Getting Closer to the 10K!

The other day I was driving and saw this sign:

 

No, thank you.  No; not thank you.  Just no.  2X is the size of clothes I used to wear (and sometimes even 3X), so I want no part of food that would very quickly get me back there.  Not that I want fake Taco Smell food anyway. 

I got up at 5:00 this morning to do my long run on the 10K course.  My goal was to run for at least 50 minutes, but I wasn’t able to do this course Monday for 45 minutes like I’d planned so I wondered if 50 minutes would be too much of a stretch for me. 

I had to put some gas in the car so I stopped to do that.  I paid $20 and look how much gas it gave me:

 

6.2 gallons.  A 10K is 6.2 miles!  Interesting! 

I got out and started my run up a small hill like usual and then it leveled out.  I ran almost 1 mile to the beginning of the big bridge then started to earn my downhill.  I really felt like I was in a groove this morning.  I’m still slow, but I enjoy running.  Especially this morning for some reason.  I came off the fun downhill and the long flat part wasn’t as difficult as it has been before, maybe because the cold temperature made it invigorating.  I hit the shops on Clearwater Beach chugging along and turned around about a block after Bay Esplanade.  I don’t know the exact turnaround point, but the instructions said it was just after that street so I went a block farther.  Later when I clocked it in the car the turnaround point I used was exactly 3.1 miles.  Yay me!  At the turnaround I was only at about 40 minutes so I continued running back the way I’d come.  Then I switched to walking at 50 minutes.  I made the change to more accurately run the course that the actual race will take and go back across the bridge on the opposite side from the one I’d come over on.  I didn’t know how many minutes I would walk, but I knew I would have to start running again no later than the base of the bridge.  I ended up walking for 18 minutes, probably longer than I needed to.  Live and learn and change it next time.  There was a water fountain so I got a drink and then walked a short distance to the base of the bridge.  I started running up it and saw where it looked like the railing leveled off.  Yay!  The top!  Then why does it still feel like I’m going up?  Sigh.  Whatever.  Keep running.  I finally felt the downhill and then I saw what they call the helix but I like the word spiral better.  There is a spiral down ramp on that side of the bridge instead of just a long slope on the side I’ve been running.  Fun!  There were no walkers, other runners, or cyclists so I had it all to myself! 

 

Round and round she goes!  Where she stops nobody knows!  Oh no; she knows where she’ll stop – the finish line!

Oh.  There’s another hill to run up. 
 

 

I finished running the spiral and ran up the hill.  I knew that it would be flat at the top and that I’d make a left turn there, run a few blocks, and then make another left turn and go downhill to the finish line!  Knowing that made it not so bad. 

I made the finish line (Well, Coachman Park.  I don’t know where the exact start and finish line will be.) in 1:23:42.  That’s a 13:30 pace, which is pretty slow, but later I remembered that I walked for 18 minutes, so when I run the whole thing (notice I said when and not if ;-)) my pace will be faster.  I need to work on getting my pace faster regardless, though. 

I’m going out of town for Thanksgiving but still plan to run two long distances at 55 and (GASP!) 60 minutes and two easy 40-minute runs.  I want to do trail running, though, so we’ll see how that affects my endurance. 

I'm Getting There!

At the end of my last blog post I asked if you thought that next time I’d go 35 minutes in one direction before turning around. 

Raise your hand if you thought I would.  You win, because I did! 

I took the same course except for a little correction to start on the right street, on the north side of the park and not the south side.  Oops.  I think I still need to correct another part.  I run on the same side of the bridge out and back, but I think the actual course comes back on the other side.  My way takes safety into account but with vehicle traffic banned from the course they can do things a little differently on race day.  In my last post I had two pictures of the bridge that I couldn’t get side by side so you could see how big it is.  My friend Doug melded the two together for me so you can get a better idea of the length and height of this bridge I run twice two days a week.  Thanks, Doug!

I ran for 35 minutes, almost to the turnaround point for the actual race, then turned around and went back.  I ran for a total of 40 minutes, which is my usual running time, and then walked for 4 minutes.  I’m a little disappointed about that, but I started the race hungry and battled that all the way through.  I then ran some, walked a few more minutes, ran, walked, etc.  I walked for a total of probably 10 minutes.  I made sure I ran the entire bridge, though!  I have to earn the fun downhill and I do that by running the uphill. 

I traveled 2.7 miles in one direction and then back for a total of 5.4.  I’m getting there!  I know I may have to walk part of the distance on race day, and that’s okay.  I’d like to run the whole thing, but it’s okay if I don’t.  As long as I run the entire bridge both times, that is!  I finished the course in 1:13:54, which is about 13:30 per mile.  A little slower than I’d like but, again, that’s okay.  I’m running.  Period. 

