We Did It!

Phew! I have so much to say right now, but I'm utterly exhausted. While I may have been able to function somewhat on that college no sleep schedule, I am at my breaking point and need to head to bed and get a good night's sleep tonight very soon!

There will be lots of posts coming up, but I have one that just can't wait.

I mentioned that Melisa and I have been training for the 5K for BlogHer. We both completed the C25K program before we left for BlogHer, but running in New York with lots of heat and humidity, through Central Park, at 6:15am after little sleep is daunting to say the least.

Since we were running so early, we knew we wouldn't have a huge cheering section, we decided to have a virtual one instead. Before we left for BlogHer, we purchased matching shirts for our run, and at BlogHer we asked people to sign them (when we remembered to have our shirts with us!) to support us while we ran. Thank you to everyone who signed - the messages were great!

And run we did. As not fun as it was to get up so early on Friday morning, we did it. We got down to the lobby, put on our tutus (supporting Tanner!), and headed out towards Central Park. We walked the first block or so as our warm up, and then we began to run.

There was a nice group of eight or so who ran with us, which made it really fun. While we had a bit of difficulty navigating the lower loop of Central Park a few times, but the maps we had and eight brains working on it got us through. Although a few teams got lost and did some extra mileage, we did not - somehow.

The running wasn't always easy, especially when we had to wait for stoplights on our way to and from the park and when we had to stop to figure out where we were on the map. Stopping and then starting up with the running again makes it really hard, but that's really about the only walking or stopping I did.

I ran the 5K. And I now need to update my shirt with the messages to say that I completed my first 5K! Melisa did, too - go us!

Interestingly, I had a really hard time eating breakfast after running. I just couldn't cool down (it's that whole not sweating thing), and I had no blood in my stomach to digest food for a good forty-five minutes.

Once I had eaten my breakfast, Melisa presented me with a gift. She's such a sweetheart and so thoughtful. She had a beautiful card she'd written that absolutely cracked me up - and yes, I'm saving it! And then she gave me a necklace, too.

The really scary thing is that I almost bought her a nearly identical necklace. When we'd wandered Chinatown the day prior, we found a jewelry store with all sorts of fun stuff. I discovered a running shoe necklace that I thought would be a perfect first 5K fit. I was going to buy one for each of us to celebrate finishing the 5K. Buuuuut everyone left the store, and I didn't have time to purchase them before we had to move on, so I skipped it.

Apparently it's a good thing I did skip it. Melisa and I are sometimes just a little bit too alike for our comfort. It's freaky.

If At First You Don't Succeed....

Hey Chicago peeps - do you and your kids like theater? A chance to win tickets to The Emperor's New Clothes from the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre here.

***

One of the things that I have done my best to instill in the wee ones - especially Mister Man who is a perfectionist and doesn't want to even try the first time if he doesn't think he'll succeed - is that true success only comes with practice. You have to work at it, and it isn't always easy.

When you try and then fail, that doesn't mean you give up. Instead you try again, change tactics, get help, or just plain old practice until you get it right.

More important than telling them this though is having them see it in practice. And I'm giving them some good practice right about now.

I've been working on doing the C25K for ohhhh about two years and three months now. No joke. I got really close in July two years ago, but life got in the way and I got away from it, just hit or miss running.

I recently got serious about doing it again - and I'm signed up for my first 5K while at BlogHer (gulp) in August (gulp - heat!). It has been going fairly smoothly. While the weeks' runs haven't been super easy, I've been able to do them.

Until last Wednesday.

Last Wednesday was my twenty-five minute run. I'd done the prep work up through Week Six Day Two. On that Day 3, however, it all fell apart. A couple minutes in, my ponytail was starting to loosen, and I can't run with my hair flopping all over (my lack of sweating is a big part of that). I paused to redo my ponytail, as I haven't yet mastered the art of running on a treadmill and fixing my hair, or at least not without falling off the treadmill.

I began running again, but shortly after the five minute mark, my shoe came untied. And running with an untied shoe? Well, you just can't do that. And thus my run was broken. Before I finished my twenty-five minutes, I'd stopped for a total of four times. I was disappointed, as it was my first failure at the C25K.

