I Ran The Full 10K Distance!

I was supposed to run for 80 minutes on the 10K course this morning (Friday) and walk the rest, but I didn’t. 

I ran 82 minutes and the entire course!  The 80 minutes came during a song called Yes We Can by Me In Motion.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1oEgZSFXeI

How could I stop with a song like that playing?!  I decided to run until that song was over but then I was so close to the finish line I decided to just run the whole way!  One hour 22 minutes and 40 seconds. 

I’m tired now. 

But my God can do big things.  The last day or so I’ve wondered why I signed up for this 10K race and why I didn’t do the 5-mile run on Honeymoon Island next month or the 8K at Gasparilla in February first and work my up to a 10K.  I didn’t think I was ready and that I had taken too big a leap.  I was definitely feeling my humanity and my femininity.  What had I gotten myself into?  God knew, though.  And He knew that He was ready even though I didn’t think I was.  I just needed to get myself out of the way and let Him be the strength in my legs. 

I’m inviting all of you to my race next Saturday, December 15, at 8:00 a.m. at Coachman Park in Clearwater.  It would be so encouraging to have friends and family spaced out along the course in addition to at the start and finish line.  Signs are welcome!  Let me know if you can be there.  Here’s the link:  http://www.saynotodrugs.com/

And here's a map of the course. 

 

http://www.saynotodrugs.com/images/content/pdfs/2010-course-map.pdf

Easy or Challenging?

I started putting $1 into a jar every time I work out when I saw this on Pinterest. 

Today was a $2 day because I ran for 39 minutes and then swam.  It usually takes me about 40 or so minutes to run 3.1 miles so I set the alarm on my phone for 20 minutes.  I turned around when it went off and ran back the way I’d come but I got back to where I started one minute early.  I’m not sure why.  That suggests I ran faster on the way back, but I was running in sand and after last night’s big storm the beach was actually pretty ugly, to tell you the truth, and there were several spots where I had to wade through water almost up to my knees so I lost a few seconds each time.  Twice I stopped to take a picture of the brilliant rainbow and the more faded one that together made a double rainbow and once I stopped to take another picture.  I figured my time would be slower with all that, but it wasn’t.  I don’t understand why I seemed to finish faster, but I’ll take it!  Anyway, my plan for after running was to change into my bathing suit and swim out to the buoy.  I decided to not change and just swim in my running clothes, a pair of cotton capri exercise pants and a tech shirt (moisture-wicking).  I know, it’s not meant to wick water away from my body when swimming.  :-)  I just didn’t feel like messing with sweaty clothes then a bathing suit in a public bathroom.  I did take my running shoes off to swim, though! 

I swam out fine, but the waves were big (as I expected after the storm) so swimming back in I drank and breathed water a couple times in the first few minutes.  I don’t like drinking and breathing water.  I changed my stroke to one that requires me to use my legs more, which is the opposite of what I wanted to do.  Running works my legs.  The swimming stroke I do works my arms while my legs rest completely.  Oh well, sometimes you have to improvise. 

I may have run faster because I had the MP3 player my daughter got me for Christmas that I just started using.  Music makes me run faster, especially when it's music like NeedToBreathe, Mandisa, Newsboys, etc.! 

At any rate, here’s what God showed me today:

There were several places where I had to actually go through water, not just run on sand.  I had to slow down to a walk because the water was sometimes about halfway to my knees and other times even higher than that.  There are times in life when you’re going along just fine but then something unexpected comes up and you have to slow your pace in order to get through.  It’s okay, though, because God (represented by the water) is there to get you through the low spots.  Of course He’s always there, but I was more conscious of Him when I went through the water.  When I got to the other side I was a little slow running again for a step or two.  It’s okay to take a while to get back in the groove.  Just keep moving. 

I wish the picture I took to illustrate this next point had turned out okay and that I was able to get it from my phone to my computer.  On my right was the Gulf, then packed sand where I was running then a long low spot of a strip of water that ran pretty much my entire distance then what would normally be dry, loose sand but because of the storm it was wet and fairly packed.  That sand was a smoother, easier surface to run on but looked sterile and boring to me. 

