Something my 17 year old self couldn't do

When I was in high school, I was one of those girls who walked the mile instead of running it. I walked and chatted with non-athletic friends, and clocked about a 15 minute leisurely mile. It wasn't that I was out of shape, I was a gymnast and I was very much in shape. I just never ran, short of the sprint down the runway to the vault. So today I headed out to the Tufts track, this time with a water bottle and my clip-on Ipod shuffle, which I hadn't thought to charge up for running until now.

I'm not sure why, but I had the best training yet. I walked a half a mile, ran a mile (straight! did you hear that, ghost of high school me?!), walked another half mile, then ran yet another mile! I ran two miles. And walked another. When we do the math, and we all know I love math, that equals 3 miles! And three miles (pretty much) equals a 5K! So I'm feeling good. I plan to do more of this three mile combo for the rest of the week leading up to the race. Hopefully I can get down to running 2.5 and walking just a half mile.

Would you like to know what motivated me?

• First, the music. It really helped. It also helped what type of music I had on my Ipod. I still have the songs on it from right after I bought it, which happened to be all mellow and chill: Cat Power, Rufus Wainwright, Fiona Apple, Death Cab for Cutie. At first I thought this would be the worst soundtrack to run to, but it turned out to be the best. The mellow songs helped keep me mellow, and helped me regulate my breathing.
  
  
• Second, I bought myself a new flat iron last night, because mine broke months ago and I never got around to replacing it. I told myself that if I didn't run a mile (and then, if I didn't run the second mile) I wouldn't let myself flat iron my hair when I got home. Yes! I bribed myself with straight hair! No joke! And it worked.
  
  
• Third, I think running on a track is actually good for me. I like to know exactly how much more I have to go until a mile is done. I like to be able to tell myself I'm halfway there, or that I just have one more lap to go.

So I'm feeling good, like this challenge will be a success after all, despite all the bumps in the road. My lungs feel strong and I took much less time to recover from each mile than I used to from my shorter distances, which makes me feel like I'm really getting somewhere.

When I was walking my first half mile between the miles, I did something I sometimes do at work, with my headphones on. I was swigging away at my water, listening to my headphones when I belched. LOUD. Immediately I looked around, suddenly aware of all the other people on the track. Nobody was looking, but I have no idea how loud it was, since I had headphones on. I have no idea if it reverberated through the entire athletic field or not. So of course I started laughing at the thought, and couldn't stop. And then I was not only the girl who belched, but also the girl who was laughing hysterically to herself as she rounded the track. Ahhh life.

The Course

As I looked across the lake, I realized my feet were moving slower, and I was no longer positive making a pre-race trip to the course was even a good idea. It was a beautiful day, sunny and not too hot, so a nice run around the lake seemed like a perfect addition to my Sunday afternoon. That is until I got there and looked at the lake, and realized I'm just not ready.

It made for a beautiful, calming walk around the lake, but I wasn't able to run more than a quarter -- is saying even a quarter of the course being too generous? It made me both sad and scared. The real race, the big 5K, my first finish line in years is only 2 weeks away and I can't run even a quarter of the distance. It's no one's fault but my own, which really makes it worse, because if I had stuck to the program, if I had not been lazy, I would easily be looking forward to race day, and now instead I'm fearful.

Do I start training over? Do I push back my goal of running the 5K, instead running only parts of it on July 8th? Or do I attempt with everything I have to shuffle through the whole 3.1 miles that day?
What would you do?

all my aches and pains

I've learned that my body is a fragile, delicate machine with many kinks in the design. My knees are almost entirely recovered, but now I somehow managed to get a horrible callus/blister on the bottom of my foot. It's not a gross blister, but rather a happy little bubble. I expected it to just go away, but instead it managed to get infected, despite the fact that it's subcutaneous.

Like that? Subcutaneous. I had to google it to make sure I was spelling it right.

So even though I think my knees are ready to run again, my foot very much is not. I spend my days hobbling around, trying not too put too much pressure on that part of my foot. It really feels like someone upstairs is sending me some mighty strong messages that I am not meant to be a runner.

