A New Approach

You may have noticed that I'm no longer tracking my progress at the top of each posting. Yeah, that lasted a long time.

And, if you follow us on Facebook, you may have been asking yourself whether I really elbowed someone.

And, if you know me at all, you may have occasionally wondered whether I actually am running at all or just making up a really great story.

Well, my friends, today, I plan on clearing all of this up for you.

Let's start with the last point. Yes. I do really run. I have witnesses, and quite frankly, these stories can't be made up. However, for those still in disbelief, Jeff joined me on my 8km run on Sunday and attempted to photo document the run. Now, Jeff is not nearly as talented with photography as I am (as you will notice when you see the shot I took of Jeff, versus his shots of me), but what matters is that we finally have real evidence of my efforts and I plan on speckling them throughout this entry for your entertainment.

Now onto more fun topics - the elbowing. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to admit to this in the blog - I mean, it's really not great for this inspiring image I am going for. But, it is reality, I'm sure many runners have wanted to do the same, and gosh darnit, it's pretty funny.

So, let me set the stage.

Saturdays, as you know, are my distance runs. This past Saturday I had the amazing feat of running 14.5km, the longest I have run to date. Saturday was a beautiful Fall day, nice weather, bright sun, gorgeous colours. I was ready for this run and having a blast doing it.

Now, the farthest I have run so far is somewhere around 12km, which is what I did on my 120 minute run in September. So, once I passed this mark (and perhaps a little before it), I could feel the exhaustion setting in. Adrenaline and the sheer shock that you will actually do it keeps you going (I had turned a direction at 10km that forced me to finish after that point). But, you just want to be done.

The angel and the devil on your shoulders really do come out as you're nearing the end. The devil tells you to cut corners, not to run further than you really need to. The angel tells you you're doing awesome and keep up the great pace.

This is the conversation going on when 3 college-aged girls appear on the sidewalk ahead of me. And yes, three means they take up the whole sidewalk. Since they don't appear to be moving, I swing to the left, hoping that girl will make a move behind her friend so I can get by.

No movement.

So, I swing to the right. Still no movement.

The devil on my shoulder says 'Crap, you probably just ran an extra 50m because of all that swinging', so I swing to the left once more, and steady the course. 

Well, left girl starts non-verbally throwing attitude, and of course, is not moving.

Listen honey. I just ran 12km. I will not be the one going around you.

The attitude throwing continued so, as I passed her, teetering on the edge of grass and sidewalk, my right arm may have come up (I was running, my arms swing the whole time) and knocked her arm at a good running speed. 

For the first 5 seconds post-contact, I was thinking 'I hope every time she looks at that bruise she remembers that runners should have the right of way'.....every second after that I was thinking 'I am such an evil person.'

I would like to point out that it wasn't an entirely malicious elbow, and that I did only hit her arm. Not her head. A car driving by wouldn't have even noticed. But boy, the last 3 kilometres just sped by.

Ahhhhh, so, moving on from that, my progress tracking - yes, it ain't up there anymore.

Here's why:

I'm starting to realize that tracking my ratios the entire run isn't motivating for me and I encourage anyone really getting into running, to let this technique go.

It's great for starting out and I do recommend perhaps running for a week or two using a watch with a secondhand or a stop watch, and running for a set period of time before walking. 

However, after this, just run.

You eventually get into a rhythm, or, if you often run the same route like me, you start to learn your markers and know where your walking break starts anyway. The fact is, when you know you should be running for 10 minutes, and you can't seem to go longer than 3 minutes, it can be discouraging.

This feeling, especially for me, tends to overshadow the fact that I completed another run of whatever distance - instead, it's how well I performed on the run.

I'm currently being challenged by the fact that my walking breaks may last longer than one minute without my watch reminding me, but I feel better about my runs. I note my time at certain points during my run, and when I finish, so I can see if my pace has improved, but overall, it's about finishing the run.

My goal has been to finish the marathon and the number of walking breaks, or the pace I run at, will not make a difference to this.

