At the beginning of this year, I set five goals for myself. I've talked about them quite a bit on the blog. Goals are important because it gives us something to strive for. Four of those goals were running related. One was not exactly running related. That goal was to manage the mama drama in my life. But we all know how much that mama drama affects our running. And vice versa.
Spinal Tap
That goal, the keeping the mama drama in check goal, was sorely tested this weekend. The mama drama-o-meter was off the chart. Up to eleven. Saturday night was a sleepless night. And Sunday was rough. Have you experienced a hangover after a night of partying? That's small potatoes compared to how I felt Sunday. I felt sick all day. My son, obviously feeling the fallout as well, took off early in the day. He said he needed "to chill". I spent most of the day agonizing over him leaving and wondering where he was. I sent him occasional text messages, just to check in and let him know I was thinking about him.
As the day went on, something changed. I don't know exactly how it happened but he and I began exchanging text messages. And through these text messages, we shared a lot. A lot. He told me things no mom ever wants to hear. Confirmation of things that I was already suspicious of. I told him how much I loved him and wanted to help him. We texted all afternoon. And the upshot? We're both taking the day off today to get some help for him.
When he came home tonight, I hugged him. And he let me. I can't remember the last time I held him in my arms. My 17 year old baby boy hugged me back. I asked him if he was still on board with the plan for help. He said yes.
Sunday morning, even though I was exhausted after my sleepless night, I went for a run. It was one of those "I need a run" runs. When I got back, I told my husband that for that 50 minutes I was on the path, I didn't think a whole lot about my son and the events of Saturday night. Instead, I got to think about running, lose myself in my music, and be free from my life. I listened to my footfalls and reflected in the ease of my stride. That day, more than ever, I was thankful for the run.
I can't predict what today will bring, or the next day. I have a feeling my family is in for a rough road for a while. While I have no control over the mama drama in my life, I have control over how I manage it. And the one thing I'll have to help me through the mama drama ahead is the run.
How's your training been going since the new year? I have to admit that I have never been really diligent about keeping track of my miles until I got my Garmin last year. Now it's kind of fun to log in and see where I'm at. For 2015, I signed up with Run This Year, to participate in a community of runners and to see if I could achieve a yearly goal of--no, not 2015 miles, but 2015 kilometers. That's 1252 miles, y'all. I think this is something I can do--if I accomplish what I set out to do this year--stay injury free. So where am I at on my 2015 goals so far?
Staying injury free? I'm all about avoiding any time off the road this year. At the end of 2014, I was having big time issues with shin splints and high hamstring pain on the right. I've been working hard with Becky at CrossFit again. I don't know if she didn't hear me when I talked about my pains or if she was ignoring me. She just kept pushing me through my workouts. We finished up a cycle of heavy lifting, which we started at the end of 2014, with 2 PRs! Deadlift PR= 175# and Box Squat PR=155#. Now we are in a cycle of CrossFit intervals and wow! are they intense. But I'm happy to report that the pains I had at the start of the month are gone. Now I have a little achilles pain, but it comes and goes, usually after a run. I'm working diligently on foam rolling, stretching, and hip strengthening at home, as well as yoga 1-2 times per week.
Deadlift PR!
Run a sub-4 hour marathon/sub-2 half marathon? I'm lumping these together, since I'm not planning on a marathon until fall. I started training for my March half marathon, the Sarasota Half Marathon. Since the race is in Florida, I have absolutely no way to train for the heat I may encounter. Or do I? Remember last year's Florida half that I ran? In the 75F 90% humidity? Where I wilted at mile 4? I have no desire to repeat that experience. So I talked to a seasoned marathoner that I know, and he told me really, the only way to train is to run inside and wear lots of clothes. So that's what I've been doing. I call it a "paced heat run", and it's tough! Every week I add more layers. This past week was the toughest, as I piled on fleece lined tights, a fleece hooded sweatshirt, and a hat. These runs are for one hour and I try my hardest to maintain a steady pace. I did pretty well until mile 4, when I had to slow it down just a little. But I still averaged 9:14 min/mi--I think. My treadmill isn't that accurate. But I'll take it. I've also started doing speedwork, in the form of mile repeats, and that's been going well too. It's hard to pace my miles on this treadmill, since I really don't know how fast I'm going. As long as I end up going faster on the last mile, that's all that counts.
Yep, this is indoors running at its best!
