One Hundred Seventeen - Three Birthdays and 16 Miles Later

Wow!  I have two 11 year olds and a 14 year old now.  We made it through my family's "Birthday Season" and I didn't miss my daily miles.  I think back on years past and remember that when the twins turned 3 and Faith turned 6, I cooked two cakes for both parties.  Talk about "caked out".  Because of that experience, to this day I have a hard time eating cake.  This year we had one big party with friends and the cake was served without the massive amount of leftovers I have witnessed in years gone by.  This week I am off to a bit of a sluggish start, but I took my Lit & Writing Class to Thanksgiving Point Gardens and we took in the Spring beauties as we "tip-toed through the tulips" during their Spring Tulip Festival.  I did walk up and down the Grand Alleyway 2X and at least a 2 miles of walking all over the park.  What a perfect way to enjoy Spring.  I am so grateful for whomever thought up that inspirational place.  I love it there.

Stats:  Week before last - 3 running & 3 walking @ Dimple Dell and 1 walking outside
Last Week - 3 running & 3 walking @ Dimple Dell and 1 walking outside
This Week (so far) - 2 walking outside @ Thanksgiving Point

2e

Day One Hundred Two - I did it 100 miles!!

I only took me four months.  I have been thinking about a couple of stories of runners I heard recently.  One is a friend of a friend who is 40 lbs overweight and runs marathons "just for fun".  It's her hobby.  I picked up a magazine at the rec center today that lists all the competitive races coming up in the Wasatch Front/Utah areas.  It also contains many different articles about running.  One was about if running barefoot was the right decision for you.  And another gave a list of very detailed instructions on how to "recover" from a marathon.  If someone can run marathons "just for fun" - it's their hobby (like reading is mine) - and they are 40 lbs overweight, then I can do it just for today. 

I am currently teaching my Writing Class to write Descriptive Essays.  In order to inspire them, one day I had them run once around a church and ball-field (about 1/3 of a mile).  I timed them and we talked about what kept us going.  When we came back to my house I read to them the essay that is below and we talked about "Doing Hard Things" - which happens to be our motto.  This, of course, applied to essay writing.  With that inspiration 6 of them entered their essays in a contest and many of them have begun to like running.  I've asked them if they would like to run a 5K with me.  I think they are still warming upto the idea.  I'll keep you posted.

My Stats:

March 28th - April 3 - 5 running/2 walking
April 4th - 10th - 5 running/2 walking
Day 100 was (April 10th)
Day 102 - 2 running/1 walking

My Essay:

I Used to Hate to Run

By:  Tewie Lord

I used to hate to run.  I would give every excuse in the book… I don’t want to ruin my joints.  I can get the same amount of exercise out of walking.  I don’t have a water bottle handy or the right shoes.  But I’ve changed.  I’ve been thinking a lot about where motivation comes from.  I have had a goal since the beginning of 2011 to run or walk at least one mile everyday and so far I have been able to keep that goal.  It is day 88 and I have run or walked (even a couple of sprints) 92 miles.  So, I’m actually ahead of the game (for when the tigers come – but that’s a different story).  I usually go to the local recreation center anywhere between 9 and 11 am and circle the track.  (10 times around equals one mile.)  The track looks down onto two separate gyms’; one large gym and one small gym.  In the large gym there is a very hard boot camp type class, full of approximately 30-40 women and a couple of men.  It is run by a very lean African American man.  With my headphones on, so that I can’t hear exactly what is being said, I notice that they do work very hard, but they also spend long periods of time talking, just standing or sitting, in a circle.  In the other small gym is a jazzercise/aerobics class.  Lots of fun loud music and a cute little blond instructor with a slim figure.  She is full of bounce and energy and she started out at the beginning of the year with 20-30 students, but lately there are maybe 10.  I found myself wondering what the difference between the two classes are and why the one in the big gym seems to be recruiting more and more students while the class in the smaller gym is losing students. 

In my reflection my mind wandered to why I’m motivated to complete my goal of running/walking a mile everyday this year.  Is it because I need to because I want to learn to blog and be a good example of “doing hard things” for my students in my writing class?  That’s what I said in my blog and it’s true.  Is it because I am getting older and unwanted pounds are harder to take off because your metabolism slows down by 10% every ten years?  Yes, that fear motivates me too.  Is it because I like to maintain a certain standard of health while I enjoy the culinary luxuries of life?  That definitely plays into my thoughts and desires.  But when it comes down to the nuts and bolts of day to day, why do I get out of bed, put on my workout clothes, get in my car, invest lots of money into a annual family pass to the recreation center, deal with the guilt (or pleasure) that my kids are on their own while I am doing something for me, etc. etc?  Where is the moment throughout the daily process of running a mile a day that I feel that ignition, that motivation to finish the task? 

