Why I Love Racing

I am determined that if I keep racing, one day I'm going to make a good friend out of one of the strangers that run near me.  It's one of my favorite things about racing. We all take off in a big pack, but in the first half mile everyone starts to space out and you quickly can spot who you're going to be running with for the next hour.

Today, I started next to an older-than-me gentleman who celebrated with me when we reached the 1 mile marker before we even had a chance to think about it.  He kept running, even when I stopped for a walk break, but I caught up again once I started running. 

I finished up near a mom in her 30s.  She had started out behind me, but caught up with me on one of my walk breaks. She said something encouraging as she passed me, which got me running again.  Then, somewhere between mile three and four, we were running next to each other when we appeared at the top of a big hill.  I said, "Whoo hoo, look at that awesome downhill!"  It really was a thing of beauty, so long and not steep, it was going to be a joy to run down.  You couldn't even see the end where it would inevitably rise.  Then eventually we could see the rise, and she looked at me and said, "Yeah, but what goes down..." and I finished her sentence with "Must come up!"  We kept each other going through that uphill and stayed close the rest of the race.  In mile 5, I ended up having to walk more than I would've liked.  My friend passed me and  kept going.  I saw her after I finished, and we congratulated each other.    

Besides the random runners near me, the other thing I love about races is the determination of each runner and the spirit of the volunteers.  We stayed around after and watched those who finished after me cross the finish line.  Each one finished at a run with a big smile on his or her face. It just makes you proud to watch, knowing what that person is feeling as they finish.  Plus, out on the course, there are a lot of volunteers at key intersections or water stops.  They are all so supportive and encouraging of us runners, it just makes you feel good.

So, you're probably wondering how I did.  I finished in one hour, eight minutes and 44 seconds.  I walked more than I would've liked, but I finished and not far off my goal of 1:06.  My pace was just over 11 minutes per mile, so I'm pretty happy. It gives me room for improvement when I run the Hot Chocolate 10k in Asheville in January, too!  Here's some pics!

Me and Jess, one of my running inspirations, just before the race, which was just after sunrise. The 10k was Halloween-themed, and lots of people were in costume for the race, so we felt the need to pose with something Halloween-y.

Go 352!

Post-race orange slice pictures are a must for me.

The Courage to Start

After I finished my last race six weeks ago, I went to hang out at my sister's house.  My niece eagerly greeted  me with, "So, did you win your race, Jill?"

It made me laugh, and I answered, "No, but I did really well."

See, she only understands winning and losing when it comes to races, but then again, she is only four.  She doesn't understand that just finishing the race is a major victory. She doesn't understand that coming in 197th in that 5k actually means I won.  As running expert and author John Bingham said, "The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle was that I had the courage to start."

Tomorrow I'm running in my first 10k, which is 6.2 miles.  I won't be running the whole thing, I can guarantee you.  I'm actually pretty nervous about it, because I've had some not-so-great runs this week. (See yesterday's post on Wasted Worry for more info)

Still, a year ago I was just starting to run, and I could not run more than two minutes at a time. Keeping that in mind, everything I do now is a victory.  There is no way to lose.

I always run with my iphone, so if you want to send me some encouragement, I would love to get texts or even facebook messages (Those will be a little harder to check, but I might do it on a walk break) while I'm running.  The race starts at 7:45 a.m. eastern time and will last until about 9 a.m. with the way I run.

Wasted Worry

Today as I started my last run before my 10k this weekend, I was worrying.  My last couple of runs have not been great, and I was worrying about what I was getting into this weekend and whether or not I would be able to make it through the short run (three miles) I had planned for today.

Then I started thinking about how fruitless worrying always is. For instance last night I didn't sleep well because I had a photo shoot early this morning on campus with students and a VIP.  I was worried that the students wouldn't show up on time, that the VIP would have to wait, that the commencement robes I picked up to be worn in the photo wouldn't work size-wise, that the students wouldn't arrive dressed in the clothes I asked them to wear, and on and on. You get the picture.  But guess what? It went really well.  The students were all early and appropriately dressed and the robes were perfect and none of it was because I worried.  But then I started thinking, what would've happened if they hadn't shown up?  We would've rescheduled.  It wouldn't have been the end of the world; why did it keep me from sleeping last night?

