RunSingTeach

Last night I announced my retirement from distance running (at least for the near and perhaps distant future). I’ve been trying to put a round peg into a square hole for several months now and I’m out of steam. My body can’t take it anymore and my mind can no longer overcome the body. I have so many body aches and injuries at this point that I have to stop. I need to focus on my health and 10 years into running-my health is not improved by running marathons or training for them.

I had several amazing conversations with friends and family in the last few days as I moved to make the final decision to stop my marathon training. I am literally taking a piece of my identity for the last 10 years and putting it on hold. It is scary. In the final conversation I needed, with amazing RP and BFF-MM, I received all the validation I needed to say stop. She said the most amazing thing, “We are Ironmen, isn’t that good enough?” And yes, I think it is.

I live, as many of us do, in a world full of hyper-endurance athletes. We are Ironman finishers, marathon maniacs, triathlon crazies, and ultra runners. We fill our days with long runs, long runs, distance swims, bricks, and post our mileage to facebook, mapmyrun, and instagram. I am one of these people. But I know for me that I need to stop. I need a BIG reminder that this community in which I live is just a teeny part of society at-large.

It was absolutely overwhelming to see my facebook universe erupt with support. I was so afraid of an Amish shunning from the community and was embraced with love. This was exactly what I needed at this time of life.

My new focus is HEALTH. Figuring out the cause and solutions for my digestive ills. Fixing my shin splints, bursitis, sore muscles, and possible torn meniscus. And to allow my mind, heart, and soul to be ok with all of this. To realize that my identity as an Ironman and a 11 time marathon finisher doesn’t disappear because I need a break. I pray this is for the good and that it is good enough.

Peace.

This month I participated in the Lean Green Bean’s Foodie Pen Pal Project. I had a great time sending a box of goodies up to Lisha at JumpEatRun, including Ken’s Coconut Almond Butter! I received an awesome bunch of goodies from my new pal Sharon in Arizona!!

All my goodies on the day they arrived…

These totally hit the spot on in a moment of stress in my classroom!!!

Lucy’s GF Cinnamon Thin Cookies.

Lots of yummy treats and new things to try! Edamame, Honey Sticks, a great recipe for Paprika Cauliflower, and to top it off homemade peach preserves. So exciting!! And so nice to have a new friend from around the country! Thanks Sharon!

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Wanna Be a Foodie Pen Pal? Here is the Skinny:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal! 
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month. 
-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. 

I am in the process of thinking long and hard about “what I want to be when I grow up”. While I don’t think this will ever truly be answered in me because of my incessant desire to grow and change, I still need to make some clear decisions in the upcoming months, year(?), two (?), that will have fundamental impact on my trajectory. Of course, I am mostly trying to hear that still small, loud shouting voice of God to lead me to His will. I’m blessed with a team of prayer warriors who are helping me seek out my call. 

So today’s gut check, whoa God moment comes from this month’s book club selection, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. On p. 57, in a letter to one of his traveling companions, Alex/Chris writes, 

“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man that a secure future.  The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure.  The joy in life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun……..

You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living.” (p. 57, Into the Wild, Krakauer, 1996)

Well, ok then. Holy, crazy, thoughtful batman! I am deeply afraid of breaking free from security. And while I don’t plan to give away all my possessions and live as a nomad; tramping through the country and eventually trying to survive in Alaska, there are many things that I could do to bring more adventure in my life and to encounter new and different things.Breaking free of my habitual lifestyle choices that are negative and conventional like eating the S.A.D.  or spending inordinate amounts of money on books. Likewise, from his second point, and more importantly as I discern, it is crucial for me to look for the JOY all around me. In small things, in challenges, in pain. There will be “beauty from pain” as I take this next path in my life’s journey. I do not know what it shall be this time; I believe only God knows.

Wise words from a very interesting soul in this person-character in the book. I study the Bible every morning seeking wisdom and counsel; comfort and challenge. I love it when God knocks me out of the park with something away from His “predictable” Word. And today I can offer a great thank you.

I feel like every other post I write on RST is about some kind of injury or physical failure. Blech. So I’ll start with a joy! I ran the Philadelphia Rock n Roll Half Marathon last Sunday and felt AMAZING. I was able to maintain under 10 min/mi pace and while the first few miles took a little bit to get the lead out of my legs, the last four were fantastic. It was an absolute delight. And, I was “racing”. Not against anyone but me. I was pushing my body beyond what I thought it could handle. I was never red-lining but my legs were definitely getting a challenge.

