Archive for January, 2014

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Slow dancing over the Gulf of Mexico

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 12, 2014 by runmyssierun

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I’m asked quite often now what events are on my 2014 calendar. Of course, if you’ve followed along, you know my response 😉

Today was one of the events. I really do want to re-race each event I’ve done so far to measure any decrease in pace, if any. The Port Isabel Longest Causeway race was my first 10k, almost exactly one month after my first 5k. I had been running for just about three months. Still very green, awkward and overcome with nerves.

But today was different. Not that I’m all Olympian or Kenyan by any means, but I really did feel at home at this race today.  Practice, training and experience has all helped me overcome the nerves and focus on just doing my best and enjoying everything around me.

This may sound weird to you non-runners but as a flat valley runner with little to no experience with hills or elevated grades, running up the Causeway is a serious challenge that takes great physical effort and stamina. The challenge plays mind games with you… or at least it does with me. I did a pretty good pace going up and stopped three times to take photos of a few fellow Cyclepaths that I saw along the way. Coach Hector marked my time trial at 10:45 with a 13:15 goal pace. *My run pace has slowed tremendously so I’m building it back up by returning to Running 101 class and tons of run drills that coach has designed just for me. I think it’s working.

I held an 11:40 pace (even with all the stopping for photos and chit chats with friends) which puts me at 2 minutes faster than Coach’s goal pace for me. I finished at 1:14… nothing to be ecstatic about right? Wrong.

Wanna see why this is so exciting for me? Look at my time from the last Causeway race.

My first 10k - The Longest Causeway run

 

To me, any improvement is worthy of celebration!!! Especially after doing so much with so little experience.

I would love to say that by CapTex I can get back to my 8 min paces but truth is that these last couple of months I’ve focused solely on running pace. Once I begin to incorporate swimming and biking into the weekly routines, I’m sure that my 8 dreams will likely fizzle. So I won’t get upset if I don’t reach 8 but that doesn’t mean I’m not gonna try and it doesn’t mean that I’m gonna kill myself trying to get there. Ya, re-read that last line. Do it again. Understand?

Oh! My review of the race today you ask?

Honestly, today was a bit of a blurr. What stood out the most were three parts.

1. Going uphill on the Causeway was a bit surreal. It wasn’t like last time – sunny and calm with the smell of the salt water filling your lungs. Today had a thick brownish sticky fog that smothered the view and your body with an icky feeling. It took me back to my younger days in dance clubs where the dance floor would poof up with thick smoke and that lovey dovey slow song would play for the traditional “it’s 2:00a.m. bar is closing hook up” song. I remember smiling big as ever as I found myself slow dancing over the Gulf of Mexico. Its hard to describe the feelings I get when I run. I remember getting a few boys upset when I was younger dancing with them at clubs because once I closed my eyes and my hands went up into the sky, I was in my own little world and they knew I was no longer with them. It was how I escaped. I never needed drugs or alcohol. I just needed a good beat to dance to. Well, the same kinda goes for running.

It’s a sensual exhilarating exhausting feeling that isn’t sexual. Does that make sense? People kept telling me how addictive running was and to watch out for the “runner’s high” and I’d laugh. Maybe this is what they were talking about. Maybe I do get high. Maybe running is my drug. Wow. I hope coffee doesn’t get jealous!!!

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2. The last mile just as I turned the corner, I flashed back to the year prior when I witnessed a fellow Run Walk or Crawl runner fall to the street with a broken hip. I said a quick prayer of thanks for the ability to run without injury. So many people are not able to. This is a gift that I and all those around me at the time were given. And that’s when my mind went to David Mendez. I had asked a fellow Team in Training team mate about him two days ago. He’s struggling now and has spent the last two weeks at MD Anderson.  And that’s when I jumped into high gear…

3. It was the thought of David that pushed me to my last sprint across the finish. Normally, I gracefully prance across the finish with my hands held high showing my momma in Heaven my hand signs and smiling big for the cameras. Today was different. I don’t know what came over me but I was just so filled with emotion. How could I waste this gift that has been given to me? And my inner voice loudly commanded me to go… go as fast as I possibly could. Sprint. Race. David can’t. You can. Go! I didn’t look at anyone around me. I focused on that finish line and went for it like a crazy mad woman. I scared even myself!!! But it was a great feeling. That was for David because I still don’t know what to say to him to make it all better. So I run.

With all that I’ve been though, I should know what to say by now to people who have been hurt by cancer. Shouldn’t I?

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Training

Posted in Uncategorized on January 7, 2014 by runmyssierun

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Run this way – beginner basics

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 3, 2014 by runmyssierun

The new year has begun and now I have lots of friends who told me a couple of years ago “You look great! And HAPPY!”, “You are such an inspiration. I could never run like you do”, “I’ve never been able to run,”…. and guess what… ya, you know what… they’re starting to run!!!

Including my own son!!!!

For those of you who follow me and don’t know me personally, let me sum it up for you… I’m probably one of the most over protective moms that ever lived. There. Period.

This last month, my son blurted out “Wake me up early so I can go run with you tomorrow morning”.  It was the equivalent of Heaven’s gates opening and a chorus of angels singing. YAY!!!!