I had a great set of excuses: I hadn't slept enough lately, I didn't eat a protein breakfast that morning, I couldn't get my calf to stretch, the gym was too hot that day, I had forgotten my water bottle in my car, I was focused on doing too much that day before I headed to St. Louis, etc etc. But all that really meant is that I didn't do what I was supposed to.

After my run, I headed down to the Build-A-Bear event (a post on that coming shortly) and although I brought my workout stuff, I never found the time to run before we left my in-laws' house on Sunday.

Monday I was back to it, however. I figured that doing the 25 minute run after having been off for several days wasn't going to happen, so I decided to repeat Week 6 Day 2 - my two ten minute runs. I did my first ten minute run, although it wasn't easy. Five minutes into my second ten minute run, I was gassed. I had to stop and walk for a bit. Unlike previous times, however, where I'd stopped to walk but then managed to finish my run after a period of relative rest, my legs weren't cooperating. Major fail.

I focused on getting sleep and making sure I had a good breakfast so that today's run would go better. Last night, I had softball, but that shouldn't impede me too badly. Oh, except for when I was messing around before an inning and took a ball off my shin just above my ankle.

Ow. It got the muscle I use every time I flex my foot, so even walking was somewhat painful. I dreaded my run today - another attempt at that Week 6 Day 2 - and now I had perfect excuse. The bruise on my leg would keep me from being able to do it.

Uhhhh note to self: do not turn to talk to someone while manning first base and waiting for the shortstop to throw you the ball!

Last night, I couldn't fall asleep. I woke up early this morning and couldn't fall back asleep and was exhausted. And yet I made myself go out and run - thinking not only of Melisa dutifully doing her runs but also Mister Man and what I preach to him.

The first five minutes of my run seemed to last forever - and not only because the tv in front of me seemed to be on perpetual commercial mode. I got through that and kept going and finished that first ten minute run. Once I got to the one mile mark, it didn't feel so bad - something I've noticed about running in the past. When the music cued me to start up on my second run, I did it.

It was really hard. I kept talking myself through various points:

Just run until you hear that Day One is going to stop their eight minute run - you will have done three minutes at least.

You can run three more minutes while Day One is walking; three minutes is nothing in the grand scheme of thing.

Hey you've only got four minutes to go; you've done more than three quarters of your running.

Day Two is the first one to finish running for the day, and that will feel good.

And then... my iPod froze (again). I had no music and nothing telling me when to stop and start. Fortunately, knowing this happens with my iPod when I run for more than eight minutes at a time, I had checked the treadmill to see when I had started that second ten minute run. I can't watch the timer though, or it kills my motivation. Instead, I focused on the tv.

It's ok, just get through this set of commercials until the next tv show comes on.

Ok, let's see if you can do it to the first break. You know you'll be done before the first break on the show.

Ok, maybe not the first break, but at least until the first contestant starts playing his individual game (this is the part where I admit to watching the tv that has The Price Is Right on it).

Finding those little milestones in my big goal got me through it, and I did run my full second ten minutes. Week 6 Day 2 is now complete. I'm ready for my twenty-five minute run on Friday.

Well, except that I'm donating blood tomorrow afternoon. I wonder how donating blood will affect it... nah, I can't use that excuse!

You're My Inspiration

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***

Every time I think about this post, I have that song going through my head - and I do again - "You give meaning to my life; you're my inspiration...." In the best vein of misery loves company, I can only hope that at least one of you is now suffering my fate.

I have a point though - shocking, I know.

I'm not one to do things halfway. I set large goals, and then - for the most part - I go after them. Take a trip back in time with me, will you?

I had a really neat goal a couple years ago - to run a 5k. I started doing the C25K program, and for the most part, it went fairly well. A good friend of mine who you would not peg as a runner told me how she had started to run 5ks and talked me into it.

In the beginning, it was great. A friend of mine from my neighborhood joined up with me after the first week, and we ran together. Having her with me was a huge help as we went from sixty second runs to ten minute runs. Then her knee started giving her problems, and I was on my own.

It was ok though. I had joined a gym to run inside (ummm I don't sweat, so running outdoors in the summer is not ideal), and I made it through week six with its twenty-five minute run, and week seven with its twenty-eight minute run. It wasn't easy, and I wasn't fast, but I did it.

