The Other Great American Pastime

Week One: 25m
Week Two: 32m
Week Three: 18m (I blame THON.)
Week Four [as of Wednesday]: 8m

...Promising, huh?  I should be reading Runner's World for tips or googling marathon plans, but right now- finishing homework and studying Spanish nonfinite verbs- all I can think of is going to sleep. I love running, but just the thought of my 6-8m tomorrow is making me tired.

Did you know that the number one factor in an America's rating of their day-to-day happiness is... *drumroll*...SLEEP. (Nina Jablonski PhD and Anthro Dept. Head) Maybe that's why I feel so down and out. I got eight hours- EIGHT- of sleep last night, but according to contemporary research that won't start affecting me until tomorrow. That's right, messing with your sleeping schedule and cutting hours can keep affecting you days later. Recovery lags after that.

Considering the influence of changes to one's sleeping patterns can last up to five days- I'm still tired from THON.

Maybe sleep should be up on the top of my to-do list, instead of squeezed in with whatever is left over. It even boosts your metabolism, getting over seven hours a night does. And even a nap of 20-30 minutes is enough to jump start your mind mid mid-afternoon slump.

I'm considering just clicking the hibernate button on my screen and going...to......

The Official Mile 27 Experiment

What I've retained from fifth grade science class is as follows:

 The Scientific Method (as described by sciencebuddies.org)

The scientific method is a way to ask and answer scientific questions by making observations and doing experiments.

• The steps of the scientific method are to:
• Ask a Question
• Do Background Research
• Construct a Hypothesis
• Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment
• Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion
• Communicate Your Results
• It is important for your experiment to be a fair test. A "fair test" occurs when you change only one factor (variable) and keep all other conditions the same.

So, I realized after Terry from Rapid Transit challenged my marathon goals (pleaseeee read the entry before this one!!), that I hadn't made them clear to my readers, my followers or truthfully even to myself. So here it is- the outline of this whole shebang.

Ask a(/some) question(s): Can running a marathon help me fall back in love with running?

Can I become more comfortable with my body and my abilities even if I'm by no means the fastest or fittest person there?

Can I finish?

Do background research: my background experience- competing stressed me out. Training stressed me out. I want to enjoy this- so conclusion of this research: I need to avoid both.

       That's right. I'm running (25 miles two weeks ago, 32 this past week and 18 so far this one), but I'm not training for time. I’m lifting, but because I like it and I love my trainer and friend Marie. I'm cross training because I know it’s good for me, and swimming’s a fun change. But for this first marathon I refuse to make myself as miserable as I was in high school.

Construct a hypothesis: By running the Pittsburgh Marathon, not as a race but as an adventure, by challenging myself to finish but not to compete, and by accepting yet confronting my limits, each day as they come- I will make my goal of falling in love with this sport once more a reality.

And the test- well that’s self-explanatory

So far so good- and I'll stop soon. But allow me one more point of clarity- why 27 miles? Isn't a marathon 26.2?

Well, one because it wouldn't let me enter decimals in my web address but two, because I want this new mentality to continue beyond the race and into my life. I don't want my new found love of running to falter when I get busy or stressed. It's an ongoing experiment- but here goes!

And recipes- a friend suggested nomeatathlete.com- check it out my vegetarian friends!  

Rapid Disappointment

I walked into Rapid Transit for the first time today, feeling fresh and light from a brisk five mile run with my friend Liz. We browsed through the racks of tye dye spandex and chatted about new trainers. I waited with her patiently as the man I had come to see sized up the feet of someone's grandmother and helped her try on her new shoes. She paid for her purchase and he turned to me.

"A marathon? It's too late. That's impossible."

My heart cracked. A running store expert and marathon veteran had just told me I did not have enough time to train for the Pittsburgh. I bit my lip and nodded.

"You don't have time to even start training. Try the half. You look like you could break 1:30- make it into the top 25 women easy if you work in speed and get up to 35 miles now."