I think I’m going to run the course again on Monday, so I’ll let you know how that goes.  Will I go 40 minutes in one direction?  If I continue to run the course twice a week and increase by 5 minutes each time, I can be running the entire thing by December 7.  When I think about that I get a nail-biting, I-don’t-know-about-this feeling like I probably had when I registered for my very first race without being able to run the whole thing at that time.  And that was an easy 3.1 miles!  Look how far God has brought me!  I did run the full distance about a week before race day, though, just like this will be (I hope). 

I know I need to eat a better meal the night before a long run.  I had a big lunch yesterday and a small supper, which is what I prefer in general (eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and supper like a pauper), but which doesn’t work too well when I’m pushing my body beyond its limits.  Live and learn. 

Okay, I interrupted composing this post to actually register for the race.  Exciting!  I have an exercise jar (actually a piggy bank) into which I put a dollar each time I run or otherwise exercise. 

I took $19 out of it to pay the fee.  I’m committed now! 

One of the songs on my playlist is the Veggie Tales song about knocking down the walls of Jericho that I adapted to my running:  “Keep running…and I will knock down that wall!  Keep running…and I am not gonna fall!  It’s plain to seeeeeee my God is very big, so keep running…I will be knocking down that wall!”  I think for this race I want friends or family members stationed somewhere along the route with a paper banner of a brick wall and the words “I Can’t” on it.  As I run by I’ll break through the banner!  That sounds like fun! 

Once again, my friend Doug came through for me.  I googled pictures of brick walls but don't know how to add words to an image.  I made a brick wall texture background in Word and added "I Can't" to it but it wouldn't copy to this blog.  I asked Doug for help and he sent me this picture.  Um, that's quite a wall, there, Doug.  Thank you. 

My Farthest Distance Yet!

I ran 4.6 miles of a 6.2-mile (10K) course this morning.  This was in preparation for the 10K I want to do next month.  I’d gone the full 10K distance before but that was running half and walking half.  Today I ran more than half.  And that included going over the Clearwater Causeway bridge out and back! 

I took these as a panoramic shot but I don't know how to get them that way on the page.  You'll just have to imagine them side by side and imagine me running up, across, and down. 

I set a goal of running for 30 minutes, turning around, and running back.  I was only on the second song when I heard myself say, “22?  23?  How about 25?” 

“NO!”  I answered out loud.  “30!  I said 30 minutes!  Run for 30 minutes!”  While Mandisa was singing:

It's a good morning!
Wake up to a brand new day
This morning
I'm stepping, stepping on my way
Good morning
You give me strength
You give me just what I need
And I can feel the hope that's rising up in me.
It's a good morning

I was trying to tell myself to shorten the distance I was going to run.  (Sigh.  Shaking my head.)

I met my competition.  Her name is My Own Thoughts.  My competition is not against any other runner.  It’s not even against the voice in my head telling me to stop because there isn't a voice telling me to stop.  It knows I won’t do that.  It does know that there’s a very real possibility I will shorten the time or distance I’m going to run or that I’ll slow to a walk if it can catch me at the right (wrong) time.  It knows I’ll say that walking is better than doing nothing.  It knows I’ll say that the fact I’m running at all is an accomplishment and I’ve already run some so it’s okay if I walk some. 

This morning was not the right time to catch me in those thoughts!  I not only told myself (more like gasped) out loud that I would run for 30 minutes, I kept telling myself out loud, “Keep running.”  A few yards later, “Keep running.”  (Check my watch.  Only at 15 minutes, halfway to the turnaround point.)  “Keep running.  Look how far you’ve come!  You made it up the HUGE bridge, across the top, and you earned the downhill!  Wasn’t it fun?!  Yeah, the downhill was fun!  Keep running.” 

After 30 minutes I turned around and headed back.  I had maybe ¼ mile to go before I hit the bridge again.  I prayed that God would help me focus on His creation along the way to keep me going and that the sun wouldn’t blind me.  I didn’t want to focus on that!  I hit the bridge and, man, did I feel that incline!  Part way up, though, a cool breeze came from behind to keep me from getting overheated.  It was God pushing me!  No way could I slow to a walk now!  Besides, I knew I had to earn the downhill again.  On the downhill portion I even raised my arms up for a second!  (well, as much as my left arm could go without disconnecting my music) 

At some point on the run I was thanking God for giving me a body that can run.  I thought of the verse that says “You have given me a body to offer.”  Hebrews 10:5.  My running can be an act of worship.  I can offer it to God to be used to give glory and attention to Him.  Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Dear brothers and sisters…give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you.  Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable.  This is truly the way to worship Him.  Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

By offering my body for God to use as He sees fit, He can change my thinking so that I will know His will.  He can change my thinking from wanting to get by with a shorter distance to running farther than I ever have before!