Most analogies have only one meaning, so don’t try to read too much into what I’ve written here.  Sometimes in life you need a smooth, easy surface and there’s nothing wrong with running there.  I’m ready to take up the challenge of not so easy surfaces, though.  (Wait…am I?  That’s a big thing to say.)  God...I...uh...don't know if I meant that the way it sounded.  I like smooth, easy surfaces.  Yes, running in (walking through) water today was fun, but do I want to transfer that to life?  I don't...ummmmm...You're in charge.  Put me on the path You want me on, whether it's easy or challenging.  I mean that. 

Another Race On The Sand

I run another 5K on the sand this evening.  This week I’ve been running 10 minutes and walking 2, but I’m going to make it my goal to run 11 and walk 2 during the race.  I’m constantly tweaking my strategy and pushing myself.  When I decided to run 11 and walk 2 a little voice inside said, “Why not just try to run the whole thing?”  Ummmm…I didn’t have an answer for that.  Running is as much mental and spiritual as it is physical, if not more so.  My body can do this.  It has many times before.  Maybe my training schedule is a little slow and I could run the full distance again now, not several weeks or months from now after I work my way up by adding a minute each week.  We’ll see. 

I'm drinking a smoothie today of banana, cottage cheese (protein), strawberries, milk, water, and ginger.  I'll eat a bowl of steel-cut oats two hours before race time. 

I’d love to see y’all at the start/finish line or along the course at Pier 60 at Clearwater Beach this evening.  The race starts at 7.  It’s free to watch, but you’ll have to pay for parking.  I’ll let you know tomorrow how things went. 

Oh, and if you want to run, just show up tonight, pay $10 ($15 if you want a shirt), and do it!  :-)   

Gasparilla 2012

Last Saturday was the Gasparilla 5K, but I didn't run it.  I didn't even walk it.  My knee and ankle were hurting too badly and I, again, didn't want to do permanent damage.  It was...not depressing...to be there and not participate.  It was...I can't think of the right word.  I tried to meet up with the Calvary Chapel Running Team, but never found any of them.  Since I wasn't participating in the race, none of my family was there.  Ah, that's what I felt...alone.  All by myself.  I know God was with me, but I felt alone humanly speaking. 

Heading to the 5K start.

                                                                   The 5K starting line.

                                            Sure!  I'll walk behind some military runners!  ;-)

I ended up leaving before the 5K even started.  I was going strawberry picking with my dad.  Since I had no one to watch the race with or for, there was no sense in staying there. 

My dad and I drove to Spivey Farms in Plant City http://www.myspiveyfarms.com/ and picked 40 quarts of strawberries!  Thank You, God, for these times of bonding with my almost 87-yo Daddy! 

For a couple years now, God has been giving me Psalms 46:10 now and then.  "Be still and know that I am God."  It's very hard for me to be still because there's just so much I want to DO!  That verse has been coming up again lately, especially Saturday at Gasparilla.  I've been made to be more still than I want to because of my knee and ankle.  Running Saturday was supposed to be full circle for me.  It was while watching runners come across the finish line of the Gasparilla 15K last year that God put this dream of running in my heart.  I realized there was no physical reason I couldn't run like they were doing.  Now there IS a physical reason and I don't like it.  I trust God, though.  I don't know what He has planned for me by keeping me from running, but I trust that it's for my good.

I'm still walking, icing, stretching, and strengthening.  My plan is to once a week try running again if I've had no pain in my knee or ankle, but that hasn't happened.  In addition to being still and knowing that God is God, this has been helpful:

I don't know how to make it bigger.  It says, "Run when you can, walk when you have to, crawl if you must.  Just never give up."  :-)

Day 19 - Thursday

Down 0.6 pounds from yesterday, 16 pounds from the beginning, and 92 pounds from my heaviest weight. 

