Bushy Bushy Blonde Hair-do

Choosing music to run to has been a lot harder than I imagined!  Is it because I'm getting older?  Or am I just a lot more cranky when I run than I used to be forever ago, and it takes a real special kind of song to take my mind off of being cranky?  As far as types of music go, I think I could be considered somewhat eclectic, the nice way of saying wierd, in my music choices.  I am finding, however, that some well loved songs really make me aware of and impatient with my murmmering muscles, or maybe the music isn't crazy enough to drown out my jiggly Christmas Cheer singing Joy to the World as a plod along on my very merry way?  As I ran, I tried to figure out the rhyme and reason behind what music worked, and what didn't.  Some of what kept me pumped up and moving was pretty obvious why, but others that kept me going were suprising and started my wheels churning on what it was that kept me going!  Whatever magic was in some of that music, it took me from yesterdays 1.5 mile run to todays forty minute 3 mile run.  It was a good run!  It was a very slow run, but, I did happen beat my shadow today - just barely!

Still, ABBA just doesn't cut it for me, and I love some of their music.  What has worked is Crazy Frog's Axel F, compliments of my children who pressured me into that one.  Speaking of pressure, Queen's Under Pressure RAH Mix really gets me moving too!  Cheryl Crowe's Real Gone song is another fabulous one!  MC Hammer Can't Touch This!  That one takes me down memory lane in a powder blue VW Bug with Carrie.  We were in high school, in the land of perpetual summer (I can say that because I've survived six Missouri Winters and I really never knew what cold was until now)!  Here is a shocker, though.  Toad the Wet Sprocket, REM, and Hootie have been fired!  But the Beach Boys?  Both California Dreamin' and Surfin' USA! 

(San Diego, Tara and Me on Christmas Eve)

The only thing I can figure on those is that they appeal to a very distant place inside me, where the days were warm, the sand was even more warm, the air smelled of salty ocean water and coconut flavored suntan oil, and grapes never tasted better, or more sandy! 

Me, Lara, Carrie & Michelle - Santa Barbara



And the bushy, bushy blonde hair-do?  Well, I had a few of those too! 



Just love those days of big bangs!!


Where ever the power of those two songs come from, I may never figure out.  However, I figure if I have 12 'power' songs, I should have more than enough to get me through a 5K at my snails pace!  Any ideas are greatly appreciated!! :)

Wondering if I should go perm my short locks and go for the bushy hair-do again...

Temple Run

I was talking to Jenae the other day about cub scout things when she asked me if I was planning on running in the Temple Run.  Huh? I asked.  So she told me all about it.  I told her I wasn't sure if I would be ready for the run.  During apple season I pulled a muscle in my calf (I thought it was an awful cramp and that I would be sore for several days but since the pain lasted closer to six weeks before it started to go away, I figured I pulled it) and I hadn't run since.  Besides, I am still packing five pounds of Christmas cheer and five pounds of harvest bounty. 

After I gave her my pathetic excuses, she told me that she would walk with me if I wanted to go.  Awwww!  She is such a sweetheart!  I know full well she can run it under 30 minutes and I'm not going to be responsible for holding her back.  If this isn't her first 5K (I know she was hoping to run in a couple last year), then it is still some of her firsts and I don't want to spoil that.  Hence, the dust was removed from the treadmill, the mp3 player charged up and the running shoes warmed up.

Photo is taken from http://kcldstemple.blogspot.com/

The Temple Run is slated for April 30th.  So I searched and printed of a workout plan for Couch 2 5k in six weeks (instead of the original nine!) and got to work.  That didn't last long.  After the initial soreness dissipated, I bagged the plan and ran to see if I could make it a mile without stopping.  Amazingly, yes, I could.  After that mile I ran sprints and walked in between to recover.  Today I did the same, but managed another 1/2 mile after some sprints (compliments of a rambunctious song my boys talked me into downloading - Crazy Frog Axel F).  Tired!  Sore - yes, still in places.  For the most part, surprised!  I guess I imagined starting over would be going back to the beginning of my running endeavors!  And I certainly deserve that!  I would have to say that I'm relieved that this run is a little more within my reach than I realized and I'm excited about that!  I still have a lot of hard work ahead of me!