I've also started writing myself congratulatory notes around the apartment after each run. "Today I ran 10.5km farther than yesterday", "Today I ran 8km farther than last week", "Today I ran 5km, heck yes!". And yes, each was my scheduled run for the day.

I'm averaging a 15-minute mile, and I am okay with that, because

 on Saturday, that 15-minute mile meant I ran 14.5km. And this coming Saturday, it will help me finish 24km. Yes, for those schooled up on the subject, that is 3km farther than a half marathon.

Anyone want to wait at the apartment to cheer me as I cross the finish line?

Monster Mash

We hope to see everyone out next Friday! Remember to order your tickets!

Is this inspiring you yet?

Has anyone noticed lately that it's cold outside?

I've been noticing and not running my trail much lately...my poor, poor trail; it must be so lonely. A lot of trees on my trail are already missing their leaves, although some trees are still green. I suppose this is the one difference between Southwestern and Eastern Ontario. My hometown's trees are always a blazing red by now, and no tree is untouched. Here in Southwestern Ontario however, some trees are just stubborn - like me.

It's true, I am still waiting for the weather guy to say "Okay, cold spat is over, now summer is finally starting". Maybe that's why it took me until the end of September to finally invest in a long sleeve running shirt. Or why it was just yesterday that I finally purchased a microfibre running jacket. And yes, both were still budget friendly (which may have played a role in the delay of the purchase) - the shirt I bought from a 50% off rack at Sportchek, and the jacket was featured in this week's flyer, also at 50% off ($29.99! Heck yes!).

Needless to say, I bought these great 'cold weather' pieces, dug out my gloves, stocked up on GU Chews, and was very excited to burst out the door and finally hit my trail again for the first time since the weather has gotten ugly.

It was still cold.

I didn't waver in the face of frigidity however, I pushed on. My new top and jacket worked pretty well - initially you don't feel very warm because of those darned wicking materials feeling so light against the wind. Once you start sweating though, they take the sweat away from your body so you stay warmer - and I did - on my top half.

You may have noticed the lack of mention of running pants. This is because I have yet to find a pair for less than $60. I have 2 pairs of long 'active' pants from years past, but they drag on the ground and aren't technically built for real physical activity - you know the ones I'm talking about. So, my options are limited to shorts or my running capris that I wore all summer.

See now, Jeff runs in shorts in this weather, so I figure this will work for me as well and didn't think much of my capris. Plus, our trainer keeps reminding us to train in what you will race in (so you don't have any chaffing surprises on race day).

Let me put it this way - the plus side of wearing my running capris instead of long pants is that I won't struggle with shin splints anymore since I am icing my shins throughout the entirety of my run! We won't even get in to the point where my buttocks actually froze in place and I had to cup them on my walking breaks to try to heat them up.

This brings me to the point of today's entry - look at all that I go through in my training.

Now, think back to the goals that Jeff and I had set for ourselves when we started out on this thing:

1) Challenge ourselves - well, I do that practically every week. Not only is getting out on the run a challenge, but usually each week I am running farther than last week, which means, each day is a new challenge

2) Raise $12,000 for the Canadian Diabetes Association - that's a given

3) Complete the marathon - again, a given

4) Inspire others - I think I may have mentioned 'to live a healthier lifestyle' or something as well, but any inspiration will suffice for me. The fact is, this is the one thing I don't know that we have accomplished yet, and yet it is the most important one of them all to me.

What is the point of all that I am doing if I'm not inspiring anyone with my story? I mean, seriously people

Now, not only have I braved frozen buttocks and frigid running temperatures, but you know I have fought the sweaty sports bra war, low blood sugars on the trail, attack chiuhuahuas, grumpy garage salers, high velocity winds, bastard hills and mini bastard hills, shin splints, blisters, and every injury in between.

This can't be in vain - why am I putting myself through this?

In truth, Jeff and I keep inspiring each other and ourselves, which is great, but slightly lame when our goal is to inspire you.

