Running In The Rain

5:00 a.m. – Wake up and eat a few bites of homemade mac & cheese (carbs) and get a good, long drink of water in preparation for running. 

6:00 a.m. -  Get out of bed, get dressed, and get another good, long drink of water in preparation for running. 

It was actually cool as I ran this morning.  Ahhhhhhh!!!  I love fall!  Especially in June!  I noticed dark clouds and thought it would probably rain later.  I decided to do my 7:2 pattern, run 7 minutes and walk 2.  Sometime during that first 2-minute walk it started to rain so I took my heart rate monitor watch (thanks, Doug and Tori) off and wrapped it and my phone in the washcloth I was carrying to wipe my face.  The rain stopped after less than a minute, though, so I took them back out.  I kept up my 7:2 pattern until I was almost at my house, 1.2 miles, when it started to pour!  I ran into the house and left all the electronics there.  Since I wasn’t taking my phone, I made sure my daughter knew my route and told her if I wasn’t back in an hour to send a search party! 

There’s a puddle right in front of my house. 

It’s the one my daughter plays in.  I skipped it when I went into the house but backtracked a little coming out and ran through it!  Did you know it’s much more fun to run through a puddle than just to walk through one?  Although walking through one is fun too.  I started my 7:2 pattern but very soon into it my knee started hurting.  I walked for a few steps and then said to myself, “This is ridiculous!  I can run!”  I ran a few steps and said to myself, “Stop it!  DON’T HURT YOUR KNEE PERMANENTLY!”  Sigh.  So I walked through puddles.  After about 4 minutes I tried running again and was able to do it for a while.  Run, walk, run, walk, walk, walk, walk.  At least I can walk.  And run some. 

Oh, and I passed this rose bush as I was walking.  Raindrops on roses are not one of my favorite things, but I couldn’t help singing the song! 

Sunsets at Pier 60 5K

Earlier this week I said in a blog post that I wanted to do a 5K run last night on Clearwater Beach on the sand.  Yesterday was a very busy and draining day.  When I got home about 4:00 after being gone since 8, I was tired and said I’d just skip it.  Then I saw that a friend liked the link I put on Facebook to my blog post.  Oh great.  Now I’m sort of being held accountable.  I asked if my mom and dad wanted to go and they said they would so they, my daughter, and I headed to Clearwater Beach (I was getting excited!) where I registered.  I had been thinking that I wouldn’t bother paying the extra $5 to get a T-shirt because I haven’t worn the shirts I got for the other two races I’ve done.  Why bother this time?  When I got there, though, I decided it was about pride (the good kind), not just a piece of clothing so I got a shirt.  Just an XL, not a 2X or 3X like I would’ve had to get a couple years ago!  A few minutes later when I showed it to my family my daughter said, “That looks like it’ll be too big on you.”  J  I love that girl!  It’s a tech shirt that wicks sweat away from my body to keep me cooler, not just a regular T-shirt.  I didn’t wear it because I didn’t want to get it sweaty right off the bat.  Besides, it’s a very bright yellowish orange and that’s not my favorite color. 

Anyway, I warmed up, sent some texts to a few people letting them know I was running a race again, and then headed to the start line.  The race started under Pier 60 and went 1-1/2 miles north before turning around and heading back.  We ran on the packed sand close to the water, not the loose sand farther up the beach.   

As I stood at the starting line for a couple minutes the excitement started building.  I saw someone from the www.fitnessinfusiononline boot camp I used to attend but haven’t been able to because of a knee injury in January and we encouraged each other.  The race started and I told myself, “You’re running a race!  You’re running a race!  You’re running a race!”  I could tell I was running a little faster than usual, but that’s because I was so happy to just be running with other people in an official race.  My plan at home lately had been to run for about 6 minutes then walk for about 2 or 3 before running again.  This time I decided to run for 7 and walk for 2.  When the initial excitement wore off I decided to look at my watch to see how far I had come and how long I had to run before I could walk.  It had only been 50 seconds.  WHAT??? 