Then summer hit. And so did the excuses. I missed a few runs here and there, and pretty soon there was no way I was running for twenty minutes. Over the next ahhhh two years, I was off and on running - frequently able to pick it up at week 5 (five minute runs) or week 4 (three and five minute runs). Then I was down to week 3.

I spent week after week at week 3. For whatever reason, I just couldn't get past it to start week 4, even though I was running my requisite three times a week. I was frustrated, but I kept trying.

Then I heard that Melisa was also planning to do the C25K program. And we somehow got ourselves signed up to run the 5K at BlogHer (our collective first!). She talked about her strategy and the days she was running. And I realized that maybe this is something I can do.

I hear her updates and see her happy Tweets about what she's accomplished. And you know what? It's kept me running, too. The days I think about skipping because I'm tired or it's too late or I have something else going on? I think about Melisa running no matter what, and I go.

I made it through week 3. I completed week 4. All the while, I remembered Melisa and her unflagging determination, and she kept me going. As I got into the longer runs, it got harder. I wanted to stop and take breaks. But I powered through - because Melisa was keeping me honest. On Friday, I completed - without stopping once - a twenty minute run. Yesterday, I did my five / ten / five run, and tomorrow I have a long twenty-five minute run.

Wow. After tomorrow I start week 7, and then I have two weeks before I'm truly running a full 5k - in plenty of time for our BlogHer 5k. I may not be fast, and I definitely won't be first, but I know I'll at least complete it before they close the course.

Running with a live partner the first time around was huge. And having a virtual partner now with Melisa? Well, I have this little song I need to sing to her....

I'm A Creature Of Habit

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***

I am a creature of habit, and I know it. I just proved it to myself yet again.

I'm sure you've heard of the phrase "A place for everything and everything in its place." I live it. It brings me comfort. Things belong somewhere, and then I know where they are. I don't have to search endlessly for them, trying to figure out what I did with my keys or my shoes or that homework paper Mister Man needs to turn in.

I get so good at it that sometimes I don't even realize I've done it. I'll freak out because I can't find my phone and call it, only to discover that I put it in my purse where it belongs. It's so instinctive that I don't even notice myself doing it.

So back to my proof.

Earlier this week - Wednesday, in fact - I went to the gym to run. I had two and a half hours to get to the gym, run, pretty myself up, and get to Mister Man's kindergarten graduation (don't get me started). The timing worked out beautifully, and I was happy.

When I arrived at the gym, I dropped Little Miss off at the kids' area and headed to the locker room. I grabbed my running skirt, my shirt, the freshly charged iPod and... no running shoes. Wait. What? Where are my running shoes?

Oh.

Yeah.

Let me back up a moment for you. When I run, I generally run on the treadmill at the gym. Being a non-sweating person (yep, that's me and it's no fun), I do well running where it isn't too hot and where I have a ready access to water. Thus, treadmill. However, on Monday I was scheduled to run but didn't have time until around 7:30 at night. Rather than drive the twenty minutes to the gym, I decided to run in my neighborhood since it had cooled into the low sixties.

Annnnnd when I took my shoes off in the family room when I got home, I left them sitting there. And because I wasn't in the habit of having to put them back into my gym bag, I didn't.

Back to the gym on Wednesday... I glanced down at the heeled black shoes I was planning to wear to Mister Man's graduation, and I debated whether I could pull off heading up to the floor anyway. Mmm no, no, I really can't. Instead I took a shower and spent a little extra time getting ready.

That night, I ran again at home, since June in Chicago is fortunately long sleeve weather half the time. At the end of my run, I carefully put my heart monitor and its accoutrements into one running shoe. My iPod and socks went into the other. I was not going to forget anything. In fact, I even remembered to put my running clothes into the wash since they ummm needed to be washed.

Yesterday, I returned to the gym, so proud of myself that I remembered to repack everything. I opened up my gym back and removed my heart rate monitor and my iPod. I grabbed my running shoes and... ummm where are my running clothes?

My mind raced back to my house where I could picture my clothes still hanging on the drying racks from where I'd done laundry the night before. Because, you know, I'm not in the habit of having to repack my running gear specifically.