Woooosh!

Check out how fast my legs can run on the treadmill.... NOT!

You might not be able to see them 'wooshing' through the photographs, but they also aren't moving as fast as they once were.

Sometimes, when things are really hard, and you know you should just keep plugging along because the reward in the end is going to be worth it, you still can't seem to muster the motivation to keep yourself moving in that direction.  Well, that is what has happened to me in my quest for speed.  After starting up running at the end of last November, I struggled with running past five minutes and the 4 setting on my treadmill was taking me for one seriously fast ride!!  My endurance has definitely grown as has my speed, but my next challenges came in the form of injuries and pain.  That gets old after a while too, and I suppose that's when I started pushing off my runs.  After Saturday's race, however, I've recommitted.  Since Monday, I've been running for thirty minutes on the treadmill.  I've lost a lot of what I gained already!  A month ago I could run 30 minutes no problem, 40 minutes was my point for running out of steam and 50-60 minutes was doable, but I was really pushing myself to keep a slow and steady pace.  I was running between 5.0 and 5.5.  This week, I hit 20 minutes and am out of steam and I'm running at 5 on the treadmill.  The next 10 minutes is a push, and I can do it, but I have a way of reminding myself during these last 10 minutes how not too long ago the very same 10 minutes used to be sooo easy!! 

So here is a reminder to me.  Don't Stop!!  Just do it!  And be kind to yourself as you continue on your quest!

First 5K This Morning

So I did it!  I finally ran my first 5K.  Thats me behind the stroller lady in the pink and gray.  This is the beginning of the race.  You can tell that because I'm not crawling yet...

Well, I never actually crawled, but I certainly wasn't in the shape that I should have been to run!  After nursing foot and back problems, I went to girls camp.  I got a morning of running in there, but was pretty much sleep deprived the rest of the week and into the following with the Attorney's trip to the ER and stitches, and her Royal Highness kicking me all night in my own bed. 

This picture is proof that I finished.  My time was 38:11.  Yay!  I did it under 40 minutes!!!!  Not a bad time for me with several gradual inclines and a couple of niced declines.

This is my friend Chris.  She is really cool because she signed up for the 5K and then ran the route for a second time to get her 10K time.  Go Ultra Mommy!!

Of course, this is her Royal Higness.  She's got to have a drama all her own!  She's a little miffed because we disturbed her beauty rest and woke her up at 6:20 AM to run into town for the Gooseberry Race.

And here I am with my personal fan section... Except Richard and Chris J. aren't in this photo!  They showed up to cheer for us too!  That was such a fun suprise to see you all hollering at the finish line!!  Thanks!  Just in case you were wondering, I'm the sweaty one in the picture.... in the pink and gray...

Ice, Ice Baby!

This morning I ran my best 5K time yet.

35 minutes and 32 seconds.

I'm hoping that I have cracked the 12 minute mile, too!

Still hurting, but I'm able to run without serious pain. I'm making sure I ice it really well throughout the day, and Ibuprofien is my best friend.

Lettuce, Peas, Beans and Corn - Oh My!

While I was playing and having the time of my life in Colorado, I took the President down the water slide with me at the rec. center that Doug and Teresa are members at. He wasn't planning on going down this great big slide. Leave it to his mother to have other ideas! He needed to try it once and then he could tell me "No" after that. So down we went. He may have had his fingers pinching his nose before we even finished rounding the first corner!