Today I asked myself that very question and I tried to be an outside observer as I went through the motions.  Was it dragging my body out of bed?  Was that the moment?  Nope.  Was it even the excitement of putting on new cute workout clothes I had just bought?  Was that the moment?  Nope.  Was it in the preparation work of getting my kids moving in the morning with devotional, tasks and motivating them to write an essay so that I knew they would be focused while I was away?  Did that bring that satisfaction so that I could be able to focus and run a mile?  Nope.  Was it the anticipation of running as I drove there and scanned my annual membership card while the computer echoed, “Welcome” and I put my purse in a locker?  Nope.  Nope.  Nope.  It didn’t come until I was there at the moment.  It came after I put in my headphones, turned up my techno music and looked at my shoes out in front of me against the wall.  I was on the brink.  I felt the pull of the stretch down my leg and looked out at the other people in the middle of their journey of physical fitness.  I saw my friend Bill, 80 year old Bill, who runs 6 miles every other day because, as he puts it, “I’m running for my life,” because he was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension a couple years before and that’s when he began running and he has outlived all the doctors expectations.  I saw the dark-haired lady nearing her 70’s clutching her pocket book as she slowly limped around the track.  She never gives up.  I saw the sprinters – young and red faced challenging their bodies to greater levels of activity.  How hard can I push my body?  seemed to echo in their every move.  And I stretched.  I wanted to be with them, be like them.  I could hear myself say, “If 80 year old Bill can shuffle 6 miles around this track I can too!  If that dark-haired lady can limp her way to her car every morning and walk around this track, I can too!  If those sprinters can push their abilities, I can try too!” 

I was ignited!  The music and the stretching was the intention.  These tools were the atmosphere that needs to be created and they demonstrated to my mind that I was ready.  The people they were the inspiration.  They were the mentors.  They were my examples and I need them.  They give me the necessary push to accomplish my well-intentioned, well-placed goal.   But my goal is not completely yet.  I’ve just been ignited, now the real work begins.  This is where the skills come into play.

So, I began to run.  The process of running is one that I describe as letting your mind be somewhere else while you keep an even pattern of breathing and move your limbs.  Sometimes I need to come back to reality to check my negative thoughts.  Like, “That man is 80 and he runs faster than you.  You’re no good.  It’s because you’re too fat to run fast.  You should lose the fat first and then think about sprinting.  You’ll never make it 1 ½ miles running.  You’re too old.  People your age don’t run.”  Etc. etc.  This is called “negative self-talk” and we all deal with it every day of our lives.  I like to counter it with “positive self-talk”.  It’s the one time that I can talk back to myself and never feel guilty.  “He is faster than me, but I can try to pace him and I can remember his example when I am 80.  I am fat – that is why I am here and I do feel new muscles forming and eating up that fat every moment I run.  Chomp!  Chomp!  Chomp!  I can make it 1 ½ miles.  If Bill can do 6 and he’s 80, I can do 1 ½ easy.  I’m not old – look at Bill.  Are you ever too old?  People my age do run all the time.  I can name 10 people my age off the top of my head that have run marathons – what an absurd thought.”  After this pep talk I turn my head into my music or any other thought as I try to push myself.  I even might go to where the sprinters minds are and ask, “Can I push myself this last lap and run it harder than the first 14?  Yep.  Let’s go.”  And I do it, pumping and elongating my stride to the beat of the music until I reach the goal. 

With my hands on my hips to catch my breath I smile a genuine smile because I know why the big gym is gaining students.  It’s because of the pep talks.  I give them to myself in my head when I run, but the African American trainer gives them to his class at the beginning and end of each session.  He enlightens them with correct perspective and encourages them to push themselves beyond what they think they are capable of.  I have even seen him talk one on one after everyone else in the class has left.  He cares.  He puts in the time and knows the skills.  I will put in the same time and effort because, just like him, I care and I will make it to December 31, 2011 having completed 365 miles.  I’ll have a party.  Will you come celebrate with me?