I glanced at Liz, then at the ground. I had wanted a training plan from him, having been utterly indicisive looking through websites on running. I had just been going by feel, running my miles.

Terry of Rapid Transit didn't understand, I didn't want to break a time. I wanted to break through my own limits. A finisher's medal was the only merit I was after. Call me stubborn, call me hopeful, but please don't say hopeless.

After he pronounced me without a chance he told me to come back for new shoes the next morning. Liz and I walked out the door slowly.

"I'm still running it," I said to the sidewalk.
"I know," said Liz.

I thought about the advice from my old high school distance coach the week before. I had messaged him- the man who had guided me through my first track race sophmore year with the promise that it would hurt, but less than hurting like having a baby. A man of infinite and accurate wisdom.
 "Kate," he wrote. I only needed to remember two things. "Continue to run miles weekly. When race day arrives, don't be nervous."
So that's largely my plan.

Terry said I was impossible.
To all the Terrys I would like to reply with my old team quote from my senior year:

"...Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing." 
(Thank you John Maxwell)

You Aren't What You Eat....?

Let me try and recall today in terms of food:

Scrambled eggs with spinach and cheddar. A yogurt parfait. Four cups of coffee and several bottles of water. Sautéed veggies and tomato basil tofu. A veggie burger wrap. Coconut chickpea salad. A bowl of pasta e fagioli. A banana, a granny smith apple, an orange and some raisins. In the last twenty minutes alone I've had several generous handfuls of dark chocolates mailed from my grandparents. And a bowl of baby carrots, microwaved in a Target brand plastic bowl (my bad- they did sort of taste like carcinogens).

Last week I hit my goal of 25 miles. So far this week (Sun-Wed) I'm on 21/30m for this week's target.

And I feel like the Very Hunger Caterpillar. 

Part of this marathon will be letting go of food. Not that I'm not going to eat- I'm no diet monk. Not that I'm not letting myself go- I'm trying my best at eating smart. Sticking to my habitual intake of proteins, fibers and carbohydrates. But I am letting go of the tight fist with which I have always monitored my metabolism (well, at least attempting.

Because I have realized that over-obsessing about how I fuel my body often ends up with it not getting enough fuel. And the balance won't be easy to find. Eating has (ironically) never come naturally to me. As my trainer told me last week: if I'm going to run more than I ever have in my life I. Have. To. Eat.  And I can't let myself feel guilty about it. Because a runner's body is not that of a Victoria's Secret Model. And because "Your body is a temple, even if you let cupcakes in every one and awhile." (-anonymous quote from the trainer's room in my old high school).

So, over the next few entries, I'm going to explore this caloric conundrum a bit further. Recipes guaranteed.

Running the Spiritual Race

For those of you who may not know, I am Christian. Much of my walk with God I can see parallelled in my running life. At least, as I work to balance the stress and determination of training my physical body, I work also to balance it in such a way that it doesn't distract from the growth of my spiritual body. The whole not having too much confidence in the flesh concept. This is a sermon I preached at St. Paul's Episcopal in Doylestown, PA last summer, which couldn't seem to more relevant now. I hope I can take my own advice. I pray it speaks to you in some way.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”

- Luke 12 : 1-2

I am runner. Running for me has always been a love / hate relationship.  And nothing, in all my six years of competitive high school track and field, terrified me as much as my senior season of cross country. Nothing was more petrifying then the cb east home course. Which, unfortunately, happened to be where most of my races took place.

It was a cruelly devised course, that wound its way for three miles around the school grounds, across sports fields, along the woods and concluded with a lap around the track. The worst part was the looming grass hills that you had to ascend once, then go back around and do it twice more.

I would watch the preceding wave of varsity runners cross the finish line whimpering and staggering about. Some doubled over gasping for breath. They were tired. They were in pain, but they had finished. They can do it, I’d think, so can I.  Right? Right?! I’d stand at the starting line, waiting for the gun to go off, stomach curdling as I saw the hills waiting for me. Then I’d start thinking, well, what if I can’t.