I was absolutely not going to not get in another workout because I'd forgotten something. Again. And last night I didn't have the opportunity to run at home later in the day - I had a murder mystery party to get to (and oh, do I make a good saloon girl!). I surveyed my bag - as a Girl Scout, I always have something else packed. I had a pair of yoga pants and two sports br@s.

I sighed and debated whether I was truly desperate enough to wear this ensemble. I thought briefly and then realized that 1pm in a gym is a fairly empty time, which would work to my benefit. And that the fact that I don't know anyone at my gym actually worked to my advantage for once in my life.

Begrudgingly, I pulled on the yoga pants that are designed to have a) a perfect yogi body or b) a long shirt covering through the hip area. I had neither, but that was my own fault. I closed my eyes and pulled on the two sports br@s. And I felt n@ked.

I pulled the pants up until Erkle would have been proud. I pulled the sports br@s down until I had only a couple inches of exposed abdomen. I debated with myself again whether or not I was up to this. And I reminded myself yet again why I do not wear a bikini and probably never will.

But I did good. I sucked in my gut and walked up the stairs to the gym floor, and I did my workout. After the first five minutes, I wasn't constantly conscious of my lack of a running shirt; it only hit me every three or four minutes that I was soooooo exposed.

I concluded my workout in my creature of habit ways and left the gym in the same way I do every day. Shower, moisturizer, pants on, shirt on, return the towels, hair dried, makeup on, shoes on... just like I do every time I go to the gym.

Because I am a creature of habit. And I need it that way.

Oh, and my running clothes? They're currently sitting on the couch next to me. I put away all the laundry today, but my gym bag is in my car. Ten to one I forget to put them in my gym bag for tomorrow. On second thought, maybe I should go put them in my car now.

Why Didn't I Do This Sooner?

I wish someone had told me that running isn't so bad.

You know what runners look like. They're way too cool for the rest of us. They're slim with huge calves and thighs. Their hair is in ponytails, and they're slick with sweat. And yet, they aren't huffing or puffing or anything.

I've always hated running.

I remember when I was in elementary school and we had to do the Presidential Physical Fitness test. Guess which one I flunked out on. Yep, we had to run around our school three and one-half times to get to the necessary mile. I walked most of it every year.

Of course, even had I completed the mile in the appropriate amount of time, I still would have failed when it came to the flexibility test. I literally have no hamstrings. Almost three years of yoga and I can still not touch my toes? Granted, I'm much closer and by the end of class I can touch them, but it's still depressing.

Back to running.

When I was in high school, I had several friends who ran cross country. I thought they were nuts. Actually, they were nuts. They ran, and they liked it. I stuck with my cheerleading (don't laugh, and yes, I was captain) and horseback riding and softball.

In college, we had SPAC (something something athletic something?) which was the huge gorgeous workout facility that overlooks Lake Michigan. I went inside once to meet a friend but never made it past the lobby. Come to think of it, maybe working out in college would have been a good thing, fun even. Right.

I have friends now who are runners. One of my friend's husband runs the Chicago marathon every year. I think that's nuts. I look at what that does to your body, and I just shake my head.

So let's review the runners I've known: freaky cross country people who run for miles on end on bumpy paths that would make me trip and marathon runners. Not exactly the most sane role models.

This spring, I went to dinner with some friends of mine, just like we do once a quarter. One of my friends is normal. Well, relatively so anyway. Her new hobby? She's running 5Ks.

Now this friend isn't exactly a supermodel. She doesn't have the famous runner's body. She's normal, and she's also relatively new to running. Hmmm.

Enter another good friend's now husband who also runs 5Ks. Nope, not a runner's body there, either. But he does it. And so does she.

I asked her questions. How did she do it? Why did she do it? And she explained it to me. There's a whole program set up for those of us who can't run to the mailbox. It's called the Couch to 5k program (get it -- couch potato to running 5K?). I even found podcasts on it that explain tell you when to run and when to stop running.

Exhibit A): The C25K website
Exhibit B): Robert Ullreys's podcasts

The program lasts for nine weeks. Nine weeks, and you're running a 5K. That's two months! I could do that. Maybe.