So, here is my plea -

Help me keep running. Challenge yourself. Get off the couch or go do something you are afraid of doing. Bottom line, if we have inspired you in any way since the end of June until now, please tell us.

We need to hear it!

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"Today I ran 2.5km farther than I did yesterday".

Get up, get outta that funk!

You think this was bad? You should see my childhood diaries that go 6 months - 2 years without an entry.

The funny thing is, it's not like I didn't have things to share, things to write about. It's not like I didn't want to write - I just didn't. It started because I was overwhelmingly busy and couldn't do so many things in my day, so the blog was the first thing to go. I figured I would go a day or two and then just do a big catch-up again.

Then several weeks later, it was just a lack of motivation. Again, there were things to write about and things I wanted to share with my friends, family, and followers - but it just became a low priority.

A little while after that it was complete disinterest. I've been in this adventure now for over 3 months - and I just wanted a break. "Wouldn't it be nice to do nothing but watch a movie and knit all day?" I would think....and of course, this isn't what I would do but blogging was also something I wouldn't do.

So, then we're nearing October and I keep saying to myself 'You have got to write your blog today' - but it just got to a point of what's one more day.

The thing is, once you get started on not writing (or not fundraising, or not running), it becomes so easy to go back to the life you had before this adventure. It becomes so easy to just wait until tomorrow - and then you start to feel really bad about it.

Jeff and I have experienced a number of setbacks in the past month - bad weather is one big one, as is our regular poor luck with fundraisers. We've also experienced some great milestones - for me, the day I ran for 115 minutes before attending the wedding of two of my oldest friends; or the day that I brought my pace down to a 13-minute mile; or for both of us, breaking $7,000, with only $5,000 to go.

It has been a challenging, but equally rewarding and amazing month.

So, yes - on the 'state of my running' front: I have improved my pace by an entire minute-per-mile, which is unbelievable to me. I have been more comfortable running for longer periods of time before taking my walking breaks, although I'm not entirely sure I will be able to complete the entire marathon with a 10 minute:1 minute run/walk ratio. But man oh man, you should have seen how shocked I was when I actually finished my 115 minute run.

That was just the week after the 90-minute run that I couldn't complete thanks to shin splints. What a rush it was to surpass the 90-minute mark without much complaint! Of course I couldn't help but think that I was out running for the length of a decent movie (and wouldn't it have been nicer to just watch a movie?), but an audio book and some good tunes made the time fly by - especially when I had to retrace my route 4 or 5 times because I was moving faster than I had anticipated.

Then of course I switched from duration runs the following week to distance runs. That was a real shock to my system that I am still trying to work through. My brain got so used to preparing to run for a period of time that when I say to myself 'today we are running 8km', my brain doesn't understand and ends up afraid. Fear means I consider not running, and some days, I don't.

But I am still progressing and moving forwards and know that I will cross that finish line as I had originally intended.

Also as I mentioned, we have surpassed $7,000 in our fundraising. In fact, we are hovering right around $7,500, which is incredibly exciting. We're both getting exhausted from asking people for money for the same thing so many times for so many months, but are confident we will make our final goal. We currently have a big halloween party planned for October 30th, which will help us move another step closer to our goal. Once all the details are in place for that party, we are going to work on some smaller events that will make up the rest.

I'm not making any promises, but I am going to do my best to not fall so behind on my blog entries again. We have 34 days until our final deadline, and 64 until race day. At the very least, I will make an effort to share a story weekly on here.

And in the meantime, I know Jeff and I both want to thank all of you for following along with our story, and inspiring us to keep going, keep trying, and keep running. Your words, donations, and hours of support are worth more than we can explain!

And remember if you are completing your own adventure alongside us - no matter how tempting your old life may be to go back to, keep challenging yourself to stay in the adventure you are in. It is an amazing reward that you will not want to look back at and think 'I gave up for a while'.

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"Even if I come in last place, I'm still in front of the guy who didn't get off the couch"