This time, I'm really doing it. Really.
I'm not one of those determined Type A individuals who can make a decision to do something and then doggedly keep at it until it is finished, brushing off obstacles and setting aside distractions until I've met my goal. I'm more of a high functioning Type B sort of person: It get stuff done, but I juggle distractions and sidestep obstacles all along the way even if it means a few trips down tangent trails until I loop back around to my original track. Somehow, I get to the finish line but it's definitely in a more relaxed manner. I know this because I live and run with a Type A husband and he and I have very different attack strategies when it comes to things.
Take running as an example. In 2000, he decided (rather out of the blue) that he would like to get into running. He'd never been a runner before, but somehow he decided he'd like to take up the sport. Being the Type A determined guy that he is, he decided his first big goal would be no less than the Chicago Marathon. Yep. A full-on big race MARATHON.
Then take me, I never really made the decision to take up running when I took up running. Because I'm a stubborn Type B go-with-the-flow kind of person, I tackled my first run because my Type A hubby sort of dared me to. We were planning a visit with the family at Thanksgiving and he says, "I bet you could run the 10k with me." But he said it like if I didn't take the challenge he'd think I was a wimp. I was not having it, let me tell you. So I "trained" by running exactly 4 times in the 2 months leading up to the 10k. Got myself all the way up to 3 whole miles and was feeling pretty damn confident.
So that's my first lesson on how over confidence, bravado and under-training can combine to bite you in the ass. All the things anyone with half a brain could predict came true: blisters, IT band syndrome lit my leg up like I'd been struck by a rattlesnake in the side of the knee, fatigue, and at the end a gloriously embarrassing complete freeze of all major muscle groups. I was standing there about 25 yards past the finish line when my legs simply refused to move again. It was like being frozen in place. Luckily, I managed to not fall flat on my face and instead eventually convinced my lower half that it could indeed hobble ungracefully to the car.
That first bout of stupidity was in 2013. In 2014, I trained with a great group of ladies led by an ultra distance runner that slowly got the mileage up and helped me complete a 10k in May without any stops and only minimal pain. But then I stopped running from May to November only to be struck once again by a bout of absolute stupidity: you guessed it, I ran the very same Turkey Trot again without any training between May and November with (predictably) the same result as 2013.
But 2015 is here. And I'm hard headed, but I'm not a moron. I get it, you have to actually run to be a runner. Like, you have to run frequently, and with some kind of plan toward an actual goal. So in 2015 I decided I'd up the ante to a half marathon AND train! First, I needed some people who were more Type B than Type A and wouldn't get me dipping into my overly competitive stubborn self. So I joined my local chapters of Moms Run This Town.
This was a year of firsts for me: I started the year with the Lucky Seven for St. Patrick's Day in March, the first time I'd run longer than a 10k. Next up was the SacTown 10 in April - the first time I'd run more than 7 miles AND the first race I've ever run sub-ten, with a 9:57 average pace. Then, I tackled the Parkway Half Marathon in May and bonked hard at 11 miles - but it was still the first time I'd ever run more than 10 miles! A little pep talk about the hard walk in from 11-13.1 miles and I'd convinced myself to try again. I knew I could get myself across a half marathon distance with a non-stop run. So I signed up for the Davis Moonlight Half Marathon in July. A bit of a gamble, because it was an evening race in an area that commonly sees 90 degree evenings, but the weather smiled upon me and we had a night of high 70's that helped me complete that half marathon in the style I wanted: running the whole way with a respectable average pace of 10:35 min/mile. The first time I've run 13.1 miles without stopping and without any bright spots of pain.
Which brings me to an interesting place. I've set these goals, the 10k, then the half marathon, then again the half marathon but without stops or pain. And I've achieved them. Along the way, I've come to truly embrace running, and the process that it takes to keep it going. I appreciate the way I feel when I run, not just the big distances, but even the smaller runs that keep me going. It feels awesome to end the day knowing I started it with a run. It feels awesome to realize that a year ago, a small run in the morning meant I was useless the rest of the day because I was so tired -- and now that isn't a factor at all.
So I'm on to another First. The first time I'm making the decision to just be a Runner. Like, all the time, as a way of life, as a part of my identity. I'll still be my Type B take-it-as-it-comes sort of race planner, but running will be one of the things I will insist upon in my life. I realize now that I don't have to be a Type A structured, run-by-the-numbers, make-your-running-plan-and-carry-it-out kind of person. I can be my normal, let's-see-where-the-day-takes-me kind of person who just happens to start most days with a run. A little foresight, a little planning to sign up for a race, and then just follow that general plan to see where the race takes me.
