Running With Rachael

Running with Rachael.

It seems like it should be a class you sign up for at the gym.  Or a web mini-series or something.  I picture a whole group of girls, cheery and excited about running...  their ponytails swishing as they jog down the road, with Rachael at the head, periodically turning around and running backward, totally keeping pace while spouting words of running wisdom.  Trust me, it's going to be a thing.

Rachael was my roommate for a brief period while Rick and I were dating.  She had been a close friend before that, and has been a close friend since.  Rachael has always been an inspiration to me.  She faces life head-on, with a perkiness that would be annoying if she wasn't so darn lovable.  She is Amelia Bedelia in the flesh, and life was never dull with Rachael around.  One time Rachael decided that she wanted to learn to sing.  So she signed up for voice lessons and didn't give up, and now she is a beautiful singer.  She proved herself in a highly successful family by fighting her way through law school and becoming a pretty darn good lawyer.  (should I ever need those services, I would totally go to her!)  She is a talented and witty writer, a genuinely good person, and a loyal friend. While Rachael and I were roommates, she decided that she wanted to get herself into shape and so she started running.  To be honest, I think we all thought that it would fizzle out in a few days.  But it didn't.  Morning after morning, Rachael would hit the trail and we would see her return all red-faced and sweaty and awesome.  As it turns out, Rachael is a pretty darn amazing runner.  She has run several marathons, relays, halfs, and most recently an ultra-marathon.  See, I told you she was awesome!

When Rachael was in town in June, she texted me begging to join me on a long run.  I couldn't fathom why she would want to run with me, considering that she was a MUCH faster runner than I am, and I would just be holding her back.  But she assured me that she just wanted to be able to spend some time with me, and going on a long run seemed like the perfect time.  So we set up a plan and a time.  At that point, my longest run was a 9-miler that I had run alone.  Rachael suggested that we do 12 miles, and the thought terrified me, but I was too proud to tell her that, so I agreed.

We ran the bottom part of the marathon course.  I was anxious about the distance.  I was anxious about the downhill course.  I was anxious about running with someone who was clearly more cut out for it than I was.  It was a great run.  I was able to run nearly all of it, with only a little pain in my knee.  I was so proud of myself for completing a distance that had seemed so out of reach only a couple of months before.

Which is why when we were retrieving our car at the start line, and Rachael suggested that we run again the next weekend, only doing a distance of 13.2 miles this time, I readily agreed.  (Rachael couldn't just settle for a half marathon distance, she wanted me to complete MORE than a half marathon distance, so we ran 13.2 miles).  Our second run together was even better than our first.  I was hoping to complete the 13.2 in less than 2 and a half hours, and we beat that time by about 5 minutes!  At the finish line, which was her parents house, she had her mom take some pictures of us together, and insisted on laying on the ground, pretending that I had beaten her to the ground.  (you see what I mean about being a loyal friend?)  

Those runs with Rachael were another breakthrough in this process.  I felt that crossing that line into double digits, even so far as a half marathon had turned me into a real runner.  And I found that running long distances was fun.  Really fun.  Truly fun. 

So thanks, Rachael, for coaching me through the tough spots, and for making me believe I was awesome, even though I am totally less awesome than you are!  And you totally look better after 13 miles than I do!

500 Miles

We moved into our new house on the eve of New Years Eve.  New house.  New neighborhood.  New friends. New year. New goals.

I have never been much of a New Year's Resolution type girl.  I figure that if we are trying to become better people, it should be year round, right?  But with all the changes in my life at the time, I couldn't help but make some promises to myself.  All along in this process, my goal has been to become more healthy.  My goal was not to lose weight.  It was not to win races or get medals.  It was to feel better.  Plain and simple.  I wanted my life back.  But I spent enough time with myself to realize that without a specific goal in mind, I might not come through for myself.

I have a friend Kim.  She was never a runner either.  In fact, she openly disliked running. Nevertheless, in 2012, she had given herself the goal to run 500 miles.  That's just over 9 miles a week.  That seemed excessive to me, so I lowered my goal to a mere 300 miles, or just under 6 miles a week.  This was a goal that I never spoke out loud.  I am not even sure if I ever wrote it down.  I calculated it out and kept that number in the back of my head.  I ran 13.88 miles in January.  My average pace was about 14 minutes a mile.  I was no where near on schedule for my 300 miles, but that was only because it was so cold that month.  I would have run more miles if it was warmer.

You see where we were again?  Excuses!

I spent much of February in the same place.  I felt that I couldn't do certain things.  I couldn't do hills.  It was too hard on my knees.  I couldn't do long runs because I had to fit my runs in on the mornings that Cru was in school.  But after not seeing a whole lot of improvement, I knew I was going to have to push myself some more.  I started Saturday morning runs.  I was proud of myself the first time I did the 5K distance without walking once.  I was proud of myself when I pushed myself to 4 miles.  And I was content to stay there.  I was NOT going to be one of those people who felt the need to run 10 miles at once.  That was just crazy.  I figured that if I kept up on a couple of mid-week runs and a 3-4 mile run on the weekend, then I would be on schedule for my goal, and doing great (and I would have been doing great.  I want to make it clear that I don't think there is anything wrong with having a regular running schedule that does not require you to push further each week.)  And I was DEFINITELY not one of those crazy people who started running and suddenly thought they were up for a marathon.  Those people are NUTS!

I signed myself up for a 5K in May, and told myself that I would train to run a 5K faster, instead of training to run further.  I would run 500 300 miles.  And that was good enough for me.

