Tag Archives: running
What’s to miss about running.
Once upon a time a long time ago I use to run. I was never fast but I got to the finish line. I used to train for races along with a group of women I’d met online, and then in person at races, and then in person just because they are really cool women. Then I got busy and I didn’t train as carefully as I should have and I tried to get ready for a half marathon having not run for awhile. I ran too much too soon and too far and I suffered a hairline fracture in my foot.
The wheelers get ready to start their race.
I knew as I was going the longer distances that something was wrong. I knew the morning of the race as I got up before light and packed the car with all the essentials, warm up clothes, clothes for after, water, food, extra socks, pins, number, that I shouldn’t be running this race. Still. I had trained for it. People were expecting me. It was an inaugural half marathon through a pretty part of the country.
I wanted to do it.
During the drive to the appointed meeting place I reached over in the dark to the stack of clothing on the other seat. I didn’t feel my race bib with it’s number, that I KNEW I had put on the top of the pile. I pulled into an empty parking lot and stopped under a light. I searched the car. No bib. I drove frantically home and searched the house. No bib.
It was a sign, I decided, that I wasn’t supposed to run this race. I called my friend and told her I wasn’t coming. Then I went back to bed.
And I never seriously ran again. It’s hard to start from scratch. It takes dedication and time and resolve. And I can’t seem to get out the door. It’s been years, the stress fracture is as healed as it’s going to be. I’ve gone to a foot specialist and purchased custom orthotics. I could do it.
Anticipation before the race.
I see runners when I’m driving to and from work, or when we’re on trips. Portland Maine seemed to be the capital of young athletic fit bodies running half dressed through the streets. All seem to float effortlessly. I become enamored again with the concept.
But I don’t float. I slog and running is not as romantic as I remembered.
Here they come!
This weekend I went up to Flint to see the start of the Crim Festival of Races. Ten thousand plus runners and their supporters were celebrating healthy activity, and the love of running. I felt the familiar twinge. No not in my foot; in my heart. I miss the sense of community running gave me. I could do that again, I thought to myself.
In order to run you just have to start.
Just start.
WordPress Photo Challenge: Fray
There’s nothing quite like the experience of running in a huge road race. The preparation. The nervous anticipation. Excitement builds. And then you’re off!
Into the fray.
You can see other interpretations of “Fray” by going to this blog post and looking through all the entries in the comments. Or you can just check out a few of my favorites here, here, here and here!
Happy birthday Marathon Betty!
Have you ever run a marathon? Yes, the twenty-six point two miles kind of marathon. Not many people have. You have to be a special kind of crazy to want to do something so painful, and my friend Betty is a very special kind of crazy lady. Sunday she celebrated her 70th birthday by running her 16th full marathon. It was her 53rd birthday when she ran the first one and she says this will be her last. But you never know. Our running group calls her our Energizer Betty; she just keeps going and going.
Before the race.
Another running friend, Jane, and I went down to Detroit early Sunday morning to support Betty, and friends Kim and Kathy in their marathon attempt. Jane made the great sign; one side had the birthday message, the other side was more general, aimed at motivating all the runners as they went by. We used the sign to find Betty and Kim in a massive sea made up of thousands of runners corralled before the race began.
Looking for Betty
Jane also put together a plan for getting us to different places on the course. I figured out she and I walked and/or sprinted over 8 miles as we maneuvered to see our runners before the race, then at miles 9, 19, 23 and the finish line. It was worth it.
If you’ve ever done something so much bigger than yourself, poured yourself into the preparation, done the training, mentally challenged yourself, then you know how adrenalin can push you through the event. But having support on the sidelines makes the experience even better. Jane and I, along with members from Betty and Kim’s family were determined to provide all the support we could.
The start before morning light.
The race began under a full moon. The runners were warmer than we were as we waited at mile 9 in the shadow of the Joe Lewis hockey arena. At first the runners coming by were sparse, but soon enough the street was clogged with athletes.
Happy runners at mile 9
By mile 9 the runners had already crossed the Detroit river on the Ambassador bridge into Canada, run the Canadian riverfront, then come back to the States via the tunnel under the river. Amazingly most of them were still looking good! I was so cold by the time we left mile 9 I was wishing I was running! And let me tell you, that’s pretty darn cold!
Jane and I moved on, to the other side of town, into sunshine as we waited for our friends to come by on their way to run around an island in the middle of the river at mile 19. Jane brought snacks for them, and little Cokes. Both runners were grateful for the liquid caffeine.
Running strong at mile 19!