♫“Keep running, and I will knock down that wall.  ♫Keep running, and I am not gonna fall!  It’s plain to see my God is very big, so keep running, I will be knocking down that wall.”♫  (That’s the little song I sing to myself with apologies to Veggie Tales.  It’s from Josh and the Big Wall.)   

Then the discouraging voice in my head started.  As people started passing me the voice said, “You’re running alone.  There’s no one running with you to encourage you.  You're alone.  There are only 3 people even here with you.  You’re alone.  You’re alone.  Just like in life.  You’re alone.”  I told the voice to shut up.  Really. 

Have I run 7 minutes yet?  Nope.  Keep running. 

Finally I did hit the 7-minute mark and walked for 2.  Then I ran for 7 more minutes.  At 12:12 into the race the first runner heading back toward the finish line passed me.  At 13:30 the first woman heading back toward the finish line passed me. 

Keep running. 

I began to look ahead and set goals for myself.  I would run to that house before I checked my watch to see how far I had to go.  Or that sign.  Or that group of people. 

I noticed that no one was passing me from behind anymore.  They already had.  At least there were some other people walking; I wasn’t the only one.  That helped a little bit. 

Keep running.  Run for 7 minutes then walk for 2.  Run for 7 minutes then walk for 2.  I reached the 1-1/2-mile point, the turnaround, and the water station.  I don’t normally drink anything while running, but I wasn’t used to running this much, so I figured I’d get a cup and see how I felt.  I took one drink.  That was enough.  Half way done!  Woohoo! 

I love to run in the rain as long as there’s no thunder or lightning. 

Early yesterday morning it was raining hard and I would’ve loved to run except I hadn’t planned to because of my busy day and because I had just gotten out of the shower.  As I headed back toward the finish line, though, I felt a drop on my lip.  Was it raining?  Then another.  And another.  Just a very light sprinkle for a minute or so, but it was God saying, “I know you like to run in the rain, so here’s a little bit for you.  J” 

I kept doing my 7 then 2 regimen.  At one point I looked up and saw the pier.  The finish line! 

It was then that I realized I’d been looking down at the sand a lot.  In running, just like in life, it can get discouraging when you look down.  You need to look up to see where you’re going and around to enjoy the scenery or you just might quit. 

I realized on the last 2-minute walk that if I kept up the 7 then 2 plan I might very well be walking across the finish line.  That just wouldn’t do!  So I ended up running 9 minutes at the end.  I crossed the finish line at 44:52, slower than my other two races but I walked 8 minutes of this one, I’ve been recovering from a knee injury, and I’ve only been running at all again for a couple weeks.  I was happy to just be able to do it, period! 

Back To Running

Wow, I haven't posted in 3 weeks.  In that time I've been able to really increase my running distance.  Thank You, God!  On the other hand, I've scaled back on my running in that I'm not doing it five days a week like I was before the mysterious injury in January.  I'm still doing a 3.4-mile route and walking part of the way, but the walking portions are getting shorter and the running portions are getting longer.  Yesterday I ran 6 to 6-1/2 minutes at a time and walked for 2 to 2-1/2 minutes, a ratio of roughly 3:1.  I've started running on grass when I can to lessen the impact on my ankles and knees.  I haven't been concerned with speed or how I look, just with getting back to running the whole distance.  Yesterday, though, as I ran past a bus stop on 49th Street near the end of my route an older gentleman started clapping for me!  He told me to keep it up but not overdo it.  That was encouraging! 

I walked or ran a total of 12,126 steps yesterday!  That's 5.7 miles!  My latest pattern is to run every other day and so far it's working.  On the days when I don't run I get nowhere near my goal of 10,000 steps, but that's okay.  I'm still moving more than I used to, and on those days I concentrate on working my arms and abs. 

