5 ways that April is going to turn my life around (or else)

Ok, I know it's still March and all, but the hours left in this month are pretty much spoken for.  I leave March 24-31 for World Balloon Convention and that will be a non-stop week of work and more work.  I scoped out the fitness facilities at the hotel and they do have a nice set up, but it's undetermined whether I will have the time or energy to partake.  So, I am setting my sights on April. I have big plans for April and it better deliver.


1) It's my birthday!
I know most people consider January 1st to be the new year, but those people are wrong.  It's April 13th that starts the new year.  It's the glorious day of my birth and I'm still a little annoyed that it's not a national holiday.  I am entering my 44th year and have a lot to accomplish.  This new year is a great time to start what I knew I couldn't in January because of the schedule.  And in February because of.... well, because I'm a lazy hog.  And in March because I JUST TOLD YOU I WAS BUSY!  Jeeze.  So, April it is. 

2) I have a triathlon this month!

In one of my more delusional moments, I signed up for an Olympic Triathlon on April 26th. (Are you shaking your head at me in disbelief?  If not, I strongly suggest you start immediately.)  This event had two of my favorite reasons to sign up for a race:  It was close and it was cheap!  Pretty much the opposite of my beloved Disney races.  Side note: This is called the Beaver Dam Triathlon. I get myself a "Pandora-like" charm for all my races as a wearable reminder of my badassery.  Please take my advice here and don't Google "beaver charm" with safe search off like I did.

3) I have to make a decision about that Half Ironman by 4/17!

I actually have longer if I want to give up the measly $75 they allow for refunds if I wait longer than April 17th, but $75 will buy me a new Sparkle Skirt so it's nothing to sneeze at!!  I have no idea what decision I will make, but I'm sure it will be the right one for me.  If I try and DNF, at least I will have tried. If I decide not to attempt it, there is always next year when I will be able to plan for it better.  I'm already ok with either outcome, but I would like to give it all I've got to make it to the start line.  How I train the beginning of April will tip the scales on this decision!

 4) I get a Buddy this month!

I am short on friends and inspiration to run, so I found a group that will help me with both.  It's called I Run For and it pairs runners with kids (normally kids, but sometimes adults) that can't run due to physical challenges.  I signed up early this year and it has taken about 9 weeks so far with about 3 more weeks to go before my name comes up on the waiting list.  I am excited and I hope I am assigned a buddy in time for my April 26th tri.  It should be about that time.  I'm sure I'll do a blog post about my buddy when I get one, so stay tuned.  I love this idea and I am hoping that the inspiration my buddy provides will push me along when I am running low on motivation.  In turn, I hope to add a smile to my buddy and his/her family's lives as well.


5) I just really have to get some control over my life!

And April seems as good a time as any.  I have made improvements since January so it's not like I'm a total loss.  There's just not been much effort in the "health" arena and that has GOT to change.  So, I am leaving tomorrow for WBC, and I'll be gone for a week totally immersed in balloons.  I plan on leaving all my bad and lazy habits in Denver where the stoners can make better use of them.

(PS - despite the way the post title sounds, this is *not* about blogger extraordinaire April from Run The Great Wide Somewhere but she is awesome and you should check out her blog!)

Raleigh City Of Oaks/Rex Healthcare Half Marathon - November 2012

I have completed my first half marathon! 

It is also now 58 days until my next one: the Tinkerbell Half at Disneyland in California.  I am also registered for the Princess Half in February.  So, in short, I need to get off my ass and start seriously committing to some mid-week runs.  It all started two weeks before the COO when I had to travel.  I teach balloon decor and travel usually once to twice a month, depending on the month.  No complaints - I love what I do... it's just hard to maintain a running schedule when traveling.  I'm also on Weight Watchers and I don't have to tell you how hard it is to maintain points while eating at restaurants 3 nights out of 7.  Anyway, on to the COO!

I was nervous and excited as the big day approached.  I knew I could do the distance, as my Galloway training had prepared me for this.  I just worried about the pace.  I wanted to finish a sub-three-hour time and so I thought I would start with the 2:30 pace group and then I had some wiggle room.  HA!  This is hilarious in retrospect.

