CIM 2011

Here I come!  It was my first marathon five years ago.  I’m betting that I can easily beat that time.  As long as it doesn’t rain for 4 hours straight, I’m good!

Inspiration and leaps of faith

This week I signed up for the Portland Marathon.  It’s on the magical day of 10/10/10.  I love how the year 2010 gives us so many numerically interesting dates.

I used to say that deciding to have a child is the biggest leap of faith you can make.  That’s because you have to ignore all the odds of anything bad happening to you, the baby, the world, etc., and just do it.   Deciding to run a marathon is a similar feeling for me, on a much smaller scale of course.   Implicit in my decision are assumptions about my physical health, time to train and family stability.   And who knows what the world will be like in October?

I was recently reminded that running is truly contagious.  I talk about running all the time, and it’s part of any conversation when I’m “catching up” with old friends.  Recently a guy I knew in high school posted that he had started running again last fall and had lost 30 lbs.  He thanked me and his wife for inspiring him.  It totally made my day.   I like being an ambassador for running.

Workouts:

Wednesday:  Spinning – 1 hour (awesome class!)

Today:  6.0 miles at a 9:10 pace

Nothing earth-shattering

Never said it was going to be fast or easy.  One week into my non-diet, and I’m down to a smidge over a G.  I’m in no way encouraged (or discouraged) because I can range anywhere from an E to and H right now.  If this doesn’t make any sense to you, read here.

I’m exercising more and eating less, but for a 45 year old woman like me, that’s not a surefire way to lose weight.  Especially when your body thinks running is not for burning calories, but for increasing your appetite.

Latest workouts:

Monday:  sort of a rest day.  Did some jump roping (15 minutes) and stretching.

Tuesday:  6.1 miles at a 9:20 pace.  That run felt really good.

Running by moonlight

I never grow tired of the beautiful scenery on our Sunday runs.  Today, the snapshots in my mind are:

• The full moon just before dawn.  No need for headlamps when there is one in the sky.
• Seeing the sunrise, while the fog hovered just a foot or two over the fields.
• The gardens at Village Homes; the artichokes are already so big and the sweet peas are climbing high.
• Running past the site of a banquet I attended last night at the university, last night in high heels, today in running shoes.

Workouts:

Friday:  Pilates, 1 hour

Saturday:  2-3 hours of gardening, including digging a hole for a tree

Sunday:  9 miles at a 9:25 pace

Just keep going

I read a great quote today:

Some think guts is sprinting at the end of a race. But guts is what got you there to begin with. Guts start back in the hills with 6 miles to go and you’re thinking of how you can get out of this race without anyone noticing. Guts begin when you still have forty minutes of torture left and you’re already hurting more than you ever remember.  – George Sheehan

That’s what  I love about running, and sports in general.  We get the opportunity to be pushed to our limits on a regular basis.  We also get to be around others who have more guts than we ever will, and be inspired by them.  It’s great to feel like you have accomplished something by 7:00 in the morning, and it has lasting effects throughout the day.  I know running doesn’t equate to entering a burning building or performing brain surgery, but for many of us it’s our chance to see what we’re made of.

Today’s run:

6.2 miles at 9:40 pace.

Slowed by dense fog…we couldn’t see more than about a foot in front of us!

The running people

I’m currently reading Born to Run, a non-fiction book by Christopher McDougall.  I’m not very far into it,  but I’m enjoying the writing style and learning about Copper Canyon, Mexico and its indigenous people, the Tarahumara.  There aren’t any pictures in the book, so being the visual person that I am, right away I did a Google search on Tarahumaras copper canyon.  Well known for their endurance, they are also have a love of color:  they wear bright, vibrantly colored clothing.  And on their feet?  Huarache sandals, of course.  They live in extreme poverty by our standards and the government and drug cartels are encroaching on their home.   They call themselves Raramuri:  meaning “runners on foot”.

I haven’t reached the part in the book about who runs barefoot and why it is good for you so I can’t comment on that.  I am curious about whether this will become a craze around here when the weather warms up; I have yet to see anyone running barefoot or wearing those funny-looking shoes that protect your feet but offer no support.  After all the time I’ve spent trying different shoes, plus my tender metatarsal pads,  it will take a lot of evidence to convince me to try it.

Wednesday’s workout:

Spinning:  1 hour

Publicly accountable

Sedentary runner returns.  I’ve apparently been doing more sitting than running, because the impetus for this post is to publicly announce my current weight and my plan to be publicly accountable to losing at least seven pounds.  I’m not going to include the actual weight — not because I’m ashamed of it, but I just don’t want to be quite that public.  So I will convert it to a letter.  Let’s say I’m at H.  Anything over an F is a huge wake-up call for me, so it’s time to get serious and become mindful about how much I’m putting in my mouth, and how much activity I’m really doing.

I need to find my Weight Watchers lifetime membership card and see what weight is on there.   I think I’m about five pounds over, so I would have to pay for weigh-ins and I don’t want to do that.  This blog will be my public weigh-in, every Tuesday.

I don’t use the word diet.  I know what I need to do.  I have very little leeway in my calorie intake, especially at my age.  I get dizzy if I don’t eat often enough, so I just need to be careful about what I’m grazing on.  The reality is I have to eat less, but not so little that I’m short on fuel during exercise.  Or hard to live with.  I can’t use caffeine to fuel me, so it has to be food.

While I’m at it, I might as well track my exercise too.

1/26/10
Current weight:  H
Ran 5.0 miles (not sure of pace because I didn’t bring my Garmin.  Probably around 9:25 or so)

Here we go!