The BAD and the UGLY-
One of the biggest challenges I have is doing anything during the week. A lot of people have Sunday as their "rest" day. Me? It's mondays. I hate mondays. Without fail work sucks me in and by the time I get home I just want to faceplant (can you tell this is my new favorite word?) in my bed. It's even MORE challenging in the winter because I do not like exercising in the dark. Nooooo. My neighborhood has only a few street lights and a lot of older people that I'm convinced are out to hit me or at the least make me dive for a ditch. Let's face it - winter sucks. Wah! However if I'm ever going to make it to that 13.1 trail run alive I need to not wuss out during the winter. I was doing ok until the snow. The snow really threw me for a loop. Slippery conditions and darkness = ...wait for it...yes you know....FACEPLANT. I probably should talk to someone about this faceplant obsession. So this is the part I think everyone faces when they are trying to either start exercising or step up their game. EXCUSES. Yes people that's what I'm talkin about. AND guess what I'm southern which means I can excuse it up with the best of them. My grandmother use to refer to my mother as a widow after my father died....even though Daddy was married to someone else at the time of his death. Denial and excuses, we southerners wrote the book.
THE GOOD - I've been focusing on taking away the excuses. So Kelly the Magnificant helps a lot as when you pay somebody for a service it's good if you actually show up. Kelly is so cool I rather look forward to those sessions. But as wonderful as he is, he can't be there every day. Bad weather excuse? Well I've got options now so that's out. Tired - aren't we all? That's out. No time? Well I got time to write this blog so that's out. General laziness - hmm.....this one continues to fight.....
Rome wasn't built in a day....MARCH ON.....September and that half-marathon will be here before I know it....
I leave you with a pic from the 1st trail race..... Although not my best look, definitely better than most of them I've seen in the past... Less zombie more stepping up....
Greetings All -
So the first trail race was this past Saturday.... The weather has been working against me for the last couple of weeks and I was not able to actually check out what the map looked like prior to the race. The whitewater center trails have been closed for several weeks. I was anticipating slippery conditions. My goals were simple as I was considering this "practice" for the trail series that starts in March.
- Do not FACEPLANT (visions of chipping a front tooth kept coming to mind)
- Do not twist or sprain an ankle (I consider this not as bad as my chip tooth fear)
- Finish
Normally I say Finish and not finish last but hey I was trying to keep those expectations low like I do at work. I did not finished last but I was damn close to last.
So...how did I do? Well, I met all 3 goals successfully but I was not very happy with myself afterwards. My head was definitely not in the game. I should have been at least 8-10 minutes faster on my time. I had a bad week (brother in hospital - he's ok) and rattled at work a bit. On Friday I ran with my trainer Kelly the Magnificent and could definitely tell I had a focus problem. I guess I know now how important having your head in the game is prior to trying to kill yourself on a run. This also was the first race I attempted without my ipod. That was one of the rules (they want you to be able to hear if someone is trying to pass you), however there were plenty of rulebreakers with ipods. I am comfortable with being a rulebreaker (all that morally flexibility you know) so I think I will having the ipod with me next time. Biggest lesson learned: focus on the task at hand not the assholes in your life when you are running race.
Ok so now that you know some background, let's look ahead. Remember I said that Coworker...er...Pushy Tom convinced me that signing up for the trail series was a good idea. The RiverBound Race Series consists of four trail races, with each one increasing in distance.
March 12 - 8K
May 21 - 10K
July 16 - 15K
September - Half marathon - yep 13.1 miles on a TRAIL.
I should note now that every one of these in the series has a 5K option. If I ever take the 5K option I'm pretty sure I would get weeks of grief from Coworker Tom. Don't be a wuss....and that would be some of the nicer of the comments.
Since I have not run a trail race yet, Kelly the Magnificent thought it would be a good idea to do one before the series starts...thus the 4 mile run Charlotte Running Company trail race at the Whitewater center on January 22nd. This should be good practice.
Many of you know I attend the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games every July. They have a insane marathon but they also have The Bear which is a 5 mile run straight up the mountain. I'm inclined to sign up for the Bear. I have two friends I'm pretty sure that are going to go for it as well, one who is a first timer like myself (Hi Dave if you are reading this) and the other has run it several times (Hi Kirk if you are reading this). I cannot tell you how many times that I looked at those people coming back from the Bear and said "you are nuts". Hmm, I still think a 5 mile run up a mountain is nuts.
I haven't really planned anything past September because I'm not entirely sure that I won't still be in the woods of the Whitewater Center passed out while attempting the 13.1 miles.
I leave you with a picture the shirt that I will likely be using to run the Bear and the 13.1 (if I survive that long).
Inspired by another friend who is blogging about grad school, I thought maybe I should blog about my running quest for 2011.
Before we can talk about 2011, we have to go back to 2010, no wait, before that.
You see, I have never been a runner. Actually I've not been much of an athletic person at all during my lifetime, except for some gymnastics when I was much younger.
However in 2010 the birthday I've dreaded since I was 17 came about....the big 4-2! My father's death age. UGH! I thought to myself, I simply MUST do something to celebrate I am ALIVE and kicking. Well this was to be harder than I thought. What to do...what to do....I know! I will run one 5K! That's the ticket. Hmm, one big problem, I had a bulging disc in my lower back and I could barely walk at the beginning of 2010. Oh how long could that take to heal I said to myself. Turns out, pretty much until summer.
Next up - Kelly the Magnificent. Kelly is my personal trainer. I told Kelly two things when we started training together: 1) I do not do mornings and 2) I do not run. I think he found this amusing. Somehow he got me to do both 1) 6am workout and 2)well, I think it's obvious now I am running. Pretty much without Kelly I'm quite sure I would still be sitting on the couch. He is awesome.
I did ok my first 5K but I was not able to run the whole thing. And remember people that was the goal to RUN a 5K. Turns out I did enjoy the whole race process however and decided to give it another shot. And then another....and so on....oh wait I should mention someone else at this point....
Tom the Coach aka Pushy Tom aka Poke the Bear Tom aka Coworker Tom...there are many names for Tom. Tom suggested I sign up for the Turkey Trot but told me not to wuss out by signing up for the 5K...go for the 8K. Whew...that was tough but I crossed the line without hurling so that's a plus.
Next up - Pushy Tom catches me in a weird mood and somehow I am convinced that signing up for the 2011 Trail Run Series is a great idea! How did that happen? I'm still not sure. When I told Kelly I signed up for the series, even he looked at me and said "you signed up for ALL the races?". Yep....Kelly.."you know that has a 13.1 race at the end, right?" Me..."uh I don't want to think about that"....and so that's where we are.....
Hmmm, it will be an interesting year for sure!
DISCLAIMER: I'm not focusing on spelling or my grammar during this process....so live with it people.