And now we are a few days later and I still have soreness, a giant puffy, inflexible knee, and a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning to figure it out. It’s unresponsive to ice and nsaids and only responsive to rest. This is not acceptable and I’m hoping my amazing orthopedic sports specialist can fix me and send me out for 16-18 miles on Saturday. Hoping and praying that I can get through this training cycle without anymore hurdles and then I promise to heal my body from the inside out.

 

Found this on my Foodie Pen Pal Lish’s site and if you don’t know by now I’m a sucker for Q&A.  I find it calms me down to think of my blessings and what brings me joy when I’m in the midst of chaos. I promise I’ll get back to profound posting soon.

What is your favorite type of crossing training?  

Get me in that pool for some laps!

What is your favorite song to run to?
The birds in the air. The crunch of leaves. I listen to music to pump me before a big race and it always includes California Dreamin’ by the Mamas and the Papas.

What brand shoes do you wear when you run?
Asics or Brooks. I’m a neutral girl. I’ve given Newtons a try-no go. I wear Nike frees for speed work, which is fun.

Do you wear a hat when you run?
I love winter because it means I can wear one of my many favorite warm hats!

What temperature is your favorite for running?
45 and dry.

Do you have any big races coming up?
Philly Half and Rehoboth Beach Marathon. Gonna kick my booty.

What is your favorite distance?
Half Marathon.

Are you a morning, noon or evening runner?
I used to be morning but now I’m relishing in my bible study in the am so I’m running in the evenings on weekdays and mornings on weekends. Fridays are sacred off days unless I need a “lappy hour”.

Do you run solo or with a buddy?
It really depends. I much prefer a buddy either human or canine.

What’s your favorite post run snack?
It used to be chocolate milk but now that milk is on the verboten list I’m not sure….

What did you love about your first race?
It made me feel like I had actually accomplished something I started; it was awesome.

Do you enjoy getting a medal at the end?
I do for long races and I do keep them.

Who is your running idol?
Paula Radcliffe.

How long have you been a runner?
10 years.

(Ladies) Do you run with your engagement/wedding ring on?
Sigh. Don’t have one of those….

What’s your favorite workout? repeats? long runs? tempo?
I love hill repeats. Sadistic is good.

Your turn. Copy and post on YOUR blog and spread the love.

One of my favorite blog-gals, Lindsay,  made up a “quiz” this week. I love these. And I love seeing what other people have to say about preferences and such. This is my last free day before the school year starts. I started the day by coaching then groceries.. I’ve spent the rest of the day simmering some bone broth , taking a 3 hour nap, icing my knee, and watching The Hunger Games on-demand. So this is a nice post-nap treat. Thanks Lindsay!

 

Katniss is my Kick A** Girl.

Chocolate or Vanilla?

Chocolate. Dark, preferably with caramel and sea salts in some capacity. I love Salazon Chocolate Dark Chocolate, Sea Salt, and Black Pepper. 

Innie or Outtie?

Innie. Hee hee.

Hot Hot Summer or Snowy Winter?

Oooh, I’m going to go with summer because it is less work!

Save or Spend?

I wish I could say it was save. I need some serious Dave Ramsey intervention and am seeking advice. 

Elliptical or Treadmill?

Ugh, preferably neither. If I’m in the gym-let near my house, I prefer the rower.

Banana or Apple?

APPLES! My favorite fruit and sauce. I like bananas but they give me heartburn.

Morning or Night?

MORNING. I would go to bed at 7pm each night if I could. Lately I’ve been getting up at 5, walking Parker and then doing bible and coffee.

Love or Money?

Love. Even though money would be totally rad because debt and hand-to-mouth suck, I’ll take the love of my dbf, family, and sweet dog over an easy financial time any day. 

Lipbalm or Lipstick?

ew. I hate lipstick. I only wear it for performances I know my Mom is attending. I am a lip balm junkie. I current love Hurraw. I love all of the flavors but the Earl Grey and the SPF (citrus) are my favorites.

Butt or Boobs?

Neither. Both make running difficult. When I “got” the boobs at age 17 it was the beginning of a no-love relationship and the butt that I got 

Acoustic or Electric?

This was a Lindsay question for her husband. For me, I am going to say acoustic…or anything the Indigo Girls play.

Coffee or Tea?

COFFEE. So I may function properly in society without significant psychotropic drugs. My Keurig was the best gift I ever received and I am obsessed with GMC Coconut Mocha coffee.

Straight or Curly?

Like all girls with straight hair, I have always longed to be curly. Hence my perms from grades 5-9. Oh dear. 

Three Squares or Graze All Day?

I’m a grazer who is trying to recover. Paleo would say no snacking and I’m working on it. 

Right handed or left handed?

I’m a righty who thinks it is so cool that people write left-handed.

