me and has been known to try to pick fights with other dogs.  I worry about his aggression causing an unsafe situation.  I read about some spray citronella (or something) stuff that will deter dogs.  I may look into purchasing some of that.  I know Stevie needs more exercise and he gets very sad when my husband takes our big dog running with him, so I think it is worth it to take him with me.  He could also stand to lose a couple of pounds.  

Yesterday, Stevie did very well.  I am so happy with him!  Since it was my short run (3 miles.  It's strange that that seems like a short run now!), I decided he'd be able to make it that far without too much trouble.  He calmed down a lot about halfway through.  We had to pause a couple of times at the park so he could cool down by swimming in the pond.  I'm going to try to take him with me a few times a week.  Hopefully, when I hit my really long runs, my husband and both dogs will be able to come with me.  I will feel safer that way.

Another important milestone of this week is that I hit 5 miles for my long run!  Yay!  The great thing is that it wasn't that hard.  I didn't worry too much about my pace and just focused on running slow and steady.  I don't want to say it was easy because that would mean I wasn't going fast enough, but I still had energy at the end.  Everything I've read says to take the long runs slowly to avoid injury, so that's what I'm doing.  I'm feeling very optimistic about my running goals.  It's going to be a great year!

Cheers!
Ashley