In retrospect. He loved the slide. He really hated landing in the water. I can't understand why. What is so bad about getting a little water splashed in your face? Well, apparently lots - I just have seemed to have forgotten that little tidbit as I've grown older. On a side note, his little sister went down four times and loved it! I, on the other hand, really didn't like hitting the water either. For me, it wasn't the water splashing in my face. It was all about how my feet hit the bottom of the pool and the ensuing pain as the rest of the day progressed. I don't seem to have good luck with water parks and slides. I broke my tail bone sliding down a kiddie slide with Human Resources in Roseville, CA, when the President was a little baby. At least nothing was broken this time. My knee gave me trouble at first and after the pain went away there, I realized that I still had some minor nagging pain left in my ankle. No biggie! So I decide to run on it. Except yesterday, my ankle really wasn't very happy about that! Ended up at the chiropractor yesterday evening and am feel a bit better today. Instead of running, I spent the day in the garden, man handling a beast of a tiller. I consider that a workout! I've worked up a new garden plot for the third and final time! I wish we would have tilled up this spot our first year here! The soil is beautiful! No more gardening in sticky clay! Wow, I'm so lucky!

The Attorney and Human Resources planting Sweet Sugar snow peas and Strike green beans. The green beans were my naughty for the day. I can't seem to manage to get through the day without doing SOMETHING naughty, and this is it. Our last day of frost for our growing zone is Mother's Day. I'm supposed to plant these after all danger of frost... but I didn't. Because I didn't, we likely will end up with a snow storm and a hard freeze and I can pretty much kiss our apple crop goodbye! I guess this beautiful warm weather got the best of me! We shall see, in a few weeks, how my gamble with the elements turns out.

This picture gives a pretty good idea what size the plot is. I fully intended to use the square foot garden method from here on out. And I am! In some of my other smaller beds near the front door. But I was needing soil and it was going to be too tedious to try and get the 4 foot by whatever foot beds all figured into my slightly slanted and uneven lawn! So the plot won out.

The President and Ms. Princess are playing with Lizzy, our sweet Araucana Hen. She lays green eggs. Seriously!

I had to add this one. Fitting because we finished planting our seed for the day and so we watered. But check out his expression! Sooo cute!!

Going Running Today

I wasn't exactly the best runner while I was out of town! It snowed. It snowed again. Then it melted. Then I got a head cold. And finally, I got to go running. At 9,500 feet elevation. A very nice 20 degree morning. I ran with my sisters! Tara and Teresa! OK, I ran with them, and then behind them... And then I beat them home and got the first shower!

Wishing I could run through the orchard with them today.

The 5K Puzzle

I'm starting to experience a running burn-out! I've been feeling it coming on for a couple of weeks now, and because I really want to meet my 5K goal this coming September, my burn-out concern has been in the fore-front of the peanut in my noggin. So, while at the grocery the other evening, when the Runners Times magazine reached out to me and beckoned, I followed its call. I really try to avoid purchases like these because they are not on the grocery list! So I thumbed through it looking for an excuse to ignore the temptations and put it back on the rack! I didn't put it back on the rack...

It has been a very educational and fabulous read! I've tried to order books on interlibrary loan on the topic of running, including one very highly recommended by my sister-in-law, Teresa, the "Chi of Running," and the books have been unavailable. So this read was perfect timing!

A fabulous article, called The 5K Puzzle, has me all charged up again with a whole new perspective. After reading the article for the fourth time, I am certain that my burnout has everything to do with working too hard! Too hard? Yup! Too hard! I'm a tough coach when it comes to coaching myself to run! LOL I drive myself for improvement and focus on mileage for the training log! But I'm a changed self coach and will refer to this article all the way up to race time! It has reminded me that the reason we run is for fun.... duh! I kinda forgot that part! It is full of guidelines for improvement without over doing and ruining the efforts made to improve pace, endurance, stride, efficiency and even recovery!

So there it is! Goodbye burnout! Hello fun! And today was fun!! Tuesday was a medium run, which, as a beginner, the short, medium and long runs will not vary greatly yet. So I decided this means that my long run is likely my hilly road run - I can accomplish it in around 40 minutes. My short run is likely about a mile and a half, roughly 15 minutes (a tad over that because I'm really slow!)- I can run that and still have plenty "gas in the tank," so my medium run is going to be somewhere in between and so I aimed for a 30 minute run (note the focus on time, not distance - see, the article is already working for me!). I tried to aim for more level terrain - it was a beautiful morning!! Found some, but still, not much!