Here's the starting line - you can see the arches waaaay in the distance.  I started pretty far back because I was not the fastest gal on the track.  I ran into Danielle, another Galloway runner, and we were excited to have found a friend to run with.  This lasted until the end of mile 2.  She was just too fast for me.  I think I ran a 12 minute & 13 minute mile those first two.  I just couldn't keep that up for 13 miles.  And I was cursing myself for the rest of the race for not doing my mid-week runs and not pushing myself harder during training.  I ran with the 13 mm pace group, but we always run at 15mm or slower and I never pushed myself harder than that.

After I sent Danielle ahead with all my well-wishes, and got passed by the 3 hr pace group (::cries::), I just decided to finish and do what I could with what I had.  We ran past the capitol building and I stopped to get a pic:

Notice how few runners were in front of me.  There were actually quite a few behind me, so I didn't feel too badly.  So, after the capitol, it got hilly through some residential areas.  As you know, hills are NOT my friends and I was getting tired and discouraged.  The only thing keeping me moving forward was knowing I was going to see my family at mile 6.2.  I had never been so tired and unhappy by mile 4 since I started running!  But I kept going - through the awful hills - and kept moving towards my kids waiting at Cameron Village.

Here's me hugging my daughter.  I have never been so happy to see these people EVER.  I had been struggling for about 4 miles all alone and up in my head, and seeing my kids, mom, and my ex-husband (yes! He was there to support me too! Yay!) was the best, most emotional thing I have felt in a long time.  It, more than finishing or getting a medal, was the highlight of the race for me.

My son took this photo of me as a ran away from the hugs, and I am posting it because I have lost 25 pounds through running and WW and I hope it serves as inspiration to lose more:

Ok, I was half way through and my next goal was to get to my friend Emma, who was volunteering at the race.  A few words about Emma - She is amazing!  So outgoing and friendly in this super easy way to talk to.  She befriends everyone and is just someone you want to be around.  She is also so encouraging and I knew she would fill up my motivational reserves when I made it to her.  It was about three more miles before I got to her and then I got to see her twice since she was at the juncture of an out-and-back road.  I kept thinking I was ALMOST DONE because I was close to Hillsborough Street where the finish line was, but NOOOOOOOOO, I was still about 4 miles out.  It's kinda cruel actually, because just when you reach Hillsborough, you have to do three out-and-backs before you can run down Hillborough to the finish line.  The first two were not bad, but the last one was all the way to Western Boulevard before turning back.  I was way ahead of the street sweepers and there were still lots of people behind me, so I knew I was doing ok.  I did start walking quite a bit more and usually just running on the downhills.  This is something else I want to improve before the next half - I have got to keep my intervals going!  About mile 10, my leg starting hurting - can't remember if it as my knee or my calf now, but I was crampy and slowed down a bit.  I ran past my Galloway friends Sue and Margaret and that helped me keep going.  Only about 1.5 miles left!

As I got close to the finish line, I saw my family again and I wanted to stop but I was so close and they actually ran along side me (behind the fences) to the finish line!  They were so proud and that was a nice feeling.  I was glad it was over and HUNGRY. LOL

Here's me with my medal:

So - yay!  I didn't feel as life-changed as I thought I would, but now, weeks later, I can say it was a pretty great thing.  I don't plan and work towards a goal as a general rule and this was something I really followed through with. 

I am going to try to blog more - only because I think it helps keep me accountable.  My next races should be fun with lots of photos.  I do plan to dress up for both the Tink & the Princess (and truth be told, that the whole reason I wanted to start running - LOL).  Oh!  My official time for the COO was 3:14:27 with a pace of 14:50 mm.  My Garmin had it a little different: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/240138965#.UK-ZNh_kFxt.email

And I also got a new charm for my bracelet:

 

Many lessons learned!  Now I just need to apply them...

6 miles DOWN! Charm day!