I finished this run after 1 hour and 2 minutes and then drove it to see the distance I had gone - 2.3 miles in one direction and then back for a total of 4.6, the farthest distance I’ve ever completely run. 

Will I go 35 minutes in one direction the next time I do this course?  What do you think I’ll do?

This evening I got an email from a friend who put the two pictures together so you can get a better idea of the HUGE bridge I ran.  Thanks, Doug!  :-)

 

 

 

 

I was struggling on my run yesterday morning.  I have been struggling for weeks or even months to get my time back down.  I want to move on to longer distances but I also want to get my time down and it just isn’t happening.  I’m discouraged.  Yesterday morning I was running and talking with my friend and running partner, Melisa.  We were near the end of our 3.1-mile (plus a little bit more) run and I was lagging behind.  Actually, I’d been lagging behind the entire time.  Just a few steps, but behind. 

I was struggling to remember the words to the Veggie Tales song I personalized for my runs.  I could remember the way the French peas sing it, but not my version.  It took some real brainpower and a couple false starts to finally get it, and then I sang it over and over about 10 times.  I remembered when I used to still walk part of the way on the course near my house and how I would find a focal point on each section.  It was always something God made - usually a tree - and not something man made.  I started to say, “God, give me a focal point,” but all I got out was, “God, give” and BOOM!  there was a palm tree I knew was my focal point! 

 

(the one just to the left of the building)  It was high and leafy and black against the sky that was just barely starting to turn pink with the rising sun.  (I took these pictures in the evening because it was still dark after our run and the pictures I took then didn't turn out.)  I stared at that palm tree until the sidewalk curved a little and something blocked my view of it. 

 

I didn’t purposely turn off the path or take my eyes off the tree, but something I had no control over blocked my view of it.  It was still there but I couldn’t see it.  A few seconds later it came back into view

 

and then shortly after that it was hidden again.  Just before we had to turn the corner I saw it once more.  After we turned I said, “Okay, God, I need another focal point.”  The trees I could see were all running together and I couldn’t pick out a specific one.  There was a pretty street light but that’s artificial.  I wanted something God made.  He said, “I know you do, but you’ll just have to pretend this time.”  I thought about how God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.  I watched the light, artificial though it was, illuminate the tree it was in front of. 

 

I passed that light and needed another focal point.  I saw another tree up ahead (just to the right of the pink pillar closer to the sidewalk) and focused on it. 

 

Then, again through no fault of mine and even though I was staying on the path (sidewalk), my view of my focal point was obstructed by a man-made object. 

 

I kept running.  Soon the tree came into view again. 

 

Now Melisa pushed me to run the last leg of our course and give it all we had.  We turned another corner and I looked for a last focal point.  I could barely see it, but straight ahead of us was a tree. 

 

(We were much farther away when I first saw it but it didn't show up in the picture at that point.)  It was still pretty dark and I couldn’t clearly see the leafy part, but I clearly saw the trunk.  Weird.  I would think that would be the easiest to blend into the darkness.  I kept running toward it anyway and finished our normal course plus about another 1/10 of a mile that I’d suggested we add when we started. 

It was my plan to focus on God-made objects to help me run, and it was God’s plan to give me objects He made to help me run.  Occasionally those objects were hidden from my view, but I kept on running anyway.  What’s really cool is that each object showed me a different aspect of God.  The leaves of the trees were pretty and leafy and high up and nice to look at.  The light, even though it was artificial, showed me how God lights my path.  The tree trunk was solid and stable.  All different and all helped me get to my goal, which was to glorify God with my body.  1 Corinthians 6:20.

I'm Baaaaaaack!!!

I hadn’t run since last Saturday’s Chick-Fil-A Fall Stampede 5K because my running partner is sick and I’ve had scheduling difficulties, plus I’ve been feeling under the weather – not quite sick but like my body is trying to get there. 

Until this morning!  I went out about 6:45, as soon as it was light, and made it my goal to run each mile in 12-1/2 minutes or less.  I’ve done that before but not in a long time and have been right at 13 minutes per mile for at least the last 6 weeks, as long as I’ve been keeping a log.  So, 1 mile at 12-1/2 minutes means I should be at the half-mile mark at 6:15.  I could tell I was starting out running faster than usual, and I got to the half-mile mark at 5:something.  Woo hoo!  At one mile I was at 11:52, more than 30 seconds ahead of pace!  Thank You, God! 

I should be at the 2-mile mark at 25:00.  I was there at 24:29.  Thank You again, God! 

I should be at the 3-mile mark at 37:30.  Actually, there isn’t a mark at 3 miles, just 3.1, and I was there at 39:15!  I haven’t been under 40 minutes in a month!  God, I don’t know how You made this getting-older, almost-sick body go faster, but You did!  Thank You! 