Jane and I wanted to see them when they came off the island too, we wanted to make sure they were still doing alright. We both know that the hardest miles in a marathon begin after mile 20. So we waited at mile 23. The skies darkened, the wind picked up, the temperature dropped. We were worried that Betty was wearing a tank top and shorts. Jane shed one of her shirts in preparation to give it to Betty if she needed it. We knew they’d be running along the Detroit waterfront for most of the rest of the race and we didn’t want her to be cold.
But this is Betty at mile 23:
She knows she has this one in the bag.
She doesn’t look cold, does she. Sure she was tired and she was hurting and she was wanting it to be done. But she was smiling and she started running again right after this shot.
Inspirational.
That’s why we have nicknamed her our Energizer Betty. We all want to be her when we grow up.
Running to the finish line.
She is amazing. She is strong. She said it was the best birthday, perfect weather for a marathon, her family including husband, daughter, grandchildren, and friends were there to share it with her. Her daughter and a grandson ran her in the last couple of miles.
You can’t get better than that. You can’t ask more of life than that. To do something you love on your 70th birthday and to share it all with people you care about.
I was honored to be there.
Athlete!
Activity after
Pretty
Sunday my sister and aunt and I picked cherries at a local orchard. This is the place my family has picked cherries ever since we were little kids. So in a way it was nostalgic to be there…
Picking
…but in a way not so much as they have planted new trees since we were kids and this weekend we were picking at the new location. The picking was sparse but we got enough cherries to freeze a few and make a pie.
Future pies
Then Sunday evening husband, sister and I went to the county fair…
Crazy
…where we walked around analyzing the rides, trying to decide if there was one I could go on without getting sick.
Crazy
We wandered around, standing in front of each ride…
Fun times
….and concluded that perhaps the ferris wheel was the only safe bet.
Fun
So we bought tickets and boarded the ride. Which was when I suddenly realized I was really sore from my Saturday morning run. I had a really really hard time stepping up into the gondola…
On the ferris wheel
…and an even harder time getting out after our ride! So even though I was feeling pretty good since that run and a bit surprised that I hadn’t felt any soreness I apparently had forgotten that I am usually most sore two days after a run, which means….that this morning, Monday, I could barely get out of bed. Yea. Now I remember what it’s like to be a runner.
It’s darn wonderful.
Sisters at the fair
One mile in
So my training for next year’s ten mile road race starts this week, with me running/walking 1 mile 3x a week. My first mile was scheduled for this weekend.
I finished mowing the grass about 4:30 today and thought, ‘it’s a beautiful day, sunshine, cool, a nice breeze. It’s never going to get any better than this. So get yourself out there.’ I think I have been worried about how it would go, so have been avoiding the run all weekend.
I changed my clothes and got ready to leave. But Katie had other ideas. She figures, if Mama goes, Katie goes. And she has really big eyes when she’s begging. I figured I was going to walk most of it anyway, so I hooked her leash up and off we went.
We ran most of the first quarter – she thought I was chasing her and it was all a game – till she saw her first chipmunk. Then she was all business. We ran and walked the rest of the way to the 1/2 way turn around point. I was pretty proud of her. But on the way back she refused to run at all. Every time I started jogging she just stopped cold. Silly girl. So we pretty much walked back. With 1/4 mile left to go she asked to be picked up. I told her she was a woose. And I carried her a little bit, cause I’m a pushover. I told her that she should realize that I was going to have to go back out when we got home and do this all over again. She said she didn’t care.
So when we got home I made her supper and then headed back out. Ran the 1/2 mile to the turn around, walked a bit and pretty much ran the rest of the way back home. It felt good to be running. It felt really good when I got back back home and could stop running. I haven’t been this sweaty in a very long time.
Guess Katie’s walk was a good warm up. She’s sound asleep now.
Come on Mom!
A little competition
I’ve been thinking about Scott’s photo challenge – to photograph some kind of competition. There are lots of things that come to mind; pie eating contests, lumberjack pole climbing contests, Renaissance jousting contests, dog shows, art fairs. But none of these things seemed likely to occur somewhere that I might be.
So I fell back to a sport I used to participate in – running. I found a small 5K race (that’s 3.1 miles) only a few miles away at a senior assisted living facility and on a Sunday morning I drove over there, feeling overdressed in my jeans and jacket, to watch a group of people head off on a beautiful run through the fall morning light. (Click on the photos to see them larger and with more detail.)
As at every race there was anticipation in the air as people prepared to run.
Volunteers were setting up a table with water and bagels for race finishers.
Soon everyone was getting last minute instructions.
And then they were off!
While the runners were out on the course, the residents of the assisted living facility did their own walk around the grounds and then crossed the finish line themselves…
…and many stayed to watch the runners come in.
