Tag Archives: half marathon

Winter Running

Last October I thought it would be absolutely brilliant to sign up for the Gary Bjorklund Half Marathon up in Duluth Minnesota.

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Aerial lift bridge in Duluth Minnesota, photo curtesy of A Lake Superior Fishing Charter

Of course, now that winter has come full on fierce, full on Minnesota style with 8 inches of fresh snow dropped on us and I actually need to start practicing for this race I find myself realizing… I need to do winter running.

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Truth be told. I’ve been a HUGE baby in this. Up until last week I did not run outside once since the temps dropped and the flakes started flying back in the beginning December! The run went okay, but it was cold, and though I was well dressed…. I kind of [gasp] missed the treadmill.

I am such a fair weathered runner, which is why I’ve been mostly sticking to my plan of running on the treadmill, which has mostly paid off.

In fact – this past Sunday I ran 5 miles on the treadmill and it went wonderfully. There are a large set of treadmills at Life Time Fitness where you can choose your location be it, Southern or Northern New Zealand, Germany, California, or the Grand Canyon Basin and area.

Its a virtual experience which really kind of makes you believe you are running outdoors. Never once did I think I’d ever love running on a treadmill, but here I am, running 4 times per week on one!

In the past I’ve absolutely despised running on the treadmill. Just running 0.5 miles was like pure torture. I tried putting a magazine up, watching the TVs, or putting a towel over the display to keep my mind away from every tenth mile passing by, but since I’ve discovered the virtual run treadmills I’ve been absolutely hooked!

I’ve been following my plan which is :

January (1-2 Miles, four times per week)
February (3-4 Miles, on the weekend, with two miles mid-week)
March (5-6 Miles, on the weekend with two-three miles mid-week)
April (7-8 Miles, on the weekend with three-four miles mid-week)
May (8-9 Miles, on the weekend with three-four miles mid-week)
June 10-12 Miles, on the weekend, with four – five miles mid-week)

So I’m all ready ahead of schedule. Perhaps it was the excitement, or the fun of my virtual experience, or reaching my daily steps by 10am, but once I reached my three mile mark, I kind of just kept going. I was exploring Germany and loving it.

So – what are your tricks to running in the winter months? Do you like running outside, or on the treadmill? If you run outside – what are your ways to cope? If you run on the treadmill – how do you cope?

 

Running is like Grief

I’m still getting that “age old” question, “how are you”. Its a question people ask the grieving that is as old as the dawn of time. Mostly I now just tell people that I’m fine because I am fine. Some days I have downright amazing days, and other times its just so sad to think that new memories won’t be made with that part of my life.

Above all though this journey could be compared to running. Since 1999 I have been a runner. I began running over the winter that year to get prepared for boot-camp the following year, and started running three miles at a time a few times a week. I was hooked.

While I was in the Navy I became more serious about running, and even ran my first marathon in 2002 and countless half marathons after that. (In fact my very first official race was the marathon! Go big or go home right?)

After a particularly difficult 10 mile race last summer I decided I was going to hang up my laces for a while and took an 11 month hard break from running. I ran five miles on National Running day this year on June 4th which was nearly unbearable, and then began running more regularly just last week. Just two and three miles at a time, a few times each week.

I’m so out of shape. Running just two miles at a 10 minute pace is grueling but like life I just have to put one foot in front of another and continue. Like running I wake up, get dressed, go to work, and try to be a normal and happy person, and it mostly works.

I take each day, day-by-day- each hour by hour, and each moment by moment, just like I take each marathon by half marathon, half marathon by mile, and mile by step. My friend Hannah blogs over at Feet Move Forward and I think she’s really on to something. You just have to move forward.

Do I want to lay in bed all day and wallow in despair? Yes. But I have my husband counting on me, my daughter counting on me, my animals (all 9) counting on me, and my work counting on me. You just move. Move forward. It doesn’t matter how much that day, just move.

I’ve been daydreaming lately of running goals I have over the next year… – as this metaphor continues, and like my blog’s namesake says, “Feet May Fail” some of these daydreams might fail. My day might fail me, and the hour or minute might fail me, but I have to try something. Go out where feet may fail, and not be afraid to get out of the boat.

I think 2015 is going to be a spectacular come back year for me. I don’t want to give too much away, but stay tuned throughout my journey as I use running as a healing outlet for me to cope with this grief.

One block… one mile… one half marathon, and one marathon at a time!

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Hebrews 12:1 And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

A big descision!

After trying to jog it out, I feel way out of shape! Now I had just started training for my Half Marathon in February, and have only gotten up to around 4-6 miles. That is really sort of pushing it. Then we had all of that snow at the end of February, and then everything melted and made a muddy mess, so I really haven’t been running as much as I would like to for my training with my Half Marathon.

I’ve talked to friends, and relatives, and even a doctor friend, if she suggests running, and they all say, if you’re already running, there is no reason why you shouldn’t keep running, but trying to increase my millage in 4 weeks seems a little strenuous to me. SO I am going to gracefully bow out of both of my Half Marathons, and take up walking. It really comes down to what do I feel most comfortable with? So far, since Saturday, I have walked a total of 4 miles. 2 miles each day. I took Monday off, as well as tonight I am sure, since I have other plans but I just wanted to verbally, put it out there on paper, or the screen in my case, that I have chosen not to push anything!

During the next few months I will have a lot of things going on with the Marathon that I work for, and I want to be at the top of my game for that, so that I am not on bedrest during the last few months, when we’re the busiest. I would rather take it easy now, so that I have the energy to perform my daily tasks… Perhaps next year I will sign up for a half marathon again, or maybe even a full one, to get back in shape 🙂