Going Up! Up! Up!

Running through one of our hayfields towards Joe's house - isn't the Amish Saltbox Style architecture so neat?
My running buddy - she can't run on the highway with me, but she can run around the farm with me!!

Much better! Level ground! But check out all of the pruning that still needs to happen!

Running up through the hayfield to the north side of the orchard - up! up! up!

Ah - level for a teensy bit with a lovely lift in a short bit!

I can handle this one!! Down! We call this The Fairway - I'd be lying if I said we've never considered a driving a golf ball down that direction!

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

- a chinese proverb

Flat-Lander

Rather than hitting the hills today, I relied on my kind but dull treadmill and ran the 'flat-lands'. The weather, above freezing, didn't favor running. A bit too foggy on the rural route for the dusty orange colored windbreaker that I commandeered from the Apple Farmer.

After all of my whining over running those mocking and frozen hills that meander past our farm, I am now ready to confess that they have been a big help to me in just the five times that I've run them in the last week and a half! Progress, still, has been very slow going for me and my impatience hasn't been extremely motivating for journaling about. Yet, I'm once again recognizing that without documenting the hard and pathetically slow runs, and writing only about the landmark runs, I set myself up to reflect back on the highlights, which would never truly represent the growth that this quest will finally bless me with when I complete my first 5K race in September.

I'm very pleased to report that my knee, along with some hip pain, seems to have resolved itself. I credit this to the advice my friend Jessica gave me, to raise my incline from zero to .05 or 1.0. Upon making this change, the relief was immediate, even though I initially bawled about having to run up a 'hill' during my workouts. The pain slowly healed and I have been two weeks without any issues now.

A couple of weeks ago, I also began setting the 5K race on my treadmill, rather than running until I hit three miles. I really like this setting for several reasons. I set my pace, it keeps time and 'remembers' my finishing time while I walk to cool down, and it counts down from 5K to 0. For some reason, counting down, rather than counting up just feels better for me! The think that I love most about running in kilometers, rather than miles, is that kilometers count down a lot faster than miles do, even though I'm running the same distance! When I hit the button that sends my very slow running pace up to a 'running-for-my-life' pace, I get great satisfaction out of watching those numbers turning so fast that they even have to skip 2, 3 or even 5 numbers to keep up with me!!

Today's run was one of those landmark runs. First, I ran 5K without stopping to walk. This was very exciting since I was really feeling doubt that I had any capability left in me to run like I used to. I was excited to make it half-way through the run with ease. Since I had made it to the half-way point with ease, I felt that completing the run without stopping would be a realistic challenge. The last 2 K I had to employ a lot of positive self talk, with the last 1 K requiring a lot of determination to keep moving. Obviously, this run would also qualify as my 'pre-mid-life' personal best time, since I was able to complete it without walking. My 5K times prior to the drudgery of running my hills have made steady improvement: 43 minutes and 20 seconds,
40 minutes and 12 seconds, and a lucky 40 minutes and 9 seconds. My time today was 37 minutes and 30 seconds.

A lot of my impatience and frustration as I plug away at my goal stems from the memory of my personal best when I was 23 years old. My time was based on a 3 mile run and not a 5k run. I haven't taken the time to figure out how the pace would transfer over to a 5K because 3 miles is getting pretty close to a 5K, except to figure that it was fast in comparison with what I now manage! I completed the 3 miles in 21 minutes and 18 seconds which averages to a 7 minute 6 second mile. Not fast compared to many, but it still felt great to finish with that time as my best time! I may never reach that pace again, or maybe I will. I don't know what my body still has in it! I do have to constantly remind myself that what I am accomplishing now is what is important, and even though the progress has been slow, I need to focus on the fact that it all has been progress!

"Road Trip!"