The winner was a young man, who came in way ahead of the rest of the pack.
The first female was also young.
All the returning racers got a cheering welcome from residents and family alike.
It was a beautiful morning for a multi-generational run.
Makes me think I should put my running shoes on and get back into the competition!
Great weekend
Saturday husband and I took his Aunt V out to eat for her 96th birthday. She hasn’t been out of her apartment other than for doctor appointments since she came home from the hospital in early summer. She was all dressed up and ready to go when we went up to collect her from her apartment. She’s not walking very well and we had to rest a few times on the way down to the lobby and the waiting car. But she made it and was very glad to get out into the fresh air. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. The roses out in front of her building were in full bloom – just for her.
We took her to a small town about 30 minutes away, so she could enjoy the drive. Some of the trees are beginning to turn, the sky was blue and filled with big white puffy clouds. The promised rain never materialized.
After dinner husband told her it was too nice a day to head back home, so we went for a drive. After more than an hour of driving through the country she asked where we were. We were nearing water and he told her we were in Mackinac City. “Really?” she asked! He laughed and said no…then she started recognizing some things, like the Black River where she and her husband once moored their boat, an old hotel where they used to stay. We were in Port Huron, on the eastern shore of Michigan.
More than sixty years ago, as a young wife, she and her husband used to boat from Saginaw down to Port Huron on weekends. She hadn’t been back in many years. Amazingly she recognized quite a bit of the town. We sat at the waterfront and watched boats go by, including a very large ore boat which nimbly slid under the bridge and past us surprisingly fast.
I fell in love with the Great Lakes all over again.
We all had a great time. I’m pretty sure she slept well last night.
Then this morning I met a friend of mine who is in town for a family wedding. She and I used to run together before she moved far away back in 1996. We haven’t seen each other in 13 years, but it was as if we’d never been apart, even though we haven’t been in touch much beyond the annual Christmas card all these years.
We went back to the neighborhood where I used to live and where we used to run a couple times a week after work. As we walked the old route, noticing changes in the houses and gardens, we talked and talked, just like we used to do when we ran. We talked about the way things used to be, the things that have happened in our lives, the way things are today. We both got a bit teary-eyed over losses in each of our lives, we voiced regrets and triumphs and hopes. We passed the house I used to own and commented that it was still a great neighborhood.
After our walk we went out to breakfast and talked and talked. Catching up on so much takes some time! We weren’t finished talking when we were finished eating, so we went for another walk through an old neighborhood behind the restaurant. Another couple of miles under our belt and I don’t think we were finished talking yet, but we both had other things we needed to do.
Sadly we said goodbye and promised that it would not be 13 years before we saw each other again. In fact we just might run the big race together again next August. The first time either of us ran the 10 mile race was together. It’s probably been 20 years but we think, just maybe, that we can do it again.
I hope so. It will give us some time to talk. Because we didn’t discuss nearly everything we have to say! Thanks P. I know you’re reading this. It was so good to see you again. I miss you already.
Safe trip home.
Thirty-Eight
As many of you know, I’m training for a half marathon in the fall. That means I’m getting back out there and attempting to run again. It’s hard to start over. Today I was scheduled to do 6.5 miles. For those of you not runners, this isn’t as horrible as it might sound. We “beginner” runners are doing these training runs one or two minutes at a time. So just about any length should be manageable. Really.
My plan was to get up at 6 a.m. and be out the door by 6:15. It’s good to have a plan. The reality? I woke up at..well I don’t know what time it was, and I went back to sleep. A couple of times. By 8:30 I determined that this morning was going to be cooler than tomorrow morning, so I ate my breakfast and then headed out about 9. I have to say this 6.5 miles kicked my…well you fill in the blank. By mile 5 I was seriously considering calling home and getting a ride. And I’ve never done that. But since I wasn’t carrying a phone I lumbered on. Almost funny today was the fact that whenever I checked my watch it would show 38 seconds after some minute. Almost every time! I’d convince myself that I could run 22 more seconds..right!? And that’s how I got through this run.
The only good thing I can say about this training run is that it is OVER. I can already tell I’m going to be sore tomorrow. And it was taking me 13 and 14 minutes to do a mile! That’s not much faster than walking it for heavens sake. Good thing I’m not running for the US in the Olympics.
This is all testament to being a middle aged woman, slightly overweight and out of shape. I can’t do anything about the middle aged part, but I’m working on the weight thing, and the exercise. So it can only get better. Right? RIGHT??!
On a happier note: We finished moving the last of the ten yards of wood chips yesterday! Bye-bye wood chips!
Change Is Hard 