There's a 5K race this Friday evening on Clearwater Beach that I might do.  It's run in the sand, which is something I've done only once.  I know I may have to walk part of the way, but that's okay.  It'll feel good just to do an organized race again.  We'll see.

http://www.clearwaterbeachrun.com/

Two Days In A Row of 10,000+ Steps!

Two days in a row I’ve walked more than 10,000 steps!  Having this pedometer is fun, except when it gets reset without me knowing, like if I take a nap and forget to take it off or when apparently holding my niece resets it. 

I had to go to the bank sometime today so instead of walking/running around my neighborhood on my usual route and then trying to coordinate schedules to borrow my mom’s car to go to the bank, I decided to just walk/run to the bank.  It’s a little bit farther than my usual distance, but that’s okay.  J  I set out just after 6:30 a.m. but could’ve gone a few minutes earlier.  I was a little self-conscious about running next to traffic because I’m kind of starting over and am not too concerned with form right now, just with getting back to running the whole distance.  I overcame that self-consciousness and just did it.  No one pulled over to tell me I wasn’t running properly or to ask why I had slowed to a walk, so it was okay! 

I ended up doing a total of 4.6 miles in 52 minutes, running some and walking some.  My knee made me walk just a couple times.  The rest of the times I walked it was because my mind was slowing me down.  I had to go back to setting goals for myself like, “Keep running until you get to the next cross street; then you can walk.”  I did that many times.  One time I did it and when I got to the cross street I knew I needed to keep running.  There was no physical reason to stop. 

It was so rewarding to put a practical purpose to my exercise! 

In other news, a blogger I follow posted this question on Facebook:

Why do we struggle with food?

She had been talking about this with her counselor and is planning to do a blog post on it, but wanted her readers’ input.  I read a dozen or so responses and almost all of them talked about overeating or unhealthful eating being learned behavior [blame your parents] or lack of self-control.  They were so hopeless!  I had to answer with the hope God has given me in overcoming the sin of overeating.  Here’s my response:

“For me, it's plain and simple indulgence.  I like the taste of food.  I wasn't trusting God to give me what I need when I need it; I was getting it for myself...and lots of it.  Sometimes when working late at night I knew I needed to sleep but I couldn't; I had to keep working.  So I ate food for energy to stay awake.  A bowl of white rice with butter wasn't the best choice, though.  Now that I've learned self-control by denying myself what my body doesn't need, life is so much better.  I still like food, and I still have a little chocolate most days.  Food isn't what consumes me anymore, though.  It's fuel for my body.  Period.  If I can make it taste good AND be healthful, so much the better.  If I have to just eat and move on with my day, no big deal.  Food is no big deal anymore.  It's no big deal!!!  If my current size 16 body had said that to my old size 26 body, it wouldn't have believed it, but it's true!  I love this freedom!”

One person wrote after me that she wished she could just learn to put Jesus in place of food so she wouldn’t have these problems.  I clicked through to her blog and left a comment inviting her to view my blog or email me.  I hope she contacts me so I can share with her what Jesus has done for me!

I Feel Thin When I Run

As I was running this morning…yes, RUNNING!...I realized something.  Beyond the fact that I’ve missed it the last several months and that I enjoy doing it, I realized that when I run I don’t feel fat.  Obese and morbidly obese people can walk for normal daily activities usually and sometimes even for exercise.  When I started walking seriously three years ago I was considered super obese.  (Not that I put much stock in the BMI chart, thanks to my friend and trainer, Brandice at www.fitnessinfusiononline.com)  I ran two 5Ks when my weight was in the obese category.  I’m still in that category and have 38 more pounds to lose before I'll be considered just overweight and not obese.  (Please don’t do the math.)  I know I don’t look like a fitness model when I’m running, but I feel thin. 



I feel like a normal person.  Let’s not analyze too deeply what I’m saying.  I’m not saying that fat people are abnormal, just that I feel like I have no restrictions.  I feel thin when I run, like I can do what average-size people can do.  It’s been a v-e-r-y long time since I could say that.  That’s all. 

Lows and Highs

I went to a Mandisa concert last night with a friend.

