Seven more days. Can't really believe it. It's a little anti-climatic, after what seems like MONTHS of training when in reality it's only been since July 29th. It's strange, in hindsight, how much has changed. My workouts, my fitness goals, the expectations of my body, what my body has actually been able to accomplish, my outlook. I know I will spend this week being a bit of a drama queen, but at this moment I am feeling strange, like I should be really examining what this whole experience has brought me, and taught me over the last 8 weeks.
I have not had one single person say that I cannot do this. Well, my mom is completely confused as to why I am even doing this, and I find it hard to even try to explain it to her. Today we went shopping for shoes for little Miss Diva and mom called my race a "walk-a-thon, or whatever it is". I didn't even correct her as I was driving. What's the point? Whenever I have come back after a run and mention how far I went or what body part is aching, she looks at me quizzically and says "Why are you doing this?" and it sounds nuts to say, "Because it's fun!!" Okay, I did do a walkathon when I was 20 years old or so. Really only walked. Never ran. I always thought it was 20 miles and it felt like it but I come to find out it was really like 12 miles or so. Huh.
But everyone else has been amazingly supportive. Seemingly way more people than when I was just going to the gym. Maybe because of the "event". I've been referring to the race as the "event" because one of my biggest supporters reminded me that for us, it's not really a race (except in our own minds) and it's true, I am not RACING, I am FINISHING. I have no doubt that I will finish. Not that I didn't have supporters when I was working out at the gym, I had a ton of them. Probably because I was so happy, the weight was coming off, and I was getting strong and fit. This experience is different. No weight loss (except for the 5 lbs last week, 2 actually came back after an In-n-Out impromptu dinner with Alex last night) but my clothes are looser and I feel slimmer so the muscles are all shifting. I realized when I got home last night that my shorts were so baggy and my t-shirt was too and that maybe I need to go shopping again. :) Now I see people running along the side of the road and it makes me want to join them. I see runners and look at their form. I meet people and mention the event and find that they are runners or former runners. Again, it's this club that I am now a member of, and maybe I feel like I have more support since I started running because it's a bigger club. Not as many people that I talk to have ever heard of Les Mills, surprisingly, with how world wide the classes are. Oh I miss those classes.
Today's run was at Pulgas Ridge, an open space preserve right off of Edgewood Blvd. It actually has an open dog park in the middle so I saw a ton of people walking and running with their pooches (and the occasional pile of poop, which thankfully I never stepped in - people were pretty good about making sure they cleaned up). I have lived in this area my entire life but it's simply amazing the trails that are literally in my backyard that are fabulous. Now, this was a 5 mile loop, totally doable distance, but the first half was all uphill. All I could think of as I was walking up most of that was that it was WAY easier than the PG&E trail when I did 9 miles and that was BRUTAL. This was shadier, better views, a little iffy with the roots and rocks, but boy, once I got to the top and began the descent, I thought "I could totally see myself doing this on a regular basis", it was that peaceful, beautiful and fun to run.
But I don't know, trails and me (even with a map) don't seem to mix well when I am the last runner and left on my own. At Water Dog Park in Belmont, I took a wrong turn and cut my run short. Today, again I asked Coach James before we left if I would get lost and he said whenever I got to a fork, go left. Sooooooo, sure enough, at the top of the ridge, Marga and Stephanie were ahead as usual, and I get to the top, see a clear trail going to the left, slightly up, and another going right, going down. Well, here I thought I would be smart. First I yelled at the top of my lungs to the others to see which one they took. Did they answer? Naw. So I thought I would do the opposite of what I did the last time - go up instead of down. Plus, the up trail was on the left so I thought it was what I should be doing.
Well, 10 minutes into it the trail got more dense, the brush closer together, and more rustling in the brush made me think of snakes, and sure enough, I hit a fence and a dead end (through the fence was a cul-de-sac with huge houses so I knew in a pinch, there was civilization nearby so I wouldn't fry in the heat and die, but damn, I had to turn around and go back. I whip out my brand new iPhone 4 and post on FaceBook that I was lost, just in case something happened to me, people would know where I was last seen alive. I had forgotten to set the RunKeeper app or use the maps, gps, but I knew that I just needed to find that other trail going down and I would be okay.
Once I found the main trail, I began to run again, and at first it was steep downhill, but further along, it became more level, slightly up and down at times, but the trees and brush became so pretty and I found a pace that worked and ran the whole rest of the way down. That was when I thought that I would love to do this often, it was that peaceful. I saw maybe 4 total people on the way back down. I paused at the bottom where there was a paved road and about 1/2 a mile left to run to the end just to ask some dog walkers which way was the parking lot because another trail met the road and I didn't want to get lost again, but then I ran the whole way back to the start (about 30 minutes) where the whole team met me, cheering and high fiving me. I ran past them straight to the bathroom! Then I asked Coach James if he purposely picked this hilly trail to make us really appreciate the flatness of next week's route and he smiled and said he also wanted us to enjoy the down hill. THAT, I did. Very much.
Other than a little hip tightness, very slight, the only thing bothering me right now is my left heel. I guess 5 miles, even in the hills, is very doable for me now. I find that SO cool, to actually look forward to a 5 mile run as doable, easier (I will not say easy, because much of it was not), and enjoyable.
This makes me reflect on what I have become. Someone who enjoys running. Someone who looks forward to runs. Someone who will not give this up after next weeks event. Someone who could see herself choosing a couple of 1/2 marathons a year, and someone who can actually look forward to some fun runs, some 5k's and 10k's throughout the year. Jen and I were talking yesterday and want to do the Wharf to Wharf next July, as well as the Fun Run on 4th of July.
This all just cracks me up. Because I am not the same person I was 8 weeks ago, in terms of what I thought I could handle athletically. I got my second issue of Runner's World in the mail and again am looking forward to reading it. I think I will create a new vision board, this one devoted to running. I still remember the recurring dream I have had about running, running faster, running freely. I will most likely never be a fast runner and I am okay with that. I want to continue to build my endurance and be able to run long distance easier.
That all said, I simply cannot WAIT to get back to the gym, and my beloved Les Mills classes. I was supposed to cross train during all this and I didn't do enough of it because of the recovery time I needed between runs. I can see myself running twice a week and doing Body Pump 3 times a week and being just happy happy happy. Once 24hour Fitness really launches BP, I will get a pass, check it out, try a kick boxing class and a yoga class, we'll see. I miss my Combat class, but I know that whenever I need a fix, Alex and Kimi will hook me up.
Whew. All this and I didn't even mention the FUN I am having with my new iPhone 4. What did I ever do without it?! Except I took pictures today on my run and while I was able to upload them to FB, I cannot figure out how to get them from the phone to iTunes or on the computer. I just tried and I can't figure it out. So I can't post the pics here on the blog.
I had a great day yesterday, spent 3 hours at Starbucks in the morning chatting about running (!!) among other things with Jen while Jordan and Cassie played, then took the little girls to eat lunch, then to the movies to see Alpha and Omega, then to Hillsdale and while the girls played with the iPads, I got my iPhone!!! I am so excited and it is so much fun. I already said that, didn't I? Then Alex surprised me with a trip to RWC and we met and had dinner at In n Out (which I rarely eat even though Franklin and Alexander LOVE it) but it was SOO nice to see him in person, it's been a couple of months, plus he set up some apps for me on my phone and watched Cassie play with her new Rapunzel doll :) Then back to Jen's house because she had a cover for my new phone and we shared iPhone stuff, then home. I didn't get to bed till well after midnight because the darn thing kept calling me :)
Time to ice the heel again. Enough reflecting. It's making my brain hurt.
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