What a difference a year makes

Today I ran two slow miles since I still have achy feet! Mile number two always seems to be the "magic mile" for me, meaning, when I run I am usually miserable for the first two miles and then it's like a flip is switched and I get in the zone and love it. Of course, on long runs I always fall out of the zone but usually can get back in to it around the nine mile mark.

Anyway, this week my friends and I celebrated Mardi Gras just like we did last year and it got me thinking about how much running has helped me lose weight. Mardi Gras was a bit later this year so I have a picture from me celebrating Mardi Gras in 2010 and a photo of me from March 1, 2011.

First up on the left, Mardi Gras in 2010. Believe it or not I had already lost about 20 pounds and had been running since the fall (not hard core but enough):

March 1, 2011 at dinner before Lady Gaga (AWESOME concert, by the way!) on the right. I'm still not where I would like to be but at least I have a waist now - that's progress!!

Charity Running

With the half marathon 11 days away, I am nursing some sort of foot pain. I managed to run two miles today - though they were quite slow - and I am a little concerned  that the pain from Sunday's run is still with me. I plan to stop by a running store tomorrow to talk to the pros about inserts for my shoes to help ease the pain.

I've had plans for some time to keep doing long distance running through the end of the year. I am officially signed up for the Fifth Third River Bank Run in Grand Rapids, Mich. (my town) and yes, I am running the 25k (15.5 miles). What will make this run extra special is that I have decided to join the American Cancer Society's DetermiNATION team and run to raise funds for ACS. I'm looking for sponsors - $15 for one mile. My deal is, if you sponsor me for 1 mile - I will dedicate that mile to you and I will run with your name (or the name of a loved one who had/has cancer) or photo pinned to me during the River Bank Run.

I am REALLY excited about this! This evening a sorority sister signed up as my first "sponsor" - 14 more to go!

With the half marathon coming up I am really pumped for many reasons - I used to live in Atlanta and love it there, so I'm excited just to be there and, of course, to run this race that I've trained so long and so hard for! However, I think I am even more excited about the longer race right here in my backyard because I will be doing it in honor and memory of people who've been touched by cancer - a disease I despise and want to do something about!

Check out my fundraising page here: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/DetermiNation/DNFY10GreatLakes?px=9676364&pg=personal&fr_id=34380

Initially I thought I would just hit up my runner friends for support for this event (since I am on a team for a different fundraising event for ACS) but then I heard about getting sponsors for miles and decided to ask for sponsors via Facebook. In the interest of full disclosure (isn't that what blogs are about?), here's the email I sent to my runner friends - it is embarrassing and personal but, oh well, it's all for a good cause:

Hello runner friends!

I know my running updates on Facebook are hard to miss! I can't believe my first half marathon is less than two weeks away! I've been training hard for this and, for someone who failed "running" in high school gym class because I couldn't run a 15 minute mile, I can't believe I am doing this in my 30s! By the way, depending on length of run I am between 11:15 - 12:15 minute mile and I am pretty darn proud of that.

Anyway, I've hit some of you up to support my Relay For Life team in the past but that's not really where my heart is this year. I started running a year and a half ago to take control of my life when my dad was diagnosed with cancer, my favorite aunt was dying of cancer and my weight was out of control. Running has helped my mental and physical health. In fact, as of this morning I am down 65 pounds since I started "really" running...and I feel amazing!  And while my Aunt Vicki lost her battle with cancer, I am so proud to say my dad is currently CANCER FREE and doing well! 

This year I have decided to join the American Cancer Society DetermiNation endurance event program, and I would like to ask for your help as I try to cross two finish lines instead of just one. This means I will run the 25k at the Fifth Third River Bank Run as an official runner for ACS (AND it means I won't hit you up for a Relay donation again - ha, ha!). For me, this means the big half marathon on 3.20.11 brings me one step closer to my goal of completing the 15.5 mile race on 5.14.11.

I’m truly excited to be a part of this team, and I hope you’ll support me if you can so that I can finish the race and achieve my goal of raising funds for the American Cancer Society.

I know times are tough for many of us right now, so I appreciate any contribution you can offer. Or, if you are running the River Bank and would like to run for ACS let me know and I'll hook you up! 