Week one: walk for five minute I can do that run for sixty seconds I think I can do that? walk for ninety seconds That I can do repeat eight times ummm not so sure, but maybe? walk five minutes to cool down.

At the end of week one, I felt so good, I ran a second circuit. I'm a runner now!

Week two was harder, but doable. Week three I managed. Week four was easy. Week five got hard as it progressed from 5-3-5-3-5 running walking pattern to 8-5-8 to a 20 minute run. Egads! But I did it. I had to force myself to do it, but I did it. Week six wasn't so bad. Week seven was hard, but where I used to struggle to do ninety seconds my new mantra was I can run for another three minutes, just another three minutes, I can do that much. Week eight was a twenty-eight minute run. Can you imagine? Twenty-eight minutes! And I did it! I'm so close, so so close.

So what did I do?

Well, it was summer then, and the wee ones were home from school. And they wanted to do fun things. And the pool was open, and it was so much fun to play with them in the pool! While I still did my yoga and belly dancing classes (classes = set times = more likely to do it), I didn't run. I skipped almost the entire summer of running. I was one week away from completing the program and being able to run a 5k, and I "got distracted" (read: didn't want to fail?).

Whatever. I stopped doing it, and I actually missed it. Weird, huh?

But I've finally started running again. The cool thing is that I've been able to start from week five (that's the five minute run, three minute walk, five, three, five). Of course, I've started from week five three times now since I ran again then didn't run for three weeks then ran then didn't run for two weeks then ran. But Friday? I'm going to do a twenty minute run.

And you know what? It's good for me. And I kinda like it. Ok, I hate running, especially on a treadmill, but I feel so good afterwards. Accomplishing a big milestone is pretty cool, too. I've heard there are some Thanksgiving turkey trot kind of 5Ks around. Maybe I'll have to investigate that.

If only someone had told me that you don't have to be a runner in order to run.

Luddite or Cheap, Take Your Pick

I like technology. I've just never been an early adopter.

I was one of the last people I knew who got a cell phone. Ironically, I haven't had a landline in three years. The only reason I have a computer at home is because my husband bought me one (actually two in the last six years). I have purchased only one tv ever, and that was a flat screen my husband made me (ok us) buy almost two years ago. The Tivo I have is a Christmas present from I think five years ago. It doesn't record in digital, and you can't watch another channel when recording something. My iPod was a Christmas gift from my husband and is a first generation one from years ago.

I do realize that many of the technology items I have -- including my cell phone -- have newer siblings that have cooler features. I even covet some of those features, including the new Tivo type ones. But I can't bring myself to upgrade when my current versions work perfectly fine. You know the saying... if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

I'm starting to have a problem with my iPod, however. I've used it for years to listen to music when traveling for work or hanging out at home when I need to be quiet due to the wee ones napping or while working in the office. It's always done what I need it to do, and that's all good.

This spring, I started running. I found a running program that would get me from HA! to actually running 5K (my goal) in nine weeks -- you'll notice that I didn't say nine easy weeks. It involved running increasing distances in shorter intervals. You had your choice of running a distance or for a length of time. Considering I was running in my neighborhood, time was the only real choice. But looking at a watch every five seconds to see if I was done didn't seem very productive to me.

I put off starting the program until I discovered that some brilliant person had created podcasts that told you what to do when and played music during your runs. Problem solved, and I quickly started my program. (Quickly being when I started doing it, not how fast I was running of course.)

About week 3, I noticed that my iPod would freeze in the middle of the podcast once or twice and then keep going after twenty to thirty seconds. I tried redownloading the podcasts, but that didn't help. Then the podcast started freezing with a few minutes left in my run. I'd guess at how much time I had left to run, but that was just not good.

In my research, I discovered how to reset the iPod because it got to the point where my iPod wouldn't turn off or anything -- for reference, turn the lock switch on then off, then hold down the up part of the wheel until it turns off. I can now do this without looking at my iPod while running at 6mph.

That's a skill I could do without.

I'm slowly beginning to realize that my iPod will need to be replaced. But when listening to music, it works fine. It's only those longer podcasts that cause the problem. And I will say that the people I hear about downloading their favorite tv shows and watching them whenever they have spare time or oh I don't know while running on a treadmill make me a bit jealous.