Isn’t that familiar? Cause we’re all running our races as Christians right now.  And Lord knows there are days, when we wake up, and think about all the challenges we must face, and we wanna go right back under those covers, and never come out. Because we’ve each have hills that we must climb. Different and unique to our own souls. Terrible struggles that may take the shapes of illness, or of a lost job. Of a conflict with a loved one, or unrest at home. Addiction, failure, guilt or regret. We all have obstacles in our lives that loom high and heavy above us. Roadblocks in our walks with God. And you see your hill, and you gulp, and you start to wonder, well, what if I can’t.

And I’ll tell you right now. You’re right. You can’t. None of us can. Not alone. And glory hallelujah, we never are.

“Fix your eyes on Jesus,” the Bible calls to us. He’s not standing over on the side lines of your race. He’s not just cheering for and hoping you make it. He is right there with you, in the midst of your struggle, as your begin to ascend your hill, and you tire and you think, what if I can’t. Well, you don’t have to, because you turn to Jesus and He is already running with, ready to carry you. God calls on us to be persevering. But we forget, God himself is our perseverance.

As we surround ourselves with our fears and doubts our eyes slip form our Lord, and we forget that he has an intimate and unique knowledge of our Christian race, because He Himself has already run it.  He knows every step and struggle, every gasp and ache. He has raced. And He has won.

Yet, we are so easily discouraged. We look to that great cloud of witnesses, just as I watched the group of runners before me, and instead of being inspired, we think I can never be that strong. I am no saint. I am no champion. God is waiting to be your champion, just as he was for Gideon and Barak, for David and all the prophets.  Then, why do you still doubt?  Because you wish to draw on your own strength rather than His. As we race up our hills, and we tire, and we panic, we turn inward to ourselves and our own strength. We think I’ve got this, I can do this it’s all me right now. Guess what? It should never be all you. God’s got it. God’s always got it.  Stop striving and fix your eyes on Jesus. Run the race with Him. In your deepest struggles and fears, in the heights of your hills and conflicts, God is with you. You are never alone.

Oh! The Weather Outside Is Frightful!

Current Mileage (beginning on Monday): ~10. Goal Weekly Mileage: 25

And inside isn't much better either. I loathe treadmills with a passion. (Even the ones with TVs). I can hardly stand the monotony of staring at a wall, of not feeling any sense of progress. My tolerance normally caps off at about three miles.

And tonight, walking home from lifting after XC, the sidewalks on PSU’s Campus were as slick as an ice-skating rink. Clearly, I'm in the wrong sport.

So facing a morning of cross-training, I decided to encourage other runners in their efforts to kick it outside.

In the January issue of Runner's World, these motivational tidbits by Rob Udewitz were published. I taped them eye-level to my mirror- these three being my favorite:

1. Think ahead- remember how good your last run felt. Work toward with that feeling of satisfaction in mind!

2. Rewards- Your favorite sweet or snack (in moderation) will taste much better when earned.

3. Set goals for training ahead of time- and seal your commitment in writing.

My Tips:

-Time over distance. Snow will slow you down. In this case, just getting our your door may be your biggest accomplishment- mileage or otherwise.

-Going in the morning. It might be colder, but BAM! You are awake! The rest of your day seems quite a bit more energized if you start it with a half hour of fresh, cold air.

-Layers. Just thinking about numb fingers or frost bitten ears is enough to keep me in. I wear underarmour tights and sweatshirts (when my laundry is clean and options present themselves). My favorite are the kind of sweats with large pockets that I can use to tuck in my head band or gloves if I warm up. (Stripping is entirely acceptable in running- though in early February I'm not sure how much you will actually be doing.)

Want more? My favorite running site- which is still a foreign land to me- explains the scientific reasons for the winter wimp-out syndrome. See, it’s not just me!

Beat the Winter Blues!