Each of us has our own reasons for caring about the fight against cancer. Whatever your reasons, I hope you’ll choose to make a difference by donating online to support my effort. Thanks to the generosity of people like you, 11 million cancer survivors like my dad are celebrating another birthday this year! In fact, it was ACS research that funded my dad's chemo drug and saved his life!!
And heck, if fighting cancer isn't your thing, consider making a donation to help encourage me as I keep training - as you know, all this running is exhilarating but also exhausting! :-) Please help me meet my very small fundraising goal - any size donation willl help!! And, before I forget, THANK YOU for your encouragement with your Facebook "likes" and kind words these last few months as I've shared the details of my running. I appreciate your support!  

Sincerely,
Jen

Hitting the wall: 12 miles

T-minus two weeks until the big half marathon!

Today was our final long run - 12 miles - and let me tell you, it kicked my butt! I hobbled home, showered, put on my pajamas and have been reapplying the Icy Hot ever since.

I must admit I am now feeling a bit of trepidation after today's experience. The last few runs have been so easy. Last week, for example, after 11 miles I was sore but managed to go on to a local beer festival and drink the day away for five hours of nonstop standing and walking. At this moment I feel like I've been hit by a bus!

I've been trying to run a little differently to save my knees and, in turn, I am killing my arches. I need to fix this pronto. I think I'd rather have sore knees!

Despite my misery, I do feel accomplished. I never thought I would run 12 miles and, sure enough, I did today! The weather still isn't fully cooperating either. There's still some ice and snow to contend with which makes these long runs extra special.

I'm hoping for an "easy" five or six miles next weekend to rebuild my confidence. I've been feeling good until today - and I know so much of this whole running thing is mental - so it's time to start psyching myself up for the big event in two weeks!

10 miles down, 28 days to go

The half marathon is 28 days from today!

This week's ten mile run was a struggle. Both my running pal and I were feeling under the weather and, speaking of weather, after a beautiful week of ideal running temperatures, the weather changed and it was a cold (but sunny) run day.

Ten miles is the longest distance I've ever run and I am pretty darn proud of it!

What amazes me about running is that phenomenon of getting "in the zone." I find I hit my stride around the six mile mark - that's when I get "in the zone" and feel like my body is moving without much effort on my part; my mind is perfectly clear and I feel like I am the only person on the planet. It's the craziest (and coolest) experience. Of course, then some big truck comes barreling down on me...or some fellow runner goes speeding by...and I snap out of it pretty quickly.

While I enjoy the "zone" phenomenon, I do feel like running is sort of taking over my life right now. My weekends revolve around long runs and on weekdays, I'm planning my after work activities around when I can get in shorter runs. Not to mention, I talk about running. I talk about it a lot. I don't want to become one of those running assholes, you know, those people who can only talk about running. Now, since I am not a "real" runner and I will never be a real runner (you know those people: they've got those perfectly sculpted calves, they look good in spandex and they are always dressed like Sporty Spice) so, there is no way I will ever really talk running that much. I'll just write about it instead!!

Nine miles: What keeps me going

Had it not been for some unexpected snow on the roads, today's nine mile run would have been...well, pretty easy! It was great, I felt great - except for the times I was running in slush/snow uphill! I am feeling confident with the half marathon a mere 36 days away.

However, I have to tell you that this morning when the alarm went off I was not a happy camper.

I woke up at 4:13 a.m. from a work nightmare (have them ALL the time) - this one was enough to make me sit right up in bed and, once awake, made my mind run in several different directions. I finally fell back to sleep around 6 a.m. and boom - the alarm went off at 7 a.m. I was tired, cramped up and cranky. Mentally I just wasn't there. One thing I've learned with all this running is that the most important "thing" I need to run is the right mental state. When I get "in the zone" I can just cruise. I would argue running is more of a mental challenge than a physical challenge!

This morning as I started coming up with a million and one reasons why I simply would not be able to run nine miles today, I thought of a quote I recently read: "The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start," John Bingham.

Yes! John Bingham is correct!

I've lost exactly 60 pounds since I started running. My goal is to lose at least 30 more to get back to the weight I was in 2004 when I started working for the organization I work for now.