And about that mama drama?Oh, that oldest son of mine. He tries so hard to get me going. Sometimes he does. I'm trying not to let it happen. Even when he gets a terrible report card. His response? "At least I'm not failing anything..." I've decided to back off and see what happens. Because, as I said in the previous blog post, his bad grades really don't affect me, per se. We all want our kids to do well in school but he's going to have to deal with the consequences, not me. I know I'm not alone here. Why can't they stay little?
This guy is now 17! It was so much easier when I could just strap him in the jogger and go!
Grow the blog?Things have taken off beyond my wildest dreams! I found out this month that I've been chosen to be a #Fitfluential ambassador and a #SweatPink ambassador! I couldn't be more excited and admittedly, more overwhelmed! There's so many opportunities to interact with other bloggers...opportunities for affiliating with advertisers and companies...participation in fitness campaigns...I'm just trying to sort through everything and decide what I want to do. One thing I don't want to do is lose my voice, and so I want to be really careful about what I pick. I started blogging to interact with other runners, and that desire still drives me! And in the when it rains it pours when it snows, make snow angels department, I was also featured on Another Mother Runner this month, sharing a story I about when one of my neighbors decided he wanted to run with me. It was kind of an ugly break up. It's all good, and all I can say is wow! and thanks for following along. I'm excited about what's to come!
107.19 miles
I'm linking this post with Tara at RunningNReading for her Weekend Update!
I received some really great news this week! I was excited to find out that I was selected to be a FitFluential ambassador and a Sweat Pink ambassador!!! I started blogging as a way to connect with other like minded individuals--people who love to run. Blogging also forces me to put a positive spin on whatever topic I'm writing about, because who wants to read something negative, right? What's been really interesting is that putting my positive face forward here on the blog and on Facebook has extended to my life outside of the virtual world as well. I wrote a post on staying positive in the winter, but I think all the things I wrote about apply to life in general.
I've really enjoyed reading running blogs and finding inspiration through other bloggers. I have been rewarded with some amazing friendships--my local peeps, who I've gotten to know both virtually and personally--and my distance peeps, whom I hope some day to meet in person as well. When I was growing up, I had several penpals, one in Connecticut and one in Sweden, both of whom, through the magic of Facebook, I still keep in touch with. Really, if you think about it, all the runners we meet through blogging and facebook are like adult penpals. We share our triumphs and our failures. We support each other. And being recognized by FitFluential and Sweat Pink was the icing on the cake for me. I hope to continue to inspire and make you laugh. I plan on still being me, no matter what!
Since I've developed these deep, rewarding running friendships, my friendships with non-running women just don't feel the same anymore. I still keep up with a handful of my friends, women that I've been close with over the years. We still have lots of laughs and they even indulge me by asking me about running. That is a true friend, right? But with some of the other women, whom were part of the large group that I socialized with over the years, there's just not much to talk about. When the kids were little, we talked about school and activities. But now that the kids are older and have branched off into their own groups, those superficial relationships have not survived the test of time.
These kids are all in high school now! Some of their friendships have stood the test of time. How about the moms?
Last night I went to a party with the neighborhood ladies. One of the women has a white elephant party every year. I was really ambivalent about going, because being with large groups of women is kind of hard for me. I'm just not great with making small talk and navigating what can be a social minefield. But yesterday, one of my friends called me, told me she was picking me up, and that was that. It was really nice to get caught up with some of the friends I've known for years, mostly since my youngest was in kindergarten. The tone of our gatherings has changed a bit, as we've all aged, and some of my friends have gotten divorced. The gift exchange was hilarious, and I ended up with this ginormous wine glass, which was perfect!
Can hold a whole bottle of wine! So now, when I say I'm only having one glass of wine, it won't be a lie!
I'm glad I went, but a little of this group goes a long way. Don't get me wrong, I love 90% of these women. But there's always that one person who has to make a comment that I'm not drinking or not gorging myself on the trough of snacks that's always present at these parties or making comments about how "skinny" I am or about how they see me running "all the time". Last night, as I was leaving, someone made a comment that I was leaving so I could go home and sleep so I could go running in the morning. Well, yes, that was true, but why do you have to call me out on it? As my running friend Penny said, it's the backhand snarky, and it's b.s.
As I walked home from the party and savored the quiet, calm night--oh, my gosh, those ladies were LOUD!-I thought about all of this. I was still feeling pretty awesome about my week and moving forward on my running and life goals. And even though this wasn't a group that I didn't feel I could share any of this with--very few of them know about my blog and why give them more fuel for the snark machine--the knowledge that I'm moving forward in a positive direction carried me home. Instead of feeling badly about myself that I don't really "fit in" with these ladies, I thought about how lucky I am that I have found people who get me. With my running friends, I don't have to try to be someone I'm not. I get to be me and that is the best feeling in the world.