The thing is, that's okay. It's okay if our bodies or our minds tell us that this isn't for us. That's what these challenges are all about. We're not here to get face lifts, we just want try on a few masks to see how they fit, laugh about the ones that look ridiculous, and move on to the next one.

How about a 5k on the elliptical?

So I've learned that I am not a runner. Not even close. More than that, I've learned that I have to break up with running on the treadmill. Nothing bores me more than running in place, I just have no motivation to keep going.

Strange thing about this is that I have no problem with other stationary equipment, I love the elliptical machine. In fact I actually enjoy walking on the treadmill with an incline, I just don't enjoy running on it.

The only way I am going to get myself ready for this race is going to be to take my workout outside. Time to hit the track, the street, whatever, just not the treadmill. Let's just hope that in the next 19 or so days I can actually get to the point I need to be at.

Funny how a little more than a month ago this seemed like it was going to be such an easy goal to achieve...

Saturday morning at the track

All different types of people run. They come from different backgrounds and they have different motives, but the one thing they have in common is they run. I woke up this morning knowing I should run, after all the race isn't far off and I'm just not ready. So after fighting with myself for an hour in bed, I finally got up, dressed and drove to the track.

Already walking the track was an athletic woman, sporting the perfect running shorts and matching sports top. She was walking briskly and seemed very focused, until I discovered she'd stop after each lap to check on her daughter. A blond haired little girl sat on the side of the track with her backpack filled with toys. She'd stop her mom each time she made it around, and after making sure the 5 year old was safe and happy, she would continue walking. Now that's dedication.

On the inside lane was an older man -- maybe in his 70's, who was wearing what looked like a heavy sweatshirt and yet he was running around and around. He ran at least a mile while I was there and didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon.

The cast of characters didn't stop there as several men about my age made their way to the track. There was one who sprinted every fourth of a mile and as I watched from behind I could have sworn I saw his heels kick his butt.

Then there was the guy who just made being there all that much easier. He was shirtless and definitely an athlete. Toned and at least from the back very attractive.

Finally there was the guy who I saw running home after his workout at the track while I, feeling all that much lazier, drove myself home.

As for myself, I don't think I'm a member of this group. I don't like running and despite going to the track, I ran very little. I tried, but I just couldn't keep going. There wasn't anything physically stopping me, and yet I couldn't make my legs move faster than a brisk walk, unless I was running the bleachers. Odd, I know, but instead of running 3 miles as I set out to do, I ran up and down the bleachers in between walking a few miles. I might not be ready for the race, but at least I got a good workout in while doing some serious people watching!

where we are at...

Carrie: only 25 days until the 5k... ugh.

Mary: I'm so not ready!

Kara: My knees just moaned!

Possible Progress?

When we started this challenge, Mary found this article online which we all thought was really useful for beginner folks like us. So, with the schedule in front of me, I decided to follow it. I had already been running a little on the treadmill, so I was able to start on week 5 or so. However, since then I haven't made a lot of progress.

Today I hit the treadmill with a "no excuse" attitude in my mind. I can't quit because I'm tired, or because I'm feeling winded, that's not going to help me achieve my goal. So, I ran, and I finished workout 2 for week 6. I'm feeling better, and if I stick to the schedule I'm still on track to finish the training before the 5k.

Friday I will attempt the final workout for week 6, which is running 2.25 miles straight. May not sound hard to some, but for me it really is. This will be the longest distance I have ever run straight through. If I can't complete it Friday then it means I just need to try again on Saturday. I will finish this 5k running, and I still have 3 weeks to make sure I push myself to make that happen.

With broken knees, I throw my 2 cents in...

Last week I ran harder and longer than I have run in the past 10 years. I ran in the rain, and it felt good, felt refreshing, it kept me going. I woke up the next day with terrible pain in my knees, as if the inner side of my knee was bruised. It felt like my bone was bruised. So I have taken the week off, and in the meantime I discovered that it was more than likely due to the fact that I have flat feet and the wrong type of sneaker for my foot. So I went to marathon sports and they analyzed my walk and found the right shoe for my foot. I am now completely ready to get back to it, except for the fact that my knees still feel bruised and stiff. I'm worried, since we only have a few weeks until the race.