I did remember to move my arms forward because my running partner told me, “Where your arms go, your legs will follow.”  I was aware of someone else’s advice to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth instead of in and out through my mouth, but I just can’t do that yet.  I’ll practice it when I walk, but when I run, I need to get as much oxygen in as I can right now. 

I feel really good.  Yes, I am tired and I feel a little bit of soreness in my hip joints.  No, not soreness, just awareness that my hips connect my legs to my trunk.  But it’s a good tired and a good awareness!  Ahhhh!!!  I’m baaaaaaack!!!

My First Long Run (well, sort of)

I’ve been wanting to do a long run for a few weeks.  I always run 3.1 miles and have started going a little bit farther most times, but probably haven’t gotten farther than 1/10 of a mile beyond 3.1.  Nothing wrong with that.  It’s how I got to 3.1 miles.  I just felt the need to see how far I could go if I didn’t set limits.  My plan was to run as far as I could but remember that I had to go all the way back. 

This morning I drove to the closest spot to my house where I could get on the Pinellas Trail – Park Street and Bay Pines Blvd. 

 

I started by going up the stairs.  It’s hard to see them, but they’re under the third lit traffic light in this picture.  Nothing like a good flight of stairs to start your workout!  J  The trail then had to go down, of course, which was fun.  It continued across the water where I had a gentle breeze.  Ahhh!!!  So refreshing compared to running in what feels like 100% humidity for the last five months. 

I continued running and listening to music.  I seemed to be making slow progress because when I looked at my watch it said I had been running for about 12 minutes but I wasn’t to the song I usually hear at the 1-mile mark.  Uh oh.  Why was I running slower this morning?  Oh.  Maybe it was the Five Guys burger I had last night.  Ugh.  L  I won’t be doing that again for a long time, if ever.  And if I do, I’ll try to remember to order a little burger, which has only one patty. 

Anyway, I kept plugging along.  I had no way of really measuring distance on the trail.  They should put mile markers on the trail.  They could start at the north end and put markers every mile and start at the south end and put markers every mile in the other direction.  I should suggest that to the county. 

After a while I came to the overpass/hill at Seminole Blvd.

 

Whee!  Downhill is fun! 

Chugging along, enjoying my music, remembering to pick my feet up.  Almost done!  I could see another overpass/hill coming up, but 40 minutes was also coming up, which is how long it takes me to run 3.1 miles.  I couldn’t quit at the bottom of the hill, so when I hit 40 minutes I continued running.  I got to the bottom of the hill at 41:20 and then walked up it.  This was the one at 113^th Street.  I walked across then down the other side, turned around, and did it again.  HA!  I WILL conquer hills even if I have start out by walking them! 

I walked back to the car, 3.1 miles away.  I ended up going 6.2 miles plus two and a half overpasses/hills in 1 hour and 47 minutes.  That’s twice as far as I’ve ever gone and I ran half the way. 

It didn’t turn out exactly like I’d envisioned with me pushing myself to run, but I just couldn’t see running up another overpass/hill at the end of my usual run.  Maybe next time. 

I definitely put $2 in my workout jar today instead of just $1.  J 

 

That piggy’s getting fat!  And I’m not! 

In related news, I was hungry for lunch today but everything I thought of to make sounded blah.  I know!  Little bits of ice cream on Teddy Grahams!  Um…are you kidding, Michele!  That’s ridiculous!  Then the words of a Hawk Nelson song popped into my head, “They look at us like we’re ridiculous.  Maybe it’s all because of crazy love.”  Oh, yeah.  Jesus loves me with crazy love.  And I’m about to show how much I love Him by putting ice cream on Teddy Grahams for lunch.  I rinsed the ice cream down the drain.  Ups and downs but always moving forward. 

Throwing Food Away

Sometimes after we leave the beach my daughter and I go to Candy Kitchen on Madeira Beach.  They have the best birthday cake ice cream!  They make their own ice cream and for this one they make the cake, frost it, and decorate it, then mix it into the ice cream.  Oh yeah! 

I got some last night, but only one scoop.  I was enjoying the ice cream without one bit of guilt on my way home and had one bite left in the cup and one on the spoon when I passed this sign:

 

I thought, “You do satisfy, Jesus.  And so does this ice cream.  Of course, You satisfy me more.”  He said, “Do I satisfy you enough for you to give up the last bite of it?”  Of course He does!  So I did, and I did it gladly!

For lunch yesterday we went to Cracker Barrel and I got brown rice with mushrooms as one of my sides.  I brought it and some of my other food home and was eating it for a late supper last night.  Something happened as it sat in the fridge because it was very salty - too salty for me to eat.  In fact, that was my thought as I took a couple bites.  God said, "So why are you still eating it?"  I immediately got up and threw it away. 

There's freedom in being able to throw away food that doesn't benefit me.  Of course I'm not wasteful, but it's okay to occasionally throw something away, especially if God prompts me too!