As you may know I am raising money for the Ironman Foundation.
I love racing for a cause because I love giving back to something that has given me so much. I am really excited to work with the IronMan Foundation and all the good work they have done and will continue to do.
Each year, a select group of athletes from around the world race on TEAM IMF to support the mission of the IRONMAN Foundation. Together, we share a passion to create positive tangible change in our race communities and prove that “Anything Is Possible.”
Since 2003, over $50 million has been provided through IRONMAN charitable giveback programs including the IRONMAN Foundation to more than 8,300 local, regional, national and global nonprofit initiatives. Through these partnerships, IRONMAN athletes are powerfully linked to the community and together we leave the IRONMAN legacy behind in our race communities long after race day. We #RaceForMore.
In order to raise money for the foundation I am hosting a 5k virtual run.
Sorry, another running post, when I know you were looking for something crafty.
I haven’t had time for new crafts, but I keep trying to run. Because you can all see the countdown on the side bar. My big race is coming soon!
My cousin and I made a big leap on Saturday morning. We ran 10 miles.
Yep I said. 10 miles.
OK. I didn’t really run all ten miles, but I completed 10 miles. And that’s just as good.
Here’s how it went:
D wanted to run on Sat morning with another of her running friends A (who brought H with her). D wanted to meet at 6, that’s six in the morning. I got it all worked out for who had kid duty so I could make the run. Then she says let’s meet at 5:30 so she could go to dragon boat practice downtown at 9 a.m. I know, she’s crazy!
But I agreed to meet at 5:30. Who’s crazy now?
We all met and started our run. Since I don’t have Sid and his stroller with me I had to put my water and snack in a little back pack (not the best idea). There was no way I could do 9-10 miles on 16 ounces of water. I was happy I had all the water, but later in the day my back hurt.
At first I’m running along at pace with them when I realize I am running too fast. And by too fast, I do mean too fast for me. Since my lung sickness I can’t run faster than a 12 min/mile or my lungs will explode.
These ladies were running slow for us, but they were probably about a 10 min/mile (or so, I’m just guessing). The first time I had to slow down and walk to take a drink they politely stopped and waited for me. I told them, don’t worry I’ll catch up.
At about 4.5 miles we all stopped for a break, because that’s where the rest room was. After mile 5 I had to stop and clip a toenail because it had cut into the toe next to it and was starting to hurt.
I ended up walking about half of mile six. I had decided I needed the break and I told myself at mile 7 I would run the remaining three miles. Because three miles is easy.
The other three ladies stopped at mile 7 for a break and for me to catch up. At which point D and I told A & H to go on ahead and we would see them back at the cars.
That was the longest three miles of my life. After about a mile I look up and see the bridge that, not only do we have to get to, but we have to pass.
OH MY GOD! I’M NEVER GONNA MAKE IT!
But I have to make it, because, well that’s where my car is. So we walked and we ran and we walked and we ran. We kept putting one foot in front of the other and continued with our forward motion. And we made it back to our cars. After we completed the 10 mile distance. To find A & H waiting for us with coffee.
Yep. My very first double-digit.
I had thought adding one more mile shouldn’t have been that hard, but it was actually two more miles. Because last week was only eight miles. I also realized that I had not run at all from Sunday to Saturday. That was a huge mistake. I need to run at least two shorter runs in between these long runs. My body just isn’t conditioned to wait that long.
We are going to try to do another 10 miler this weekend, then 9 the weekend before the big race.
I have just 24 days until my veryfirsthalf marathon.
Holy crap! TWENTY-FOUR-DAYS!
yep, that’s me shouting and kinda freaking out.
I go back and forth on my confidence in my ability to complete this task. Why you ask?
Honestly? I have no idea.
I have read articles written by people who are more out of shape & have less running experience than me, who have completed this task. I tell myself, “why you so afraid? if they can you can!” But every time I get ready for a long run, I get butterflies in my tummy. Nerves. I am getting nervous on a run? which isn’t even a race? Why? The only person I’ll be letting down is myself. The only person I have anything to prove to, is myself. I am only competing against myself.
But you know what? I still go on that run and I finish it. Every time.
My lungs burn my feet swell. When we first took off on Sunday my ankle hurt. I was so mad about that. I had gotten over my shin-splints bought new shoes and now my ankle hurts! So I kept running, and eventually the pain went away. I don’t mean I just ignored it, I mean it didn’t hurt. I don’t know when it happened, but about half way through I realized my ankle didn’t hurt. Simply because now my body was warmed up and blood was flowing. The pain wasn’t an injury, but just a little protest from a joint that hadn’t really woken up yet.
I pant and I sweat. I curse and I laugh. And I walk to rehydrate.
Half my brain says “I can’t do this” and the other half shouts “SHUT UP! YES YOU CAN!” And so I keep running. OK, sometimes I walk, but I’m fine with that. If it will take walking intervals for me to complete my distance, who cares?
I go the distance.
This past Sunday we clocked 8 miles in. And the pace was a minute faster than the week before. Even pushing that stroller with Sid in it.
This will be my motto for the race. I just have to keep it in mind.
I have been looking for a used inexpensive jogging stroller for a while now. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on it as I don’t know how long I would really use it. The boys are older and they won’t be a stroller forever. I understand that there are wonderful strollers out there that are worth the hundreds of dollars spent on them. But I am cheap, and just didn’t want to spend $100+ on a used stroller. Hell, I didn’t want to spend more than fifty bucks.
And when I say I was looking, I mean I was waiting for a cheap stroller to find me.
It finally did.
I was driving home from work one day and I saw it on the sidewalk with a for sale sign. I called and talked the guy down in price.
Friday night Ian spent the night at my mom’s so Saturday morning I thought was the perfect time to break the stroller in.
I got some snacks for Sid, his blanket, his toy and water for me and we hit the road.
It was my slowest pace since I started running again.
I didn’t think there would be a difference in running and running while pushing a stroller. But there is. It is harder.
One thing that helps with your pace is the movement of your arms. When you push a stroller you either don’t move your arms or you only move one arm. Plus it’s heavy and Sid is no light weight, so I have that extra weight.
But we made it, we did four miles that morning. Plus I had a place for all my water. I drink a lot of water while running and while I have a hand bottle, it isn’t enough.
The next morning I had a running date with my cousin. She and I have not done any long runs in well over a month and we have a half marathon coming up. Every week from now until then we will be doing at least one long run, and Sunday we started with 7 miles.
I hadn’t planned on bringing Sid, but he woke up just as I was getting ready to leave. Not to worry, I can just bring him.
Which in all honesty, I was happy about, because I was concerned about my water intake on a 7 mile run. I had finished about 40 ounces the day before on a 4 mile run, so how would I make it through 7 with only 16….But since I had my stroller it wasn’t an issue. Plus we could bring our snacks and my cousin didn’t need to wear her running belt.
Again it was hard, but we did it. We were slower than snails in peanut butter, but we did all 7 miles. After, we were all “I could have done another mile or two.”
And that slow pace allowed us to talk. Because for long distances you should run at a pace where you can maintain a conversation. Right? So it was good for us.
I don’t plan on taking a kid with me on all my runs, but having a jogging stroller gives me a little more flexibility. It will allow me to go running during the times that I have only one kid, instead of always having to wait till they go to bed. Plus the more I train with a stroller, the easier it will be when I don’t have one.
Sid doesn’t seem to mind riding in the stroller, even if it did put him to sleep.
I Tri and Craft 