Was it my lucky socks? I don't know, but I conquered the 6 minute run today! I did Week 4 C25K exactly as scheduled for the first time, with 4/6/4. I am so happy! After my first 4 minute run, I felt like... "hmmmmmm, I could go longer" instead of "oh dear God, I am counting down the seconds until I can walk". This is a change, for sure! So I thought, hey maybe I CAN do 6 minutes today. Then about 2 minutes into the 6 minute run, I started to falter. I was thinking I should just do 2 and 2 like I had been doing. But then I pushed myself and said - "at least do 3 minutes". Then at 3, I said "might as well do 4 so I can say I did 4/4/4 today". But I kept going and the last minute was hard, but I pushed through. At that point, there was no way I was quitting when I was so close! So, I DID IT! Now I just need to rinse, repeat for the rest of the week so I can move to Week 5 on Monday.

Because I broke through the 6 minute barrier, I get a charm today! I picked the boy charm that matches my girl charm, since I have a son and a daughter. Zaine got me a dangling heart charm for Christmas so I have the girl on one side of the heart and the boy on the other. Now, let me tell you about my boy... There is no person on this earth more like ME than my son. His father calls him "Little Lisa" because he acts, reacts, and generally IS so much like me. This can be a blessing and a curse, because I see in him the mistakes I have made in life. Of course, at 13, he's not really interested in me telling him how to change those things, but I do try! I love the child he was and the young man he's becoming. For those reasons, I will now look down at my bracelet and have yet another reason to push myself to be the best me I can be!

For the last two days, I have done a 5k in about 52 minutes at a pace of about 17/mi. Yesterday was faster (16:56) and today was 17:20/mi. Since my treadmill lies, I think this is in the 16/mi neighborhood. I am thinking of running a 5k on the road when it warms up later this week to see what my road pace actually is. Until then, I just keep trying to improve on the treadmill and hopefully, I will make progress even though it is a filthy fib-teller.

YAY for today! Week 5 looks doable and I look forward to it. Now I just need to replicate my success from today for the rest of the week!!

3 minutes - DONE

I didn't run Saturday or Sunday. I was busy, but mostly, I just didn't want to face the 3 minute run that has vexed me for almost 4 weeks now. I also ate pizza and gained a pound and a half this week. In all, a great week to throw in the towel. I don't think I have been more discouraged in a looooooooong time. I did do something usefully this weekend and that is I read a lot on the C25K boards - specifically looking for "Why am I stuck at Week 3?". I did find some posts (although more about getting stuck at Week 4) and the answer was always the same: SLOW DOWN.

Dude, if I was going slower, I'd be standing still.

So, I don't know what made me put on the shoes and go today, but I did. And I slowed down to 17.38 minutes per mile. Guess what? I did it! THREE LONG MINUTES - TWICE! Plus the two 90 second runs (which I did 4 of because I keep going to 2 miles). So, I did the day exactly as it is supposed to be done, plus some. And for this, I deserve a charm for my goals bracelet!
I picked a little girl charm to represent my most precious angel daughter, Zaine. Of everyone in my life, she has been the most supportive of me going on this journey. Of course, she doesn't understand how much that means to me, but it really really does.
She inspires me and I love her more than words can say. Now I can look at my bracelet and I have one more thing to remind me why I need to keep moving forward!

I think I will finish out Week 3 this week so I have a good base of the 3 minutes. They also say on the boards that speed comes later, so I will not stress on that part, I guess. It's more important to have the longer times and work on speeding up later. I do still have a year and two months, so there is no need to stress!
But YAY! I did it! I really didn't think I could, but I did and that mental hurdle was a huge one for me. Whoopee!!

Yay! It's CHARM day!

Actually, tomorrow is the end of Week 2's training, but I was so pleased with my run today that I went ahead and gave my charm to myself today. I ran the C25K run exactly as directed. It was hard, but I did it! I really had to push myself on run 5 and I was enormously proud of myself for making it happen. As seen in the photo, my new charm is a little running shoe. It's very cute and looks great with my Princess charm. I love it!

Now the bad news... my knees HURT! They were somewhat sore this morning, but mostly felt like they needed a stretch. While I was doing my run, they didn't bother me a bit. But afterwards - yikes. They are SORE. So, I am sitting here blogging with ice on my knees just like a real runner.