Then all through a meeting this morning I worried about how I had one of our designers start on a project before I got clear direction from the client.  I was thinking about how I was going to show our progress without making it clear that we hadn't waited for more information, and then I worried that I had wasted the deisgner's time.  But when the time came to share it, everything was fine. I guess I did waste a little of his time, but the start he got on the project gave some direction to our conversation about where it needed to go and ultimately end up, so it wasn't completely wasted.

So even as I was running and thinking about these two very recent examples of wasted worry, I was still worrying about a second photo shoot I have tonight (will the student models show up?), the run I was currently running, the run I have foolishly agreed to do on Saturday, a scratchy throat I'm fighting and the next 10 pounds of my weight loss. This was all after my realization that worry is so wasted!

The thing is, I know in my head that it is pointless to worry, but is something I'm still pretty good at.  I think it comes down again to positive thinking.  You've got to fight worry with happy thoughts and maybe you have to "fake it til you make it," meaning that even if you don't feel positive or happy about something just act like you do.  Then eventually you will, I guess.

Here's to happy thoughts for my Saturday run! I'm still trying to convince myself I can do this!

A Fruity Experiment

So I was at the store this weekend, when I turned a corner in the produce section and came across a beautiful display of a particular fruit that I could not identify. Each piece of this particular fruit was a variety of colors, changing from a fresh-looking green to a ripe red.  It looked like a lot of the trees do right now; you know, they are in the process of changing colors so they are both green and red at the same time. They looked like this:

Anyway, I got closer, saw the tag identified it as a mango, and thought "I would like to eat this, but I do not know how". It's not the first time that I've seen fruits or vegetables that I would like to eat but can't even identify in the produce section.  See, I eat a lot of fruit, but pretty much only strawberries, grapes and bananas.

I came up with a brilliant plan to try out a new fruit or vegetable every once in awhile and let you know about it.  So today, I googled "How to eat a Mango" and found an answer on e-how.com (actually it was two answers:"how to eat from the skin" and "how to eat in civilized fashion." I chose to eat it civilizedly). Basically it worked a lot like a pineapple. It has a pit or a core in the middle of it, and you slice it vertically.
Here's what the inside looks like:

Now, I have no idea if these mangos were ripe, although one was slightly softer than the other, so I thought it probably was (maybe I should've Googled, "How to Tell if a Mango is Ripe").  To be honest, though, I was not in love with the fresh mango.  It had an almost choloriseptic taste.  I mean it wasn't horrible, it just wasn't good enough to be worth the effort of peeling and cutting up the mango.

Are there any fruits or vegetables you think I should try?  Let me know!

Make a Good Choice

Another edition of Memory Mondays....
First, some background.  Moe's, my favorite restaurant, is on the other side of town, about 20 minutes from my house.  That distance helps keep me from going there more than I should.  One of my typical meals at Moe's, while not completely unhealthy, averages 300-400 calories more than what I make for a meal at home.

One day last fall, I left work and had to run by the library to pick up some books I had on hold. It was a weekday, like a Tuesday. I had a delicious and nutritious meal waiting for me at home, but I was tired and missing my Moe's fix. When the idea that going to the library would take me halfway to Moe's crossed my mind, it never left. So from campus to the library, while I waited at the library, and as I began to drive away, I argued with myself about whether or not I should drive the rest of the way to Moe's or go home to the meal I had waiting for me in the fridge.  Literally, I had an actual conversation with myself about it.

As I approached the point where I had to turn to go to Moe's or continue straight to go home, I reached exasperation-level with myself and said out loud, "Just make a good choice, Jill." Then I continued straight.

I went home feeling really good about the decision I made.  Really empowered, I guess, like I actually had control over this crazy journey.  I have the power to decide which way to go, which path to take.  Food does not control me unless I let it.  It's something I try to remember, but can be easy to forget.  Even now, whenever I get into one of these arguments with myself over food, I remember that night and try to make the good choice.