I'm linking this post with Tara at Running N Reading for her Weekend Update!
Today I took my run outside in the frigid subzero cold that we are currently experiencing. Twice this week I ran on my treadmill, and the thought of one more indoor run was more than I could fathom. Plus, my cleaning lady buried my treadmill in underneath all my family's shoes. Yes, the struggle is real. The other thing that happened is that my friend Sara aka Cheesy Runner Mom challenged Karen aka Trading in My Heels and me to run outside today. Never one to let a friend down, I checked the forecast, saw that the sun would be shining, and committed to an outdoor run.
Does this happen at your house?
When I got up this morning it was -2 degrees, but the sun was indeed shining. The trees weren't moving, and even though the weather forecasters were predicting doom and gloom aka bitter cold wind chills, I decided to honor my commitment and prepared for a cold run. After all, the garbage men were picking up garbage this week, right? I saw my mailman delivering the mail, sans gloves. And those poor schoolchildren had to brave the cold and go to school. In my day, we had to walk 2 miles to school, uphill both ways...
I decided to take it to the bike path because it would be close to 6 miles round trip and I wanted to avoid running on the roads as much as possible, for safety reasons. I started preparing myself to run outside. For Christmas I received a North Face Thermoball jacket, which is supposed to keep you warm. I loved the color! But I was a little skeptical when I held it up. The thing weighs nothing! Actually it weighs 285 gm. But it feels like tissue paper, it's so thin. But the insulation is called Primaloft and it is designed to hold in your body heat. The jacket is also water resistant. Today would be the test. I put on a long bra top, a long sleeve base top over that, and the jacket. I wore my windproof Athleta tights with Smartwool knee highs. The ensemble was complete with a neoprene face mask and my Saucony gloves with mitten covers. I headed to the bike path.
Me and my new favorite jacket!
The path was snow packed, but traction was not an issue, even without my YakTrax. One of the first things I noticed was that even though there was a light wind, I didn't feel it at all. I started to warm up right away. Because it was so cold, I knew my iPhone wasn't going to work after a while, so I stopped on the way to snap my runfie. I stop at this little pond quite often, and it's always pretty in the background. I was shocked to see the icicles forming on my face mask and eyelashes so early in the run. I was so toasty in my jacket, I guess I didn't realize how cold it was! With the wind at my back, my behind (nalgas for you Spanish speakers) was a little chilled. And I was right about the iPhone because it stopped working at mile 2. I continued my run without music.
Clearly, this was not the issue today. But this was the screen I got.
At the turnaround, I checked my Garmin. Thankfully it was still working. I put my iPhone in my pants pocket, hoping to warm it back up. I decided to run the rest of the way without my music. I wanted to pick up the pace a little bit. The path slopes slightly downhill and the wind was at my back, so I knew I could push it a bit. There were a few slick spots but overall, I felt steady. I was also getting sweaty, believe it or not! I pulled the mitten covers back and ran with just gloves. When I turned into the wind, I was still amazed that I couldn't feel it through my jacket!
I got home and my phone was recovered enough to take some frozen selfies. I was still warm, and as I discovered once I got inside, very sweaty. Who knew?
In past winters, I had a shell from Mountain Hardwear that I used to run in. It wasn't insulated but it kept the wind out. But I still got cold when I ran in it. In comparison, his new coat is amazing. I was reluctant to run in what looked like a ski jacket, but it is so light, you don't even feel it. I am thrilled with it, and now I have absolutely no excuse to run outside in the winter. If North Face wants me to endorse the jacket, I'll do it. If I was Oprah, I'd name the Thermoball one of my favorite things and give one to everyone I know.
Well...there is this...
I will be running inside 2 days/week as part of my half marathon training this winter. Because of unpredictable path conditions, my speedwork will be done on the treadmill. I will also be doing a paced run for an hour one day/week, to help me with heat conditioning. It's going to be hard to prepare for that Florida humidity, but I'm hoping that running inside, without a fan blowing on me, will help me acclimate somewhat!
And finally, if you're feeling cold, just listen to some Bob Marley and feel the chill just melt away. I heard this song on the radio yesterday and it was just perfect!
***I'm linking up with Tara at ReadingNRunning for the Weekend Update!!!***
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