It's a miracle someone weighing as much as I did (and it was A LOT) could ever muster the physical and mental strength to start running.

What inspired me? Well, first, definitely being at my heaviest weight ever. Second, my dad was diagnosed with cancer and that put so much in to perspective and three, I lost my favorite aunt to cancer three months after my dad was diagnosed. My aunt was diagnosed with brain cancer when I was a toddler and the fact she lived as long as she did was simply amazing - however, her quality of life was horrendous. She spent the last few years of her life on a feeding tube. She was about my age when she was diagnosed with cancer...and when she died it got me thinking about all that she never got to do in life because of her illness. Running was one thing I could do in her honor because it was something she could never do herself in her 30s.

When it was tough to keep going, especially in the beginning when I could literally only run a few blocks, I thought of her - immobile in a nursing home on a feeding tube - and thought about how much she would have loved to be able to stand up and run.

Here I am on the brink of running this half marathon - with Aunt Vicki and my dad as my motivation to keep me going when the going gets tough!

P.S. I have to tell you - even the touchy-feely stuff couldn't motivate me this morning. What it took today was simply jamming out as loud as I could to some of my favorite running songs! Four songs and I was ready to rock!!! Some of my faves include - "Don't Stop the Music" by Rihanna, "Raise Your Glass" by Pink, and, the blast from the fast, "Flashdance (What a Feeling)" by Irene Cara.

The countdown is on!

In 36 hours I will embark on my longest run to date - nine miles. Not like I'm counting or anything.

So far the half marathon training has been going really well. Well....until last Saturday. Last weekend we did an eight mile run that included a few rolling hills and two really steep ones. Everything was great until about an hour after the run. That's when I hit my wall!

Normally after a long run I feel invigorated! I have so much energy and feel like I could do anything. Not last weekend. Rather than bouncing around town, I sat curled up on the couch feeling like I had been hit by a truck.

Last week a major snow storm hit my town. As a result, running outdoors was virtually impossible. I worked out every day last week but did not run. I know that's what did it.

This week we had near record cold temperatures. I am talking 1 degree for a high. Now, I love my Under Armor cold gear but no cold gear would have gotten me through even a short run in this weather. In order to not experience another miserable Saturday, I opted to fork over $20 for two days as a guest at the local YMCA. Yes, I paid $20 to run a total of 6.2 miles (3.1 each day) on their teeny, tiny, hot, humid track. It was pretty miserable.

I don't know how people tolerate running on that track! Seriously, give me cold weather, ice and snow any day over that miserable, miserable track!

However, that track kept me moving this week.

The plan is to just do a workout video tomorrow and then 9 miles on Saturday. Fingers crossed!

Resolutions and a Resolution Run

'Tis the season for New Year's resolutions. I don't like that word "resolution" - it sounds like an act of Congress or something (I work in Government Relations so I guess my mind just goes there). I prefer to talk about goals. Last year my "goal" for 2010 was to run a 5k. As a goal-oriented individual, I blew that one out of the water, running six 5ks and a 10k. I will end 2010 on a running high by participating in the four mile Resolution Run here in Grand Rapids, Mich. I'm at the point where four miles isn't much - I've come a long way from the days in late 2009 when I could barely run four blocks!

Looking ahead to 2011, I have a new goal - to complete my first half marathon in March in under 2 hours and 45 minutes. Yes, this one is a little more specific. In addition to a specific time, I have that date - March 20. I'm feeling confident about my goal as we head in to 2011. No, I cannot run 13.1 miles yet (at least I don't think I can)...the furthest I've run so far is just over seven miles. But, you know what, I ran seven miles and felt fine after! I remember the first time I ran a full 3.1 miles when training for that 5k - I seriously wanted to die....and woke up the next morning feeling like I had been hit by a truck! These days, I run six or seven miles and go about my day. I know I still have work to do to get to 13.1 but fully believe I can do it. So, Georgia Marathon, here I come to run your half marathon! I know the route will be hilly - but I love Atlanta and couldn't think of a better place to stay motivated to keep running during the race.

What is your running goal for 2011?