Slingshotted

This story starts in May of 2012. At that time, I had been running regularly, but was still a newbie. I was asked to participate in my first Ragnar Relay — a roughly 200-mile relay race where each runner completes three legs over the course of 24-30 hours (depending on how fast your team is). My Ragnars have taken me to Cape Cod (so beautiful), the Adirondacks (so hilly), New Hampshire (we finished second to last :-D ) and Canada (the finish line was at Niagara Falls!). It is a complete adventure: you don't sleep, you laugh a lot, you push yourself way outside your running comfort zone, you run at night in unfamiliar places, you have more fun driving around in a van than you ever thought you could.

In mid-September, I will run my 10th Ragnar Relay. And as I prepare for it, I realize that I am taking all of the encouragement and positivity from my previous relays into this new experience. As such, this blog post is really a love and thank you note to all my previous teammates, including:
• my dearest friends who are more like family — Erin and Pat
• their family who I have loved getting to know and now think of as extended family — Ali, Jill, and Jonathan
• their friends who have become my friends — Graver, Kelly, Skeehan, and Alex
• my friends who I recruited to try this amazing experience — John O'Malley, Jay and Jessica, and Mark
• people I had never met before who have become so important to me through these intense and silly escapades — Maria, Stacy, Jody, Roxanne, Jimnahs, Carina, Emily and Chris, Kevin, James, Yvonne, Jen Z., Steph G., and of course Adam and Laura
• runners who hopped on one team and I may never have the privilege of running with again, but thoroughly enjoyed meeting — Katie, Mikey, Steve O, Claudia, Angela and Paul, Melanie, Cassie, Dave, Caitlin, Michael, Kailey, Shari, Meghan and Andrew

I have realized that the encouragement I have received from all of these awesome runners is what has slingshotted me with confidence into my newest adventure. This time I have joined a team of 11 complete strangers. We will run 200+ miles from Cumberland, MD to Washington, DC. I literally can't wait.

PS — If you see me running hills in Wallingford over the course of the next few weeks, give me a hoot or a holler as you drive by. Hills are essential as this is what my first leg looks like [:-O]

Craziness is like heaven.

I am not the world's fastest runner. I am not the world's longest distance runner. I am, perhaps, the world's craziest runner.

By crazy, I don't mean the runner who gets up at 2 am to get in a run before work. I don't mean the runner who goes hog wild and runs hills with 17% grades just so she can talk about it at the next dinner party (though that does sound like a good challenge). I don't mean the runner who likes to run in unsafe places at unsafe times.

I mean that when I run, my mind just unlocks, free flows and I go a little crazy. In a good way.

To give you an example of what I mean, here is a random sample of the kind of questions I mulled over on today's five-mile run:
• Why are people deliberately unkind?
• Who came up with the name "Snuffleupagus"? (I think it is a brilliant children's character name)
• What constitutes family? Is it more than just a DNA connection? If so...what defines the family tie?
• What will my future daughters-in-law be like? And what are they doing now?
• In 2034, will be still have printed books or will everything be published on some sort of an e-reader by that point?
• Will Hayden (my 13-year-old), get to work in Silicon Valley (his current goal)?
• Why is there so much litter in my town? Haven't we (as a society) gotten past the point of littering? And if not, what does that say about us?
• If I wave at every single car that drives past me, I wonder how many will wave back? (I tested this at the end of my run and of the 13 that passed, 7 waved back.)

"You have to go on and be crazy. Craziness is like heaven." —Jimi Hendrix

Run on, my friends. Run on.

The Lessons of Running

One year ago today I did my first Couch to 5K workout...so, happy running-versary to me.

Trying something new takes courage. That's a fact.

I fully recognize that I am a diver-inner. I am embarrassed to admit that the first thing written in my baby book to describe me is "stubborn." If I had any motivation, I would actually go dig it out of the piles of nostalgia stored in my shed and take a photo of that page. (In fact, when I was finishing graduate school, my father looked me in the eye and told me that I "aim too high" implying I should have quit before I began...which makes zero sense to me, both then and now.)

Recently, I considered my boys and how much potential still exists in their lives. And then I considered my own...most of my pure, innate potential was reached three decades ago. It feels like all my big accomplishments are behind me.

And than my husband decided to ask me to start the Couch to 5K running program with him. I am almost 50 years old and I have never done anything athletic in my life (I don't consider dancing athletic, rather purely artistic). On March 13, 2011 I ran a half a mile and thought my lungs were going to explode. Now I can run 10 miles whenever I want and in January I ran a 7:13 mile. So what have I learned?

