Young Living Lavender 5K 2010

This morning I ran my first 5K race through the lavender in Mona, UT.  I am so proud of myself right now, and still have a buzz from the endorphins even hours later.  The course was beautiful, but rough.  My ankles thought they were back in Argentina with the rough packed dirt roads with rocks sticking up out of it and kept folding beneath me.  After the first mile my feet felt like they were just flopping down on the dirt with zero control, and I doubted if I would finish.  When things got really hard, two things happened that made me keep going.  First of all, a water station appeared as if I had willed it into existence.  Second of all, "I Will Rise" by Chris Tomlin came on my iPod.  I focused on the lyrics and was reminded of a verse from Isaiah 40 (KJV):  "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint."  I started running again and realized that it was walking, not running, that hurt my legs so badly.  I ran a lot of the rest of the race and ended up covering some of my fastest miles to date.

I am so grateful for the Lord for getting me through yet another trial, and for my supportive friends Sean and Emily who came to cheer me on (Emily took all the pictures I am posting below) and Bryce who ran in the race with me and waited to cheer me on at the finish line.

I ended up having fun and feeling so satisfied at having accomplished this long-time goal, and I plan on running the Payson Onion Days 5K on Labor Day and many more to come...

Anticipation

I am so excited!  I just picked up my bag of goodies for the 5K tomorrow, and I have plans to leave for Mona at 5:45 AM.

I've already attached my number to my shirt and the timing chip to my shoes.

AAAAAAH  I'm thinking so much.  Will I be able to finish before the old ladies with strollers?  Will I be able to finish?

I will be able to finish.  I plan on doing my best, and I need to have the mindset of whatever I do will be a victory.

Morning

Today I walked a little over a mile, just as a brief workout.  I thought about doing two miles, but I thought I'd just keep it light since in two days I'll be asking a lot of my poor little body.  Just a little walk to keep the blood flowing.

This is the first time I've exercised in the morning since I started, and although it was nice, I don't think I'll stick with this.  If it were this temperature in the afternoon, that would be great, but in the morning I'm just not quite as motivated.  I think I need a little more of the stress of the day to push me forward.  Whatever it is, I'm just not nearly as focused in the morning.

I discovered that the tennis courts behind my apartment are quite crowded early in the morning, and that lots of people in the surrounding residential areas like to do yard work early in the morning.  And the ones that work in the afternoons don't say hi to me, but one of them this morning did.  

I am still sore from Tuesday afternoon, including my abs.  My abs have never been sore from running before, so that must have been every bit as intense as it seemed!  Then I decided to work on my freestyle stroke last night at the pool, so add slight shoulder soreness to every other part of my body.  I really need to take it easy until Saturday, though.  I don't know what's gotten into me this week...

High on a Mountain Top

Today I officially registered and paid for my 5K on Saturday, which cements the fact that I really am going to run the thing.  This afternoon, I was really excited about running, so I got online and dutifully mapped out a route that would be a bit more than a 5K for my workout today so that I could reassure myself that I could finish a 5K.

Google maps can be quite misleading as to terrain.  The route I took today was absolutely GORGEOUS, and I had never been running (or even driving) on a lot of the roads entailed before.  Not only that, but it worked out to 3.2 miles, which is almost perfectly a 5K distance.  The downside, is how much UP there was.  It was ridiculously uphill.  The first little hills were pretty tame, and pretty short, so I just took them at a slow jog, told myself encouraging things, and sucked it up.  Oh boy, but by the time I got about half-way up the hill, I hated my life.  I stopped twice to take pictures both because I couldn't believe how high up I had climbed and because I needed the rest.

This first picture is from almost the highest point of where I ran today - it was almost level with the Y on Y mountain.  Ridiculous.

This is after a slight downhill bit, looking DOWN on the Provo Temple. 

Pretty views, though.  I ran 3.2 miles in about 45 minutes, counting all the stops I took to complain to the mountains about how steep and ridiculous they were.

I feel great, though, and on my way home, one of my miles was in 11:06!  I've never run a mile that fast before!  So yes let us embrace this minor victory and remember to look at altitude when you're mapping a new run.

Freedom

On Friday afternoon, I went jogging with my bud bud Courtney.  I usually go by myself, so it was cool to go with a buddy this time.  I liked the company, and having someone else with me was a little more motivating - not just motivation to get out the door, but motivation to keep running rather than walking for long distances.

I haven't gotten on the ball as much as I would have liked in the past week.  I did, however, turn down a lot of sugary drinks and unhealthy snacks/desserts.  I don't buy junk food, and yet I consumed tons of it until I learned to just say no.  Now in my mind, I ask myself if it's really worth it.  Sometimes the answer is yes, but that is much less frequent than you might expect.

What is the dessert worth?  My mentality isn't the "a moment on the lips, forever on the hips," mentality.  Not directly.  I realized on my trip back home that I had inherited a lot of food issues and a lot of body image issues from my mom.  She has more profound reasons for having them, so I understand that it may be harder for her to break through them, but I just have them because that's what I thought was normal.  Still, though, it has been tough (both mentally and physically) to break through.  When food is your drug of choice to relieve the pain of life, every well-meaning friend can be a pusher.  No one would offer a drink to an alcoholic friend, but it's totally normal to drop off a plate of cookies or invite your friend on a 7-11 run for slurpees.  The trick is, a normal person can live without alcohol forever and ever and ever, but normal people DO drink slurpees on a hot day and occasionally indulge in a few chocolate chip cookies.  Occasionally and a few.  That's my battle ground.

In my perfect world (I'm not perfect at this yet), I eat normal foods only when I'm hungry.  I eat "fun foods" when I am not already full and am in the mood for that particular food and only if I am emotionally neutral.  I know that if I'm emotional at all, I will lose the "occasional and few" balance of normalcy.

I have gained so much freedom since beginning this program.  I can now buy clothing from the same stores where you buy your clothes.  I can finish a mile in less time than when I was in high school.  I can leave food on my plate.  I can say no to your plate of cookies, knowing that I am rejecting the sugar, not you.  So when I ask myself, "Is it worth it?" I am asking "Is it worth my freedom?"

A week from now I will have finished my first 5K.  Hopefully still alive and on my feet.  I'm really nervous about it.  I'm slightly excited, but mostly nervous.  I'm not as far along as I had hoped at this point, but at least I know that whatever happens, whatever my time, it will automatically be my Personal Best.

Still in the Game

The purpose of this post is to let you know that I am indeed still in the game, I just haven't been a very faithful blogger.  I also haven't been all that faithful with running, but not a single week has passed that I haven't had at least one thirty minute exercise session.  Last week in Kentucky I went running once, and only did one mile.  It was the most miserably sweaty mile of my life, although breathing is a lot better at sea level.

Last night I tried my hand (and lungs) at swimming yet again.  These two guys were in the lane next to me, and they said that they were training for a triathlon but that the swimming part was harder than they thought.  We weren't technically racing, but even when they had a half-pool head start, I could usually beat them to the other end of the pool.  Swimming freestyle the right way is really the fastest way to get from one end of the pool to the other...  It made me feel good because those guys were in great shape, and they were swimming as fast as I did when I first started (maybe faster).  Improvements!

So I need to get back on the ball with the diet and with running.  Especially since my first 5K is TEN days away!  I am going to possibly DIE.  I haven't gone that distance in a long time.  I just need to sacrifice, suck it up, and run more this coming week.  Maybe this afternoon or tomorrow I will run a 5K distance just to prove to myself again that I can go the distance without death occurring.