Once again I've given into cravings, which has taken me running outside in 30 F degree temps! I'm a big baby in cold weather, so you know the craving had to be pretty desperate! And sillier yet, After suiting up for the affair (I did research to make sure I could really dress to manage running in freezing temperatures), I even grabbed my camera!So now you get to see for yourself, the challenges that await me right outside my front door! Hills! Lots of them! Now, granted, the treadmill can be quite dull, however it tended not to be quite so torturous as these many hills. One mental note I made as I started trotting down the highway was that I the treadmill seems to be a bit more 'springy' than the blacktop! The Picture above is the view of the first bunch of hills. The picture below is taken just as I crested the hill on the horizon line above. You can barely see the last hill on the horizon in this photo below. That hill is the last 'bad boy' that I conquered before turning around and heading back home!And now I get to go run back up and down all those crazy hills in order to make it back home!It seems I am disturbing the peace enjoyed on our hilly highway. Or it may be that I am quite a site to see run!
And finally me! I'm running past the section of orchard, north of the wind break. In other words, almost home! 3.5 miles round trip! How long it took me to run is a mystery - Someone in my house got a hold of my watch and pulled out the little knob. So I started at 5 minutes after and finished 5 minutes after the same exact hour that I started at!!

Running as Fast as I Can, and Still Not Going Anywhere!

Today was a good treadmill day!

I've been working out on my treadmill since just after Thanksgiving. So if my math is correct, I've been going at this for eight weeks now. It dawned on me this morning, while I was enjoying "MY" time on the treadmill, that I really needed to document my adventure. I figured that it would be pretty signifcant to be able to read back over my challenges and success in training after I complete my 5K race in September of this year!

I don't think that I can pinpoint where my love of running emerged into my life. It definitely wasn't elementary school. In fact, I can remember getting in trouble in class and the teacher made me and a couple of other students run the perimeter of the school yard during our recess. That was probably my first long distance run, and before I got even halfway around the school yard I was having a hard time breathing. I'm not asthmatic, but I sounded like I was having an asthma attack. I was pretty scared and went to tell the teacher, who didn't seem very impressed. Long story short, my Mom took me to the doctor after school, and after a set of x-rays, it was confirmed that I had pneumonia. It was horrible and I missed the last week of school with all of the parties and everything else fun!

My next memory related to running was when I was in Jr. High and we had a big school track competition. I ran one of the longest distance runs and liked it. I think I may have even won a ribbon! I think there was a popsicle or two mingled somewhere in that memory!

More hairspray is always better...

We moved to Rancho Cucamonga just before my freshman year in high school. It was later that year that I attempted to join the track team. I didn't think I was going to be a good runner, and I really wasn't - in fact, I may hold a record for the slowest 2 mile time.... The challenge of the distance run attracted me. I loved running the long distance runs during practice and I absolutely hated racing! I was always so full of anxiety in the race that I usually spent all of my energy before I had even run half of the first lap of my race! I made it through 3/4 of the track season before my hip became inflamed. When I couldn't bear the pain anymore, Mom took me to the doctor and the doctor informed me that I would have to stop running for six weeks and he prescribed a big bottle of Motrin - a brand new prescription drug that not only relieved pain, but would also work on healing inflamation!

I didn't run track again in high school, but I did enjoy going on runs in my free time. I also took advantage of freetime in college to go for a run. It would have been great if I could have run more, but my schedule at BYU was pretty tight! I usually had a full load of classes and then averaged around 30 hours a week at work. I was pretty out of shape, but I still thoroughly enjoyed a good run.

After I graduated from BYU, I relocated back home with Mom and Dad and my siblings. This was a new home for me. My family had moved to Redding, CA while I was going to school and so I was curious to find out what it had to offer. It wasn't long after arriving home, that I started running regularly. I ran 5 miles a day and was no stranger to the runner's high! My run was during my lunch break. Usually after work, I would enjoy mountain biking the amazing trails in the Whiskeytown area, or playing raquetball or tennis at the local college with friends.

After meeting and marrying Tim, we soon were expecting our first baby. Pregnancy was always a miserable experience for me. I was always so sick that I avoided most forms of motion and as a result, I had a lot of muscle weakness to overcome after my pregnancies. I've had periods where I've been more active than others, but during the childbearing season of my life, I've always craved a good run!