As we stood in line because we got there early, I watched other people arrive.  This concert was promoted as a Girls’ Night Out and I watched group after group of women park and walk over to the line.  My most frequent thought was, “There are a lot of fat women here.”  I soon realized how prideful that thinking is.  I have no basis for pride in what God has done with me the last almost three years, but there it was.  I’m certainly not model material but I was not only noticing the large women, I was secretly glad I didn’t look like them.  Not one of my best moments.  L  No, I don’t look like I used to, but I don’t look the way I’d like to either.  God’s not looking at the outward appearance, though.  He looks at our hearts.  My heart doesn’t run to food like it used to, but it sure ran to pride last night.  What did God see when He looked at my heart before the show?  Not ugly gluttony and self-indulgence but ugly pride.  Just as ugly.  Sin is sin. 

I saw a friend at the concert whom I went to high school with but haven’t seen in probably 20 years because we live in different cities now.  We’ve been friends on Facebook for a few years.  She just happened to have two seats open next to her family so my friend and I moved there.  FRONT ROW! 

Laura Story was also at the concert.  She sings the song “Blessings” and told us the story of how she came to write it.  Her husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor a couple years into their marriage and God wasn’t answering their prayers the way they wanted Him to.  You can find the whole story on YouTube. 

At intermission, they mentioned that the café was selling snacks and that one of those snacks was cream puffs with strawberries and chocolate.  :-DD  After talking to my friend for a few minutes I went to get in line.  I wanted those strawberries and chocolate!  It turned out to be these cream puffs ...

half a strawberry (not a very ripe one)...

And a drizzle of Hershey’s syrup.  I don’t like Hershey’s syrup.  I got it anyway and ate it standing in line for the bathroom.  Then I heard Mandisa on stage so I left the line and almost ran back to my seat! 

I had a fun time watching Mandisa front and center! 

When the show was over and we were walking out I heard God say about the brownie I’d also bought (yeah) that I needed to throw it away as a sacrifice.  I knew I needed to but it was in my purse, there was a huge crowd, and I didn’t see a trash can.  On the drive home I obeyed, put the window down, and threw it out. 
 

So it was a night of lows and highs.  I’ve prayed about my prideful attitude and repented of it.  The brownie cost $1 and I’m sure was from a store mix.  Big whoop.  Obeying God in throwing it out was worth so much more than the benefit I would’ve gotten from eating it. 

In other news, I determined this morning that I WOULD fast supper today and breakfast and lunch tomorrow since I've gotten away from that pattern lately.  Then my mom reminded me that our family had been invited to a birthday party this afternoon.  Sigh.  I asked a friend to pray that I would be self-disciplined.  I did fine and had just water to drink.  When my mom and dad went up to get food my dad brought me the biggest strawberry I'd ever seen, probably 3 inches long!  If you know me at all you know how I am with strawberries!  This one was white on the top and bottom, though, indicating that it wasn't ripe when picked.  My dad went back to the food line and I debated what I should do.  I didn't want to disappoint him by telling him I was fasting and wouldn't eat it, but I didn't want to fail again either.  I ended up biting off the white tip and throwing it in the garbage.  Then I took a bite of the middle of the berry (it probably would've taken me three bites to eat this whole strawberry) but it was bitter.  I made sure my dad wasn't looking and threw it in the garbage.  When I told my praying friend what I'd done she texted back, "Ha, going from sneaking food to eat out to sneaking to throw it away!"  I never thought of it like that.  Yes, I did used to sometimes sneak food or get rid of the evidence of fast food before I got home.  Now I'm sneaking to throw it away and not eat it.  Is there any end to what God can do?!