So in the meantime, I'm reading about Mary and Carrie's progress. After reading Mary's entry, I realized I have no idea what the difference is between jogging and running. Absolutely no idea. So, like the good little researcher I am, I looked it up. This is what I found.

Jogging VS. Running

• Jogging is the 70's word for running.
  
• According to running guru Dr. George Sheehan: "The difference between a runner and a jogger is an entry form."
  
• According to the American College of Sports Medicine, running is 5 mph or faster.
  
• Jogging is a vaguely-defined term which generally refers to a type of slow running, previously called "roadwork" when athletes in training, such as boxers, customarily ran several miles each day as part of their conditioning. In the 1960s to 1970s the word "roadwork" was mostly supplanted by the word "jogging" and this form of running became quite popular among many people at that time, mainly throughout the Western world

The last definition, from wikipedia, was very interesting to read as a new runner. The article on running included this information, on stride rate.

Most elite runners in the world run at a stride rate of 90 strides per minute (180 steps) regardless of the running distance and the runner's physical build. (Stride distance, however, does vary, being longer the shorter the running distance). It has been postulated that human physiology dictates that the 90 stride rate is the most efficient in terms of energy expenditure when running. Most beginning runners have a lower stride rate. This may cause most of the energy to be expended in vertical movement rather than in overcoming the friction of air. Also, low stride rate may also be indicative of overstriding.

Once my knees recover, I plan to count my strides during my next run, to see if I'm efficiently using my energy. I'm dying to know! Please knees, don't fail me now.

sometimes you need a little kick in the tush...

...and sometimes you need a big one.

I woke up today with the grand plan of running the track down the street from Matt's. I was excited to be able to see my actual progress not be on a display on the treadmill. I was also excited to not have to run on the street and deal with cars and people. So, dressed and ready to go, we hop in the car and head to the track...only to find it's locked.

Now, if you know me, you may know that I can get stubborn. Especially in the situation when I have my mind set on what it is I want to do (just ask me about my grocery shopping trip for tempeh). I am so annoyed at this point that I just want to head back and watch TV. If Matt wasn't there that's totally what I would have done.

So we ran, we ran on the street, the same place that I didn't want to run. We ran a mile (and the end of that mile we hit the incline). I couldn't breathe, which isn't a surprise, but I finished the mile. Matt then starts to walk back, not towards the house, but away from it. I am ready to explode as I don't want to run anymore and was proud enough of the fact that I had completed the mile. So there we go again, walking the half mile for me to catch my breathe, just in time to run another half mile back.

So, thanks to Matt for the kick in the butt to get me to run and not just go back to sit and pout and watch reality TV that I don't care about. Which is exactly what I would have done, without a doubt.

I feel like I'm making some progress. I won't like that the fact that we only have four weeks to go does scare me a bit, but I think it's doable. I'll just have a bruised butt from all the kicks I'll need to actually get there.

Does this really count as running?

I've always wanted to be a runner. When I was a kid every year I would enter the Run for Hunger Fun Run. I was only 6 or 7 the first time and proudly ran alongside my Dad, finishing the 1 mile race with a huge smile on my face. Year after year my family would attend the race and as the years went on, the running became harder and harder. The course included a few hills even in its short distance and each year my face would turn a brighter shade of red as I crossed the finish line. Running was no longer fun and I soon gave it up completely.

Fast forward to this spring when I knew it was time to get back in shape and what better way than to run a 5K with friends? So I started running short distances around town, and just last week ran 3 miles around a local track. The real question is can you call it running if it's so slow someone could beat you walking? I don't think what I do can even be considered jogging. Maybe I'm just shuffling really fast?

My hope is in the next few weeks I can pick up the pace, otherwise I'm a little nervous the race's finish line will have been swept clean and everyone will be home enjoying wine and cheese by the time I cross it.

The First Challenge: The 5K

Earlier this summer, Mary, Carrie, and myself (Kara) started talking about running. Our shared enthusiasm for starting to run, and I mean really running regularly and seriously, inspired us all to sign up for a 5K. We decided it would be nice to document our experiences as we train for this race and thus, this blog was born. We plan to take on another challenge after we complete the 5K in July, and then another following that. And once we get going, you will be able to follow any smaller challenges that we may take on individually, on the right hand column.

Enjoy!