Today is the first of two transition days out of this fast.  The first thing I ate this morning was a strawberry!  Yum!  Then I made fruit salad with a banana, an apple, strawberries, and mangoes.  I mixed it with some homemade yogurt (to replenish good bacteria in my digestive tract) and cinnamon.  Mmmmm!  As soon as Brianne’s done washing dishes I’ll start cutting up my salad so it’ll be ready for lunch.  I also made a cup of hot tea.  Instead of cream I used evaporated skim milk.  I read that on a list of food substitutions I saw on Pinterest.  Yuck!  I poured it out after drinking only half.  My tummy is quite full anyway so…  I’ll compare the label of evaporated regular milk with cream, see how it stacks up, and may try that.  I don’t miss smoothies or veggie puree at all! 

Yesterday I went for a 1.2-mile walk and jogged twice for 30 seconds and once for a shorter time.  Today I’ll try for jogging 1 minute at a time since I’ll have more food (energy) in my body. 

Evaporated regular milk has a better nutrition profile than cream or half & half, but the taste is just so-so.  Maybe I can experiment with combining low and high-fat items to come up with one that tastes good. 

I walk/jogged for a total of 25 minutes doing 1 minute of jogging and 3-4 minutes of walking.  Friday I’ll do longer jogging sections and work my way back up to running a full 3.1 miles.  I’m looking forward to it!

I like salad anyway, and it sure was nice to eat some Thursday.  J  I’ll do that Friday too and until the salad is gone.  I used only one bag of spring mix, not one bag plus one bag of spinach, 4 Roma tomatoes, 1 cucumber, 3 carrots, 2 chicken breasts, and 4 eggs, and it still made a HUGE amount of salad.  I may be eating this into Sunday.  Saturday I’ll have BBQ at this place:    http://www.smknjsbbq.com/

Pulled pork and brisket, but just a little of each.  No sides; just meat.  And ½ sweet tea ½ unsweet.  Mmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 15 - Sunday

Down 0.8 pounds from yesterday, 13.4 from the beginning, and 89.4 from my heaviest weight. 

Today was an uneventful day for this fast. 

I’m counting down the days until I can eat solid food again.  Wednesday night I’ll make some yogurt to start eating Thursday morning so I can replenish good bacteria in my digestive system.  That day I’ll shop for fruit and veggies to make salads with for the next two days.  I’ll cook up some chicken and eggs to put on the salad (yay!). 

I had a dream last night that I was eating mindlessly.  I was popping some kind of cake-ball things in my mouth and then later I was at a restaurant with Brianne and was drinking Coke like it was going out of style.  The glass I was drinking out of was only about 4 ounces but there was another glass that was probably 20 ounces sitting there too.  I remembered putting my straw into it but I think then it became a 4-oz. glass too.  Weird.  I then realized I was drinking Coke and it turned my stomach.  Not that I don’t like Coke, but if anything I would’ve ordered Dr Pepper.  What turned my stomach is that I was drinking anything carbonated at all.  It was doing nothing good for my body.  I should’ve been drinking water. 

I went for a 1-mile walk yesterday and even ran about 100 steps!  It wasn’t anything like the running I used to do and will get back to next week, but it was something. 

Day 14 - Saturday

Down 0.4 pounds from yesterday, 12.6 from the beginning, and 88.6 from my highest weight. 

I just went for a short walk and ran a little bit of the way (less than 50 steps).  It felt strange.  Now I need to lie down for a little bit. 

Thoughts from Made To Crave:

“I had to see the purpose of my struggle as something more than wearing smaller sizes and getting compliments from others…It had to be about something more than just me.”

“I determined to make God, rather than food, my focus.”

The author asked if there could be any benefits to listening to my cravings rather than trying to silence them.  My answer was that when I crave a particular food I could ask God if it’s because my body needs a certain nutrient or I’m just remembering how good something tasted.  Or do I need something that’s not food? 

Day 10 - Tuesday

Down 0.8 pounds from yesterday and 11 pounds from the beginning. 

I’m halfway done!  At first I felt torn being happy about that.   I thought I shouldn’t be happy to have this time end.  Eating is the way God provided for us to sustain life, though.  It’s meant to be the normal way.  I was just going too far in that direction and needed a course correction.  My course is being corrected and I’m looking forward to getting back to eating in a regular way without letting my taste buds overtake me. 

