Wednesday, July 18, 2012

July 17th, 2012 – 4.05 Mile Run


The continued prayer is, “Lord keep me focused. Keep my mind stayed on You. Help me to bring You praise. I know You believe in me. Please help me in my unbelief. Amen.”

Being a busy mom takes its toll on a runner’s schedule. Both my babies were feeling ill and Jayda had to stay home from school today. This was probably why I was so determined to get this run in. I loved taking the time off to be with my little lady all day but by the end of it, I was desperate to get outside.

So when Chris offered to bring dinner home, I jumped at it, threw on my gear and waited with bated breath for him to walk through the door. I paused long enough to drop a few kisses of gratitude, and hit the door!

This used to be what I’d call a “typical” run but it has been so long since I’ve been on what I’d call a typical schedule, I found this one to be quite extraordinary.

It was a street run that started on my doorstep, but I have been sidelined by sciatic and back pain recently. Also, Chris has been working so much overtime that my days of being dropped off as we were both picking up the kids are long gone and my running schedule has taken a major beating. So it had been quite a while since I was able to just get a run in after work.

Believe me I felt it, too. My original goal was to get 5-miles in but I figured out early on this run that I would be running in the dark if I stayed out for the full 5 miles, so I cut it short. It turned out to be a wise choice because when I was about a mile away from home on the return trip, I felt a weird knee twinge that might have been due to some over compensation.

I didn’t feel like the sciatica was a real problem for this run but I have noticed that I will unconsciously compensate when my body feels out of whack.

So going forward, the new goal is to work on form and get back to running without pain. That’s a worthy goal for someone wishing to run until they’re 85, which is my long-term plan.

Previous Run
July 16th, 2012 – 1.50 Mile Run. Treadmill sprint.

See ya on the next run….

Friday, July 13, 2012

July 12th, 2012 – 3.82 Mile Run


The continued prayer is, “Lord keep me focused. Keep my mind stayed on You. Help me to bring You praise. I know You believe in me. Please help me in my unbelief. Amen.”

This was a nice run. I went to the track because I’ve been dealing with some lower back issues that started with sciatic issues.

The sciatic issues came after a hilly trail run. Compensating and failing to rest brought on the lower back issues and I’m still working through them.

The run itself felt so incredibly good!!! In fact, running is the only time I don’t feel any pain at all. It’s when the muscles get cold and tighten up that I have the discomfort. But such is life for the 40-something runner.

Well, I’ll be 40 in September anyway….

My previous run, about a 4-mile street run, was supposed to be taken *really* easily. But I’d forced myself to rest for a week prior, hoping that would sort out my lower back issues. Not running didn’t seem to make things better so the logic followed that maybe a run would. The run felt GREAT and my legs wouldn’t go easy. I started at my regular 5k pace and just couldn’t make myself slow it down to Half Marathon pace.

Of course, I could have made my body obey my mind but it had been so long and felt so good at the time, I just let it go. No regrets on that one!!

Today I had a running partner! Jordan got in trouble that the BGC and therefore, had to go on this run with me. I was excited about this run! Typically, a disciplinary run means I have to spend most of the time yelling like a drill sergeant, forcing him to keep up with me so my pace doesn’t suffer. Running the track meant I was never too far away from him no matter what his pace was so I could just do whatever my body felt like doing.

The pace was easy and the track was soft, gooey blissfulness. I was even able to shut my eyes and just…. Go.

Occasionally, I had to blow my coach’s whistle to get Jordan to pick up the pace. How fun is that?!

Home is my Happy Place, where there is warmth and love, hugs and kisses, peace and (occasional) serenity…. But running a rubber track with my eyes shut, MJ on my iPod and my best little dude running the bleachers is right next door to my Happy Place.