Observing a Half-Marathon

Yesterday morning I went to support a friend who was running her first half-marathon.  I got to downtown Clearwater about 6:45 (yes, a.m.), parked, and walked several blocks to the starting line.  I didn’t see my friend or anyone else I knew, then I decided I should go back to the car and get my camera, so I did that.  I teared up and wished I was running, but there’s no way my knee would let me.  After the runners took off,

I started to head to the finish line at Clearwater Beach.  I didn’t want to drive because I know how crazy traffic is on Clearwater Beach, so I started walking but didn’t know how far it was going to be.  I ended up walking BACK past the car, kind of following the runners,

Hold on…alarm just went off.  Time to do 1:30 on the elliptical. 

Huff!  Puff!  I’m back.  Got my heart rate up to 167. 

and headed toward Clearwater Beach.  I walked up a HUGE bridge.  

with no problems.  I was only walking, but still…no problems!  I took a picture of the bridge from the starting line because it looked so massive.  Like my desire to run again.  Is this my mountain?  If I can just get to where I’m running over this bridge, will I have conquered?  Or are my knees my mountain?

I walked down that massive bridge, walked some more, walked farther, and kept walking.  All the way to Clearwater Beach.  As I made my way to the finish line, the first runners were coming across the finish line.  It was a little more than 90 minutes since the start of the race.  I’d been walking for an hour and a half.  Wow!  At a fairly fast pace, too.  Not exactly race walking, just my normal fast pace.  But I’d kept it up for 1-1/2 hours! 

I started looking for my friend’s family or anyone else I knew, but saw no one.  (Why does God keep putting me in situations by myself involving races?  I’ve gone to a few of them now and not seen anyone I know.  What are you teaching me with that lonely feeling, God?)  I did see some notable things, though.  Like this

The homemade message on the back of her T-shirt says, “I ‘m running because there’s food @ the finish line.”  Are you kidding me???  NOOOOOOO!!!  Big sigh. 

Then I saw this woman

At first I thought, “Oh, honey, let me talk to you.”  I wanted to tell her how Jesus has changed me and how He can change her.  After I took the picture and got closer to her, I saw that she was holding a 5K medal in her hand.  I assumed that she was holding it for someone else because if I had just run or even walked a 5K at that size I would’ve been wearing that medal proudly.  She even had the ribbon part folded up so that the whole thing fit in her hand and was hardly visible.  I saw her from the front later and she was wearing a race bib.  She had done it!  I was wrong!  Well then, you GO, girl! 

Hold on…alarm just went off.  Time to do another 1:30 on the elliptical. 

Huff!  Puff!  I’m back.  Got my heart rate up to 165 this time. 


I kept walking and was getting hungry.  Then I saw this

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

This is me in the blustery, gray day.  You can see the pelting rain on my glasses.  This is me happy after resisting Yuckdonald’s.  J

I kept walking and saw this on a T-shirt

I’d love to see this sign.  No, I’d love to run past this sign!  (Did I really just say that?) 

So let’s wrap up this lesson, boys and girls.  What have we learned today?  Remember when Jesus told Peter that the spirit is willing but the body is weak?  My spirit is very much willing to continue running.  The last few months I’ve thought that my body was weak.  Yesterday I learned that my body is capable of much more than I give it credit for.  There may be one more race added to my church’s running team’s schedule that I will at least walk.  Beginning this morning I increased my time on the treadmill by 50%, from 1 minute to 1-1/2 minutes every waking hour that I’m home.  I will start walking a full 3.1 miles instead of just 1 mile.  (How did I EVER drop back that far?)  I will run as my knee allows, finding a balance between the fact that my body is capable of much more than I give it credit for and the need to listen to my body and not do permanent damage to my knee. 

 

Hold on…alarm just went off. Time to do another 1:30 on the elliptical. 

Huff! Puff! I’m back.  Also, I remembered to do a plank this time, and upped it from 20 seconds to 30.  It wasn't easy.  1, 2, 3, 4, 5...just 20...6, 7, 8, 9, 10...your body is capable of much more than you think...11, 12...no it's not...13, 14, 15, 16, 17...YES IT IS...18, 19, 20...how about just 25?...21, 22, 23, 24...NO!  Keep going!...25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30!!!  Whew!