I walked only 1 mile today, but that’s all I attempted and it was on purpose.  I did 2 last week and was sorry later.  I feel fine now. 

From A Hunger for God by John Piper:

“…fasting is an expression of humility – that is, our sense of desperate, utter dependence on God for what we need.”

Day 7 - Saturday

I forgot to add to yesterday’s post that I was 1.6 pounds down from Friday and 8.2 pounds down from the beginning. 

This morning (Saturday) I was down 0.6 pounds from yesterday and 8.8 pounds down from the beginning. 

I don’t miss running.  That doesn’t mean I won’t return to it. 

I walked at the mall today for about 1-1/2 hours.  I did stop to look at things in some stores so I wasn’t walking constantly for that time, but I did walk the length of the mall upstairs and downstairs at least twice.  And when I was walking and not shopping, it was at a pace brisk enough that my hair was being blown back.  Yes, I walk fast! 

Day 5

This is the report for yesterday, which was day 5 and one-quarter of the way through this fast. 

I lost 1 more pound from the day before for a total of 6.6 from the beginning. 

I took a walk on the Pinellas Trail while Brianne was in class.  I didn't even attempt to run, knowing that would be asking too much of my body.  I walked for about 40 minutes and a distance of 2 miles.  I felt great!  I did have a little bit of ankle pain so I slowed my pace but otherwise was fine.  I made sure I had something to eat drink before and after and I took a 1-hour nap as soon as we got home. 

When I woke up that's when the hunger hit.  I think I overcompensated by drinking too much smoothie and broth for the next few hours.  I won't be doing any walking today and will do only 1 mile tomorrow. 

In other news, the top I wore yesterday is one I got when I was doing this fast the first time.  When I bought it it was too snug for me to feel comfortable, but it was only $5 and I knew I'd eventually fit into it.  Besides, it had strawberries on it!  I've worn it these last two years and I put it on yesterday too.  It's too big! 

It drapes like a maternity top so I won't be wearing it again!  Time to make it into a pillow. 

Speaking of time, it's time to get today started and make it better than yesterday.  See you tomorrow.

2400 Steps!

Oh boy!  What a post this is going to be!  I've registered for The Sunrise Run, my first 5K. http://www.firsttothecross.com/  I still go my usual route near my house and increase the running portion by 10 steps per section per week.  I have about 5 weeks until the race and I was secretly wondering if I would get to the point where I'm running the entire distance and not walking at all right before the race and not really have time to get comfortable at that level.  I asked the race organizer for a map of the route so I could run it now because I don't like surprises.  I like to know what's coming and what I need to do.  She sent it to me, and a friend and I and our children have walked/jogged/rollerbladed it a few times.  The first time, my friend and I warmed up a little, ran 500 steps, walked some, ran 500 steps, walked some, etc. for the length of the course.  Not bad.  Stretching the distance a little for me, but very doable.  The next time we upped it to 600 steps each time we ran.  So far so good. 

Over the weekend I was talking to another friend, the one who challenged me to look into The Lord's Table Bible Study at www.SettingCaptivesFree.com that really jumpstarted my weight loss and through which I allowed God to transform me into a new and different person by changing the way I think (Romans 12:2 in NLT).  He suggested that instead of setting my goal at 500 or 600 steps, I just run until I can't run anymore and see how far I get.  I still needed to count, though, so Monday I suggested to my running friend that since we did 600 steps last week, we go for 1200 this time!  She agreed.  I kept count, calling out every 100 steps, and she kept encouraging us with, "We can do this!  Jesus is the strength in our legs!" and similar phrases.  When we got to 1200 steps we felt like we could continue so we did!  We ended up running 1600 steps that time!  Whew! 

We walked to catch our breath, then decided to go for 1800 steps.  As we hit 1800, neither of us stopped.  She said, "You have 2000 in mind, don't you?!"  I said, "I think I do!"  Then she suggested we run to the bridge we could see in front of us then walk for a while. 