Take running as an example. In 2000, he decided (rather out of the blue) that he would like to get into running. He'd never been a runner before, but somehow he decided he'd like to take up the sport. Being the Type A determined guy that he is, he decided his first big goal would be no less than the Chicago Marathon. Yep. A full-on big race MARATHON.
Then take me, I never really made the decision to take up running when I took up running. Because I'm a stubborn Type B go-with-the-flow kind of person, I tackled my first run because my Type A hubby sort of dared me to. We were planning a visit with the family at Thanksgiving and he says, "I bet you could run the 10k with me." But he said it like if I didn't take the challenge he'd think I was a wimp. I was not having it, let me tell you. So I "trained" by running exactly 4 times in the 2 months leading up to the 10k. Got myself all the way up to 3 whole miles and was feeling pretty damn confident.
So that's my first lesson on how over confidence, bravado and under-training can combine to bite you in the ass. All the things anyone with half a brain could predict came true: blisters, IT band syndrome lit my leg up like I'd been struck by a rattlesnake in the side of the knee, fatigue, and at the end a gloriously embarrassing complete freeze of all major muscle groups. I was standing there about 25 yards past the finish line when my legs simply refused to move again. It was like being frozen in place. Luckily, I managed to not fall flat on my face and instead eventually convinced my lower half that it could indeed hobble ungracefully to the car.
That first bout of stupidity was in 2013. In 2014, I trained with a great group of ladies led by an ultra distance runner that slowly got the mileage up and helped me complete a 10k in May without any stops and only minimal pain. But then I stopped running from May to November only to be struck once again by a bout of absolute stupidity: you guessed it, I ran the very same Turkey Trot again without any training between May and November with (predictably) the same result as 2013.
But 2015 is here. And I'm hard headed, but I'm not a moron. I get it, you have to actually run to be a runner. Like, you have to run frequently, and with some kind of plan toward an actual goal. So in 2015 I decided I'd up the ante to a half marathon AND train! First, I needed some people who were more Type B than Type A and wouldn't get me dipping into my overly competitive stubborn self. So I joined my local chapters of Moms Run This Town.
This was a year of firsts for me: I started the year with the Lucky Seven for St. Patrick's Day in March, the first time I'd run longer than a 10k. Next up was the SacTown 10 in April - the first time I'd run more than 7 miles AND the first race I've ever run sub-ten, with a 9:57 average pace. Then, I tackled the Parkway Half Marathon in May and bonked hard at 11 miles - but it was still the first time I'd ever run more than 10 miles! A little pep talk about the hard walk in from 11-13.1 miles and I'd convinced myself to try again. I knew I could get myself across a half marathon distance with a non-stop run. So I signed up for the Davis Moonlight Half Marathon in July. A bit of a gamble, because it was an evening race in an area that commonly sees 90 degree evenings, but the weather smiled upon me and we had a night of high 70's that helped me complete that half marathon in the style I wanted: running the whole way with a respectable average pace of 10:35 min/mile. The first time I've run 13.1 miles without stopping and without any bright spots of pain.
Which brings me to an interesting place. I've set these goals, the 10k, then the half marathon, then again the half marathon but without stops or pain. And I've achieved them. Along the way, I've come to truly embrace running, and the process that it takes to keep it going. I appreciate the way I feel when I run, not just the big distances, but even the smaller runs that keep me going. It feels awesome to end the day knowing I started it with a run. It feels awesome to realize that a year ago, a small run in the morning meant I was useless the rest of the day because I was so tired -- and now that isn't a factor at all.
So I'm on to another First. The first time I'm making the decision to just be a Runner. Like, all the time, as a way of life, as a part of my identity. I'll still be my Type B take-it-as-it-comes sort of race planner, but running will be one of the things I will insist upon in my life. I realize now that I don't have to be a Type A structured, run-by-the-numbers, make-your-running-plan-and-carry-it-out kind of person. I can be my normal, let's-see-where-the-day-takes-me kind of person who just happens to start most days with a run. A little foresight, a little planning to sign up for a race, and then just follow that general plan to see where the race takes me.
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