A Saturday Running Adventure

So today my little Saturday morning running club of Kristy, Jess and myself went to run at the Greenway in Fort Mill for the first time.  It's kind of exciting to run in a new place for the first time. We get there and we're chatting with the guy that sits in the little shack at the entrance.  He asks what trail we're taking and we tell him the Sugar Trail.  He says "That one goes up and down like this" and makes a motion with his hand like a small ocean wave.  Then he says, "Even walkers find that trail challenging."

Immediately this made me nervous. I was hoping for a good solid six miles, running the whole way, looking to take that as a sign that I should register for the 10k (which is 6.2 miles) that is next weekend.  See it's a couple of weeks before my training program tells me I'll be ready, but there's not another 10k that I would want to do until the end of January. That is a long time to wait when you're this close. So, I've been trying to decide if I should do it or not.

So we start out, heading for the Sugar Trail.  The trails at the Greenway are unpaved, single file through the woods. Let me tell you, it is completely different doing trail running than it is to run on pavement through parks or neighborhoods. First, there were tree roots everywhere. You had to run with you head down the whole time.  Also, there were lots of leaves wet with dew, so you had to watch your step. It was probably really beautiful, but I couldn't tell you that for sure because all I saw was my feet, roots and leaves.

You also have to pay attention and know where you are going with trail runs.  This is key. The trails often cross each other or come together and then break apart. We got temporarily lost today, because I was leading and missed a turn. We were supposed to do the three-mile loop twice, but with what we tacked on that was extra, we only did it once and ended up with five miles. So, in the end, it worked out.

Even with all of the challenges today, my Saturday morning run is my favorite of the week because of the time spent with Jess and Kristy.  I get up earlier on Saturday to meet them for a run then I do to go to work during the week...and I don't mind!

So today we ended up walking more than I wanted, between the hills and the getting lost.  Still, by the end I decided that I've got to try the 10k next week.  I'm not expecting to run the whole distance, but I know I'll be able to run a majority of it it.  I'm not exactly sure what kind of time goal I should have my first time in a 10k, but it shouldn't take me more than an hour and ten minutes.  An hour and six minutes would be great, I guess, cause that would put me at about an 11 minute mile.  We'll see.

Not sure that this blog really had a point, but it's just what I'm thinking about today...

Fashion Play by Play

So, part of the reason I was able to lose 90+ pounds and not go completely broke was because I had some friends who, after cleaning out their closets, donated their unwanted clothes to me.  It is working like magic. I seem to get clothes from friends just when I need them. I had saved a couple of sizes of clothes of my own as I got larger. By the time I worked through those, I got my first huge donation from my friend Alyssa.  My sister, Amy, and my roommate Jen also donated a few items early on.  Then a couple of months later, Stephanie H. decided to up and move to England.  She had lots of clothes and lots of sizes to give me. I wear her stuff a lot; it's just an unfortunate coincidence that there is nothing from her in this diagram.  Finally, April, gave me a good assortment of clothes that have made me much more fashionable than I already am. I've had to buy very little new items, but still feel confident and great in my new-to-me clothes.  

While I don't want to give off the impression that I am a clothes-horse or crazy about clothing (I'm actually pretty far from it), wearing these clothes from my friends make me unexpectedly happy. Having clothes that fit is a huge boost when you're trying to lose weight. When I'm wearing these clothes, I think of the ladies they came from often, which makes me happy. Plus, they are usually items I wouldn't have purchased myself, so wearing them makes me feel kind of like an undercover super hero or just a little fancier than my average self. 

Maybe you're wondering  what I do with my clothes as I get smaller? The first batch I tried to give to friends, but I think for the most part those clothes were bigger sizes than they wear; I didn't get a lot of takers.  So that (huge) load went to Goodwill. Right now I'm working on a second pile of clothes to give away.  Who knows where they will end up!  

PS, if you're wondering, the necklace is from Wal-Mart.