Couch to 5K

After feeling the positive effects of drinking more water and less soda, I was ready to take on some exercise.  I had made resolutions before to start an exercise program.  They had all failed for different reasons.  I started too much too soon.  I had a hard time finding a consistent time.  The gym was too expensive.  My kids were too little to go to day care.  The Wii fit had some great features, but it wasn't enough to really get my heart rate going.  Tai Bo was intense, but got annoying fast.

And I couldn't run.  I had hurt my knee playing volleyball in high school, and every time I would try to run, my knee would give me trouble.  So, you see, I couldn't run.

I was venting my frustrations on this to my sister-in-law Heather.  She told me about a running program she had used that was designed to ease you into activity without burning you out, turning you off, or becoming injured.  She sent me the link to the Couch to 5K program, and I decided to give it a shot.  I was interested in running the Color Me Rad 5K that was being held in November, which gave me about 8 weeks to complete the program and be ready. So I went out and bought the cheapest pair of running shoes I could find.  I think part of me thought that I wouldn't stick with it, so I might as well save the money, right?

The first workout nearly killed me.  I was shocked at how running in such short spurts could wear me down so quickly.  The second workout was better, but not by much.  The third workout was tolerable.  Each week I would look at what I had to do for the next week, and each week I thought "I can't do that!  Run for 5 straight minutes?  You have got to be kidding me!"  And every week I surprised myself.  Soon I was running just under 2 miles without having to walk.  I still wasn't fast, but I was doing it.

And then my knee started to hurt.  It wouldn't hurt too bad during the run...it would wait until after.  It would swell up and I would hardly be able to walk.  One night my knee seized up, and I couldn't even straighten my leg.  I was in tears.  I ended up going to the doctor, where I was told that I had tendonitis in my knee and that I needed to stop running for a couple of weeks to let it heal.  I was discouraged.  I had just begun to relish my running time.  It was the only time I had truly to myself.  The only time that I could be in my own head without kids whining or crying or asking questions.  And if I took two weeks off, I would not be ready for the 5K in November.  Still, I didn't want to hurt myself any worse, so I spent nearly 3 weeks healing.  I had to let go of the idea of running the entire 5K, but I figured it was better than quitting altogether.

I resumed running, and was able to monitor my knee injury.  It was slower going than I would have liked, but I was still going.  When I went to pick up my packet the night before the race, I learned that I could sign a kid up for only 10$.  I decided that Seth would love to do it with me, so I signed him up.  Without having the pressure to run the whole 3 miles, I was excited to do something special with just Seth and I.

We had a blast.  It was so fun to feed off the feeling of being in a race.  I was struck by how there were so many different types of people at that race.  There were plenty of the type of people who I would have expected.  0% body fat. Six minute miles. The eye of the tiger.  But there were plenty who were like me.  Struggling to get into shape.  Looking to find the fun in exercise.  Seth and I had a great time.  We spent the race moving from color station to color station.  Seth struggled with running at first, and preferred to walk, but he soon discovered that he covered ground much more quickly at a run!  We finished in around 45 minutes.



























After the 5K, part of me felt like I had ticked the running box, and I didn't need to keep running.  Combine this with the fact that our house was being built, we were packing to move, and the fact that it was Christmastime, and I was stressed beyond belief.  I didn't spend a lot of time in my running shoes for those couple of months.

And one day, I was surprised to realize...  I. missed. running.

I had officially turned a corner. Not only could I run, but I wanted to.

How I got here.

It was summer 2012, and I was asking myself some tough questions, and having a hard time coming to terms with the answers. 

There were a few things I knew. 
I had gained nearly 60 pounds since the birth of my 4th child, who was now 3. 
I felt awful physically. 
My body ached all the time. 
My joints were a problem every hour of every day. 
I had no energy and more things on my to-do list than ever. 
I was running on empty all the time. 

I was addicted to soda.  Not in the typical sense of being addicted to the caffeine.  I actually had no problem waking up in the morning.  I didn't need soda to keep me awake.  I needed it to keep me happy.  (or so I thought).  My Pepsi habit had gone from drinking a can every so often, to drinking a can everyday, then two cans, then gas station big cups with refills.  It was horrible. 
I felt awful emotionally.  I was disappointed in myself.  I felt hopeless.
And I was angry.  I felt like I hadn't changed anything in my life other than the increase in soda, so why was I gaining weight so fast?

Clearly I needed a change.

So what did I do?  I went to the doctor.  I sought out the simple solution.  I was just sure that he would say to me, "Your thyroid is off, let me give you this medication, and suddenly you will lose 70 pounds and be happy again!" 

But guess what?

My thyroid was not off.  I was. 

It was a tough pill to swallow.  There was no easy solution.  I was going to have to work.  Dang it!

I have never been a dieter.  I have seen friends and loved ones yo-yo back and forth on diets, without actually changing much else about their daily life.  So a diet program was kind of out for me.  But there were things I could change about my diet.  That I knew.  So I started simple.  No more soda.

I had my last Pepsi on July 28, 2012.  I stopped buying the 12 packs.  I stopped making pit stops at gas stations. I stopped telling myself that I deserved a Pepsi because of all the stuff I had to do or all that I had gotten done that day.  I stopped making excuses.

I started telling myself that I deserved NOT to have a Pepsi.  I started to drink water.  A lot.  Whenever I was used to picking up a Pepsi and having a drink, I would fill my water bottle instead.  And guess what?  I started feeling better.  Pretty much immediately.

And I was encouraged.  I had taken a baby step, and it was working.  It was hard.  And I was doing it.  I hit one month off Pepsi and was super proud of myself.  I hit two months and was still proud, but was ready to take another step.  

I reached out.  I talked to someone else about my struggle with trying to be healthy again. 

And I am so glad I did.