Running

What better day to write about running than Marathon Monday!  Good luck to everyone running today, it's going to be close to 90 degrees!  You really never know what you're going to get with New England weather!

Today's post has been a long time coming, A friend told me a while ago "I don't know how you can write about this personal stuff, but it's pretty cool." I don't really want to write THIS one because I'm very embarrassed at my run, HOWEVER I know that I will help 2 groups of people:

• First those that THINK they are slow.. well you can look at me and say "I guess I'm not." 
• Second: those of you who say you CANNOT do it, that you smoke, you are too heavy, you are not built to run, you can only walk, etc.

Guess what folks? well you CAN do it.  All you have to do is MOVE YOUR FEET!  The only one who cares how FAST you move your feet is YOU!

Here goes the confessional!  I am a consistent swimmer and biker.  Distance is no problem and I don't freak out at a 50 mile ride or a 2 mile swim!  BUT, tell me to run for 20 min and I'm a basket case!

I've done 20ish Triathlons, I love them.  Secret is I tend to walk most of the run! Because of this, I'm almost always last!  In the beginning I hated it being last, but I'm used to it now.  I know I'm doing a good thing by FINISHING, something most people don't even try.

I saw one of these goofy facebook pictures that said "even walking a 5K is better than sitting on the couch" (But I can't find it to post). It is so true.  Move your feet!

I hired a coach this year, thank goodness she does custom training as I am a neophyte in running but pretty consistent in everything else.  She started me out with 10 min runs.  YUP ten minutes.  My pace was a meager 16 min mile.    Sad, embarrassing, pathetic, but it is what it is. I couldn't "RUN" for 10 min, I would WALK in the middle of that 10 minutes.  In prior years I would just focus on the bike and the swim because I hated running so much!

I am not built to run.  Athena body! The girls are D's!  Life's little blessing of "real women have curves" means "real women work a little harder sometimes."  I have many issues that only some of you would understand.  Had to find a comfortable sports bra, instead of wearing two of them!  (BTW I love the Danskin Tankini, people I train with must think I wear the same clothes all the time!)  I must drag my heavy self around to run, so like many I would skip the run's and just keep swimming/biking!

This year I made a decision to do the Providence Half Ironman.  In order to do that I know I need to get my run time under 15 min pace!  Some of you may look at 15 and say "well I can walk faster than that." Yup, most of you can!  Thing is I can't make a giant stride for the walk or it pulls out my hips - SOOO I must actually RUN it at this painfully slow pace.

As I've said before, I could not do any of this without Chi Running.  I try to attend a clinic every year just to check in.  This year I had a really great comment from my running coach, he said my running has improved dramatically .  WOOHOO, it's working, right?

Right now, my RUNNING is getting better, I tend to be in the 13's or 14's. I am VERY VERY happy with this.  I did a 10K on Saturday.  Took 89 minutes, but the 5 K part that was actually a race took 41 minutes.  This is my FASTEST time yet on a 5K.  The training is paying off!

What was pretty sad for me is that I know I'm improving and was so excited to not be at the end.  WELL, 14 min pace is certainly still at the end, so I have to just be ok with competing with myself!  I hated seeing all the runners disappear by .5 miles.  Only the walkers were near me.  Also a very sad thing was having 2 women stay almost with me, but they would would walk then run for a little bit then walk.  Blah! Again, I know where I am and have to be good with it and NOT give up!

I was able to run most of of the 10K.  There's a big hill and I kept saying to myself "you aren't walking until you get there."  I did not!  Also a friend, Tara came running BACK up the hill after me to help me finish.  I think she pushed me a good half a mile pace faster!  She finished first in her age, (something like 21 minutes) and missed first place women by 6 seconds!  This and she says she's "not a runner."

To all of you out there that think you are NOT runners, you can do it. WALK, JOG!  You don't have to compete with everyone out there.  I'm living proof!

I'm psyched each day that I can run further without stopping.  I'm psyched when I look down at my Garmin and see my pace in the 12's!  A 12 is a mighty feat for me!  I will be very happy with that.

And to those of you who think your 9's or 10's are slow? well lookie here, you keep going and only compete with YOURSELF!


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