That ended up being 2400 steps!  2400!  A mile is roughly 2000 steps, so we ran for more than a mile without stopping!  We walked a little way then ran to the end of the course, which turned out to be 1250 steps.  Incredible! 

Oh!  And then my daughter and I drove to a park for our fitness class, http://fitnessinfusiononline.com/, and did 45 minutes of that!

Ephesians 3:20 (MSG) - "God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, His Spirit deeply and gently within us."

That was Monday.  Today I was back to my usual route near my house.  I made a goal of running the entire first mile.  I did it!  I walked the next section to monitor my heart rate and to catch my breath, then ran the entire second mile (except for that first section)!  I did the same thing for the third mile. 

I ran the entire 3-mile distance except for two short sections!  I can't wait to get together with my friend again tomorrow and see what God can do with us on the race course!

I'm Not Perfect

Right now Chris Tomlin is on the radio singing, "Your grace is enough"!!!!!!!!!!


I'm feeling weak spiritually today because work is piling up and it's now 10:36 and I haven't exercised yet. I'm off to do that now in the heat. : (  Earlier, though, I ate a bowl of strawberries dipped in chocolate. It has certainly taken away the hunger I had, but I could've had just the berries. On the other hand, I wait all year for this. I don't buy strawberries

[Now JoyFM is playing From the Inside Out by Hillsong, one of my favorite worship songs. It starts out, "A thousand times I failed, still your mercy remains..."]

from the store since I discovered how good they are when I pick them myself, and if I thaw frozen ones, they're mushy. I have a very small window to enjoy fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate. Did I overeat, though? I could've had half the bowl earlier and half later, so yeah, I guess I did. I'm sorry, God. Please forgive me for overdoing it.

I know You have, and I thank You.  : )

Now Matt Redman is singing, "You never let go, through the calm and through the storm.  Oh no, You never let go, through every high and every low"!!  It's like God orchestrated the last few songs to play right as I'm typing this! 

Sigh.  : )  & <3 p="">
Now, on God's playlist for me (!), is Steven Curtis Chapman singing, "I'm divin' in, I'm goin' deep, in over my head I want to be, caught in the rush, lost in the flow in over my head I wanna go.  The river's deep, the river's wide, the river's water is alive.  So sink or swim I'm diving in!

This tells me that I messed up, I repented, and now God is saying, "Get back in the water, Michele.  You love it here.  In fact, come out where it's deeper, where the water's over your head.  Depend on me to hold you up.  Walk and jog now, then go to the beach later to swim out past the buoys.  THEN you can come home and work.  Let's go see what I [God] am capable of first, though."

Did it anyway!

My last post was about doing what I've set my mind to do whether I feel like it or not.  This week is walk, walk, jog +80 steps.  Several times this morning I didn't want to continue.  I wanted to either just go home or at least slow down to a walk.  There was no reason to do that, though.  None at all.  A long time ago I made it a personal rule when I think I can't jog the next section to at least start it.  If after starting to jog it I see that I can't continue, THEN I can walk it, but I have to at least try.  There may have been one time many months ago that I started jogging a section and had to stop.  Every other time I actually forget that I was thinking that and I just do it.  Nike was onto something when they made that their slogan!  Just do it!

So you don't think you can?  Just do it.
It's too hard?  Just do it. 
It's not worth it?  Yes it is.  Just do it.

JUST DO IT!

I did it and I'm glad.  : )  

Do it anyway!

I walked/jogged my usual 3 miles with increase on Monday when Brandice came over.  Yesterday I could do only 1-1/2 miles.  I just wimped out and plain didn't want to.  I'm feeling sluggish this week.  Today I didn't want to do it either, but I knew how important it was that I do since I didn't do the whole thing yesterday.  I told myself that at the very least I would walk the whole 3 miles.  I ended up doing my usual walking and jogging +70 steps, right on schedule!  Thank You, God!  I feel so much better than I would if I'd taken the easy way out.  Physically I'm tired, as usual. Spiritually, mentally, and emotionally, though...ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!  Victory!