• Perseverance pays off.
More than once I have been running and battling that small voice in my head that is nagging me to quit. I picture my son, the lefty pitcher, who at age 12 learned to dig deep in the face of a 3-0 count with a number 4 batter and stay calm, reach beyond what he thinks he can do, and get an out. Often, when I feel like quitting, I picture him on the mound. What is your image of perseverance that will motivate you?
• Walk before you run...literally.
Now that I am 365 days into my running pursuits, I am struck by the fact that I have enjoyed it every step of the way. Because I started with the Couch to 5K workouts that were a combination of running and walking, I never felt over my head. And there were times early on when I repeated weeks of the Cto5K until I felt ready to move on. Take your time and increase gradually, avoid getting in over your head and, god forbid, causing an injury. You don't want to quit before you even get started.
• Encouragement matters—from friends and others who are doing what you aspire to do.
Every time I go out for run, my mom cheers me on. Every time I get home from a run, my husband asks me how I did. It is a small thing to them, but it means the world to me. My mom has been supporting me unabashedly since I was 10 and went to my first dance class, so I am not surprised. And my husband's repeated queries tickle me as they imply to me that he believes I still have room for improvement. If encouragement matters to you, be sure to thank those who are supporting you. Let them know they are an important part of your success.
• Race your own race; don't worry what other people can do or are doing...only worry about what you can do and do that.
It is dangerous to compare your work to what others can achieve. Everyone's body is different. It is imperative to do your own thing. Celebrate the accomplishments of others and they will celebrate yours.

So whatever it is you are trying to accomplish...be brave. Dive in. Persevere. And above all, race your own race.

2.18.12 Haiku
Running. Blood pulsing,
arms pulling. Music filled mind.
Spirit soars. Freedom.

Running Mishap

As I shared in a previous post, I am in the midst of the Couch to 5K program. In fact, as of this post, I am about to complete week 6, 2/3rds of the way through. As with most new endeavors, the process has had its highs and lows. Today I share one of the more absurd moments.

We were a few days into the April vacation and my rambunctious 13-yr-old and his best buddy were restless. My husband, Paul, and I were about to head to the track at our local high school. I suggested the boys grab a football and come with us. Like two oversized and goofy puppies, these man-sized boys bounded to the car. As Paul and I begin our run, the boys head into the center of the track and occupy themselves for the next 30 mins leaping into mid air trying to catch the football at the apex of their jump and then flop on the pole vaulters' mattress.

And then it all went awry.
Very soon into my run, my right bra strap slid off my shoulder. As soon as I pulled it back up, the left strap slid down my left arm and rested in the crease of my left elbow. I put my iPod in my other hand and arighted my left strap. Immediately, the right one goes down again. This unbelievably frustrating process continued for at least a lap and a half of the track. By now, I am so frustrated I am gritting my teeth. Then, a great song came on my ipod and transported me away from the physical rigors of running. Does that happen to you where your brain leaves your body? Well, when my attention returned to the moment, both bra straps we resting comfortable in the crooks of my elbows and my bra was around my waist! I think what drew my attention back to reality was the fact that the drooped bra straps we restricting my natural running motion.

So, with my son and his buddy right there, my solution was to just remove the bra and keep running. I know; I'm a classy girl.

Today's lesson: Foundation garments are important...even in sports.

I See Dead People

Spoiler Alert: If you have never seen the movie "The Sixth Sense" (and I highly recommend that you do), read no further because I will give away one of the most turn-on-a-dime plot revealers of all time.

One of the most chilling lines ever, right? When little Haley Joel Osment playing the role of Cole confesses to Bruce Willis' character that he has a sixth sense...one beyond sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell. He can see people from another dimension. People who have left the time and space dimension of Earth and are wandering around in some sort of altered dimension. Crazy, right?

Today's tale is a wandering one that will ultimately reveal that I have come to the realization that I too have a sixth sense. Thankfully, mine is different from Cole's.

The story starts about a month ago. Paulie, my husband of almost 19 years, is an avid exerciser. His father had a quadruple bypass at age 54 and that possibility scares the dickens out of Paulie; thus he works out several times a week and has for as long as we have been together.

However, like many, he always gains a little weight over the winter months...and this winter was especially hard to be motivated to exercise. Who had any juice for that after all that snow shoveling?

In early March, Paulie asked me if I would begin a 9 week running program with him called "Couch to 5K." My initial response was, "Have you met me? I am the least athletic person on the planet!" My second response was, "Hell no." Thankfully, when my maturity started to wax and my freshness waned, I realized that it had been a while since the last time Paulie asked to do something with me. So I acquiesced and as of today we are three-and-a-half weeks into the 9 week program.

At the start of week 4, the Couch to 5K plan is to walk a five minute warm up, run 3 mins, walk 90 seconds, run 5 mins, walk 2.5 mins, run 3 mins, walk 90 seconds, run 5 mins, walk 5 mins to cool down. I confess that the idea of that first 5 minute run was daunting. However, for the first time ever, I hit what people call "their stride". That had never happened to me before. This is also when my "sixth sense" kicked in.

I see movement. I see it in patterns of people in crowded places, and in this instance, I saw movement by people who were not even there.

We were running at the track at Sheehan High School and what I saw was a flash mob event that would involve hundreds of people. Simultaneously a celebration of fitness and community, the flash mob I imagine would involve young and old. And in my head it is set to Fat Boy Slim's "Right Here, Right Now." I could see the whole event, both the gathering of participants and the invitation to watch, being communicated and promoted via social media (Facebook and Twitter for sure). Now all I have to do is get permission from John Gawlak to use the track!

Sometimes my "sixth sense" brings on a choreographic idea like this, and sometimes it is just an awareness of how other people move; how their bodies work, how the shape of their hips/knees/feet affects they way they sit, stand, walk. It doesn't happen all the time and it has been a while since it happened as viscerally as it did when I was running.

Paul and I will soon head out to accomplish the Week 4, Day 2 session of Couch to 5K. I wonder what will spring to mind today as I hit my stride.