For those of you who do know me personally and remember me saying that I’d never talk about my family on this blog… ok, I retract my statement. My son is joining me on my running journey!!!! He will now become a part of it and let me tell you, watching so many of my running team mates have their families run with them or man water stations or hold up silly posters wearing purple wigs and clanging cow bells at races was the bomb!!!! Many times, it was those families that made me feel like I was a part of their family. I’ve never been someone to push or bully someone into doing anything against their will, so I’ve been quite passive about this but secretly, just between me, you and this computer screen… I so wanted my family to be a part of it.

Ok, a quick run down (pun intended)

My son is an asthmatic so we went to his doctor yesterday to get him checked out. She was elated to hear that he would be running!
“It’ll teach him to open up his lungs at a different level.” She knew he was an incredible swimmer so developing his lungs over all the years of swimming would help with this next step. After a detailed check up and a couple of tests, she loaded him up with advice, monthly visits, samples and a huge smile!

We went to visit my run gurus at Valley Running Company. He got fitted for his shoes. They took their time with him and asked a lot of questions, had him walk this way and run that way and after about two hours… he left with the same shoes I have. Blame genetics. He’s got my crazy feet, same arch and duck walk. Saucony is going to be very happy with this family.

Signed him up for Running 101 – our local run class. Yes, this may sound a little crazy to some of you but our local run shop hosts run classes to TEACH US HOW TO RUN. There is a coach to give us weekly run drills, stretches, correct our form and we do it in a group atmosphere so that we all learn from each other, encourage each other and become accountable to each other. Plus there is safety in numbers when running in the evening.

So, let me review some of the basics, the important basics that every one should do when starting a new running routine:

1. See your doctor and tell him/her about your new running activity and ask if they have any concerns about it.

2. Get a custom fit shoe by a qualified run shoe store expert.

3. Find a running group to join with an experienced coach to teach you correct form and run safely in a group on a regular basis.

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Starbucks baristas served about 70 runners from the Running 101 Class at Valley Running Company midway through their social 6-mile run last night.

After my sons’s first run class last night, Coach Hector asked to meet with him today on a one to one evaluation. He went over a few stretches and strength exercises for his ankle that seemed to have been giving him some problem. He also went over some biomechanics and form correction with his stride.

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Running is one of our most basic and instinctive exercises but two years into this and I see it is such a complex sport. I learn something new about it every day. It’s easy and it’s complicated. Strange huh? What’s even stranger is the love/hate relationship that you develop with it!!!

I’m so excited about my son running with me. I truly hope he enjoys this.

Wow!!! Sissy… you really outdid yourself this time!

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What I learned in 2013

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , on January 1, 2014 by runmyssierun

What I learned in 2013

1. Life is not always fair.

You have good days and you have bad days and what you need to remember is that after all the bad days that kick you when you’re down, there’s a really really good day that makes you forget about that bad stuff.

2.  Bad things happen to good people. And they remain good people.

I’ve been wronged a lot in my life but nothing compared to what Dezma’s family has had to deal with, or Chef Marcel and Sylvia, or so many of my friends who have had cancer, adultery/divorce, bankruptcy, death happen to them. Good people… really really good people have hit rock bottom this year and they still have the heart to help others who are wronged.

3.  Good things happen to bad people. And they remain bad. But I still have hope.

We all know someone like this. My only explanation is that God spends extra time on these people, a bunch of us secretly pray for people like this – and those prayers come true for them… one day, I have faith, that they’ll be grateful for all that they have and stop making life miserable for the others around them.

4. Letting go of the worries that you cannot control works only if you let go of the people who worry about things they cannot control.

It’s pointless to worry about the world coming to an end. It’s out of my control. But that worry will still be a thorn in my side if the people around me worry about the things they cannot control.

5. Never Ever Give Up. Unless what you are doing is not making a positive impact on your life and the lives of others.

At the beginning of 2013, NEGU was a mantra I truly believed in. Until one day I figured out the difference between giving up and letting go. Yes, there is a difference.

6. I still can’t make everyone happy.

Duh. Oh! and it’s always the unhappy ones that are the most vocal. Can you imagine receiving a summary of your mistakes at the end of every day? Yes, every day. EVERY day.

7. I learned that it is when you make yourself most vulnerable to people that you feel the most love and feel the most heartache.

Falling in love, feeling love, and feeling the hurt that comes with heartache is so very worth it. No matter what.

8.  Life doesn’t get any easier, you just get stronger, pick your battles and learn to ignore the silly stuff (and people) that shouldn’t really matter in the big scheme of things.

That should be self explanatory.

9. Sometimes rejection is a gift that should have been unwrapped a long time ago.

One door closes and another opens… or have a bunch of friends with you who can help you knock that friggin wall down. Maybe this will get me to make my own path in 2014.

10. I learned to do more of what makes me happy instead of what makes others happy.

Because if I don’t, it becomes quite clear to me who those people are that don’t WANT me happy.

11. Family is everything

And sometimes you realize that some friends should have been family.

12. I also learned that I really am a lot more like my mother than I thought I was. And I’m a lot like my dad, too.

So there.

Today, as we wish each other a Happy New Year, let us determine to be more sincere, compassionate, warm-hearted human beings, trying to make our world a more equal place. That way we’ll actually make it a happy year. ~~ Dalai Lama

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