But much like my car (which also needs replacing), it's hard for me to just toss off something that's been with me a long time. I'm loyal that way -- to friends, to work, to my family -- and that's not a bad thing.

Then people go and throw this new technology in my face and make me drool. The SITS girls are giving away a new 4G iPod Nano in silver. Yep, it's that latest and greatest thing, and now I want one. I was doing ok until I actually saw the picture of it. Until I read the 4 hours of video and 1,000 songs, not to mention the 3,500 pictures. Until I realized that the battery on my iPod was again dead even though I charged it two days ago.

Maybe I'll slip a hint to my husband that I want a new one for my birthday. Of course, well before then I'm pretty sure that I'll have given up on Mr. Freezy and will be listening to the random music and commercials and "Will Liz Thomas please report to the childcare center. Liz Thomas, thank you" that feeds throughout the health club where I run.

Or a girl could always dream and actually win the iPod from the SITS girls....

I Jinxed It!

So around the new year, I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Because I Said So (http://mom2my6pack.blogspot.com/) where Dawn was talking about new years resolutions and how she wanted to lose weight this year. Well, duh. Do you know a woman who doesn't want to lose weight? So I kept thinking about it. And yep, I decided I wanted to lose weight, too. And yes, me being me, I couldn't just leave it at that. I have to do something about it. I set myself an actual goal. I want to run 5Ks. Not just a 5K or a specific one, but apparently I decided that running is something I want to do on a regular basis. I don't always understand my thought processes either.

So I found something called Couch Potato to 5K. It sounded easy. It just takes nine weeks of gradually increasing the amount of time and distance you run, and suddenly, you're running 5K. That sounds like something I can do.

I have just a couple very small problems:
#1 I don't belong to a gym. I won't belong to a gym until my kids are in first grade, probably. During the day, I'm either working or doing something with the kids or volunteering. At night, I know me. I'm not going to go to a gym often enough to make it cost effective. That means I need to run outside, which is fine until it leads to problem...
#2 I live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. It gets cold here in the winter, and I decided I wanted to learn to run in the middle of January. This year, not only has it been cold, but we've had enough snow to freeze over a certain netherworld. With a neighborhood where people don't always shovel their sidewalks (a topic for another post, I assure you) or build giant snowmen or igloos in the middle of the sidewalk, running outside is not just silly but dangerous.

In my head, I'm ok with that. I'm still going to learn to run 5Ks. In fact, I had DH download a nine part podcast that talks you through each week's workouts. Yep, I'm ready. I even bought a cool neoprene thing that goes around my arm to hold my iPod. I'm so ready. As soon as it gets warm enough to start running outside.

Now I won't lie to you. We've had some decent days in the past month or so. I think one day we even got up to 50 degrees. But really, what's the point of running (ok, walking with a few bursts of jogging) when the next day we go back to the deep freeze? I keep telling myself that we're almost to spring, so I'm almost going to start running. Really. Almost. I swear!

Then I saw the forecast this past Tuesday. On Saturday, it was going to be 49 degrees and sunny. On Sunday, 51. Monday was in the mid-40s. I was going to be able to start running this weekend! I was so excited! This morning, it was 12 degrees when I woke up. And windy. And it had snowed a little last night.

Now seriously, the snow was just a dusting, but it was the perfect amount of dusting to show me that someone, somewhere is making a joke at my expense. How can a day that's supposed to be 49 degrees instead be 12 with a dusting of snow? As I'm fuming internally about this, I look more closely outside. There wasn't just a dusting of snow. It was still snowing! And it wasn't a snowstorm kind of snow. For those of you who live where it snows, you know what I'm talking about. It's the tiny, crystalline, almost invisible bits of snow that are almost invisible unless you're looking at them in just the right light.

I went to yoga this morning, and it was still doing the laughing snow in my face thing. I ran errands, and still the remnants of winter reminded me who's in charge. What can you do? I'm obviously not running this weekend.

I got home and DH asked if I'd seen the forecast for next week. Innocently, I asked what it was. Mid-40s starting on Wednesday. Maybe next weekend is my weekend to start running?