What's that you say, invisible blog reader? I AM a real runner? Oh you are too sweet! But I think I will feel like a real runner when I can actually run longer. Right now, I am a baby runner in training.

I do think I will continue to use the treadmill to build up my endurance. I know I need to run on road - outside - to train... that's what they all say on the internet... but the hills just serve to discourage me and the fact that I can't finish the run as directed is upsetting. I want to know I can do what each week has planned for me and I just can't do that outside right now. I think what I'll do is run on the treadmill twice a week and outside twice a week. Then I can do the program to a "T" on treadmill days and give myself a break on road days. I mean, I'll do the best I can, but those hills are dream killers.

I need to bottle how I felt today after my run and take little sips when life starts to suck!

And again in the same day...

I was so excited about my shoes that I posted that and forgot I had a run to do today. I took the new shoes out for a spin and they are comfy. My calves seemed to get more tired than my old beat up tennis shoes though... which I thought was kinda weird. Anyway, my walk pace continues to be slow but my run pace continues to improve. I swear, I am trying to walk faster and run slower, but this is what I get:

I walked 1.81 miles in 31 minutes
Walk Pace - 18.15/mile
Run Pace - 13.37/mile

The hunt is on for a treadmill in earnest. It's getting chilly outside and the hills are discouraging me. Just running on the treadmill at the hotel made me feel like I was accomplishing something HUGE since I could do all the runs. I'm sorry, but this chubby gal just can't haul her booty up hills with anything resembling speed or grace. I know I will get better at it and I am really not trying to be hard on myself, I just thought it would be getting easier by now.

I did look down at my bracelet several times during my run and it was inspiring. I have decided to do a charm every other week and stretch it out to include my 1/2 marathon training. I downloaded Hal Higdon's 13.1 app for my iPhone. I chose it because it's the same developer as the C25K and I like the interface. So, funny enough, I calculated through the end of C25K and then the 12 weeks of HH 13.1 and it ends on April 1st. HH 13.1 wants you to pick a race day and then it plans the 12 weeks before it (down to the day). So I started looking for a 1/2 marathon in Raleigh around the first part of April and - whadaya know? There is a cool one on the very date I was to end training - April 1st. It's the Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon and 5K, so I guess this will be my first 1/2 marathon. I was sorta thinking the Princess 1/2 would be my first, but I don't want to go down there and be worried about finishing or be unfamiliar with how races work, etc. I want to be fast enough to stop and take pictures with the characters without worrying about getting swept. Soooooooooooo, Raleigh Rocks, here I come. I need to find a 5K before then and it would be nice to find a 10K too, but 10Ks are harder to find around here, it seems. Zaine is all about running with me at Raleigh Rocks, so we are both exciting to have a nice goal in the not-so-distant future. It's a mini-goal really... I'll never lose sight of the Princess 1/2, which is my ultimate goal. I wish Zaine could run with me in that one, but you have to be 14 years old.

I am going to run again tomorrow, and now that I have a goal in site that requires progress every week or I'll get behind, I really need to up my game. Plus, I just bought an $18 headband... I need to sweat it up so I get my money's worth!

Because I need trinkets to stay motivated!

I decided today to build a Pandora(ish) bracelet with a new charm for each completed week of running. Tomorrow is the end of Week 1, but I went ahead and ordered a bracelet and my first charm today.

It will keep me motivated to move towards the Princess 1/2 and give me something tangible to SEE my goals as I achieve them. Very exciting!

I didn't run today but I did do a kettlebell workout. It was interesting... I definitely got a workout but it didn't kill me, so I'll keep at it on my off-days.

I have to work both Saturday and Sunday so I need to sneak my W1D3 run in hopefully on Saturday. Right now, my plan is to repeat Week 1 again so I am less winded and able to actually do all the runs without feeling like I am going to die. If I move onto to Week 2 without being able to really DO Week 1, I don't think I will continue very far. I read other blogs and run journals about C25K and no one seems to have the problems with Week 1 that I have. It's Week 4 everyone complains about... I must be EXTRA out of shape. (LOL) That's ok. It will be even sweeter when I cross the finish line!