Living in Missouri has been a big change in many ways and there are always some cons that go with great pros! One con is that it is really hard to run here! Our roads are so narrow, windy, and hilly, and there are no shoulders so I've never felt good about running on the road. I have to have music and I don't think that it is a wise thing to have earplugs while running on our rural route with so many blind spots. I can run through the orchard, but the grass is usually damp and it takes forever to dry out shoes, and what if a mountain lion decided he wanted a good chase before his lunch... OK - I know that is a little stretch, but someone did shoot a mountain lion about 20 miles north of us, and if 'Big Daddy Lion's' grandkids are stalking around the ditches on the property... at least I'd be gone with one swipe of those monster paws! One more reason for not running, I've never felt OK leaving the kids by themselves while I headed out for a run.

And now you've been brought up to a point of time, just a few months ago, when I finally decided it was time to stop wishing and time to start doing something about putting some running back into my life. My oldest monkey is now mature enough to be able to manage the rest of my monkeys while I take a little time for myself and hit the treadmill.

Starting up and getting going has been pretty challenging! Even though I spent late summer and fall throwing around 40 pound boxes full of apples (OK - I really didn't 'throw' boxes of apples -I would have wound up with lots of applesauce - but it just sounded really tough to say it that way), It was a tremendous effort to be able to run 2 miles. I was really excited to hit the 2 mile mark, but I was still pretty frustrated that my 'auto-pilot' hadn't kicked in like it always did when I used to run. I suppose that there is a scientific name for what I am describing! What I call 'auto-pilot' is when you start running and after a few minutes you kind of hit a point where your muscles aren't complaining and your breathing is steady and you can sustain your run for a long period of time. My other frustration was that I was still moving at a turtle's pace. Over the many years, when I've started up running, it never took much to hit that point where 'auto-pilot' started working for me. I have been filled with a lot of doubt lately, and have been wondering if I've lost it - forever! (I know - soooo dramatic!)

Another challenge has been my knees. At the beggining of this month, my sore knees turned extremely tender. It was no big deal before, I just thought the soreness had more to do with being a cranky, creaky old lady and it would eventually pass. When it didn't pass, and became unbearable, I did a little research online. I figured out that my knee pain was likely due to weakness in the ligaments (just under the knee caps) and that the remedy would be to stop running, and to begin doing knee strengthening exercises. I was devastated that I had to stop. It had been so challenging to drag my 37 1/2 year old gluteous max for 2 miles on the treadmill and the thought of losing the ground that I had gained over the last several weeks was down-right angering! The cherry on top, was learning that one of the best knee strengthening exercises to do would be squats. AW! I hate squats - I feel so cranky when I do those!

Its been two weeks now since I stopped running. I've been walking on my treadmill, and I've been doing squats. Lots and lots of squats. I really want to run that race, and I suppose I'm willing to pay a pretty good price for it too!

I'm actually chomping at the bit to get outdoors and run. Will pleasant weather ever show up? I'm strangely not so concerned about mammoth mountain lions challenging me to a race and I'm also thinking that if I waited until just a little bit later in the summer morning, maybe the grass would be a lot dryer and it wouldn't take much to have my shoes dried before my next morning's run. Its really amazing how quickly some of those old excuses evaporate into thin air when you put your mind to accomplishing something.

Today I got on my treadmill and after warming up for a few minutes I bumped the pace up to my jog. I hardly felt any pain. There was a twinge here and there, but I think I've turned a corner! I ran a 1/2 mile and walked 2 1/2 after that. It felt great!! Today, instead of entertaining those feelings of self doubt, I'm celebrating!

At this point, I really don't want to aggravate anything in my healing - so, as anxious as I am to start running my mileage and sprinting intervals in order to reclaim my 'auto-pilot' accessory, I'm going to exercise a little wisdom and take it a little slower! And I'm going to keep doing those awful squats! At least, with a turtle's pace, slow and steady wins the race, right?