Beach or Mountains?

Need I say more? Oh wait, I LOVE the mountains too. But the beach will always take the cake. Good Book + Beach + Sun = Perfection.

Mac or PC?

Mac at home, PC at work. iPhone in between. 

Shy or Outgoing?

on the MBTI scale, I am an introvert but if I’m coaching I’m totally outgoing.

And that’s all she wrote. Thanks Lindsay! It was a fun quiz.

XXOO. 

Tomorrow will mark one week of my new routine of scripts and supplements to help me get everything “back to normal”. I am taking a new medication for thyroid regulation to deal with low hormone levels and resulting high cortisol. Add that to the other supplements (multi-vitamin, probiotic, digestive enzymes, and b-complex) and I feel like all I do is take pills. Plus, in an ideal world, I would be eating grain-free and dairy-free (with small exceptions of grass pastured products) in hopes of turning around my crazy gut, wonky weight gain, redonkulous fatigue, and such.

Now here is the kicker. I’m on week two of marathon training. In week one, the track workout and long run went well but I skipped the tempo run. In week two, the track workout was awesome, the tempo run was great, but then my long run cut by 3 miles sucked. I’m so confused about what to eat to fuel my endurance workouts? What do I consume before a 12 mile run that isn’t a bowl of cereal or peanut butter toast (both of which are persona (foodsona?) non grata in my diet)? Most people in the “paleo” world are seemingly against endurance running so I can’t find a lot of resource there. School starts tomorrow with teachers and next week with kids and I just don’t have a lot of time to be laboring over this kind of stuff. So I’m holding off on the completely grain free for a few seconds and looking for just GF things.

And last, here comes the overshare extraordinaire, is what I’m perceiving to be a side effect of my new medication. I am itchy. I don’t have a rash or hives but I start to feel itchy by about noon and am itchy until I either fall asleep or take a benedryl (thereby inducing coma…). I want to give this medicine time to work, to see if it starts to get things regulated but I really don’t want to feel like I constantly have fleas. (I don’t….)

Everything takes time. And this impatient girl just struggles with it. My friend Ed is doing Ironman Louisville this morning and is focused on Romans 5:3 for his inspiration today. How fitting that it goes along with this health/life struggle I face right now. I read it in a few versions this morning but I love this version from Eugene Peterson‘s The Message:

There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. Romans 3-4 MSG (emphasis mine)

These troubles are merely meant as a way for God to grow patience in me and prepare me for what is to come. Yes, good lesson to be learned. So I press on with the routine, forging my patience as tempered steel, and pray for the best.

This is the first week of a new 16 week cycle of marathon training. My goal is to finish my 12th marathon at the Rehoboth Beach Marathon on December 8, 2012. I am “virtual training” with the world’s best running partner, MM, which is completely wonderful, only to be improved if we lived in the same state. For this go-round, I’m following the Furman University FIRST program for intermediate marathoners. Even though I’m pretty out of shape and slow, I am not a new marathoner, so this is a good program for me. The thing I like about this program is it doesn’t include “junk miles”; you run 3 quality runs per week and cross train 2. This is perfect for me because I’m easily injured and have ADD when it comes to running big miles. You run one track workout per week, one tempo, and one long run with pace guides based on various time calculations. I am basing my times off a very slow 5k time because right now, there is no way in heck I can run a marathon at the correllary 5k pace. (I can pump out a -25 5k sure, but I can’t translate that into big miles any time soon.)

So off we began on Monday. Monday was nice because it is a XT day. I was still sore from 12 miles on Sunday so I apted to just do the rowing machine (love) and skip the plyometrics/core. Everything still really hurt from the slow and painful distance I put myself through on Sunday. Apparently I’m becoming less able to just go out and run for 2+ hours without solid training, crap. Sad face.

Yesterday was the first track workout. 10-20 min warmup (I did a mile slow), 3×1600 at 8:45 pace, 10 min c/d. It’s funny because 8:45 used to be my mile pace for a moderate run and now it is my mile pace for “speed work”. Times sure have changed. The first mile was tough but good, I figured if I aimed for 2:10 400’s, I would come out ok to 8:45 with a little leeway. 8:42 first mile, done. 1 minute rest interval (walking, drinking). Mile 2 was a little bit more challenging, about 1200 in I was feeling the “burn”. 8:43 second mile, done. 2 minute rest this time because I felt like I was going to die. Seriously considered bagging on mile 3 but went ahead anyway-oh the pain, the 400’s were averaging 2:15 and I knew it was going to be difficult to get it done in 8:45, last lap came and I dug to finish in 8:48. Close enough for the first workout. I’ll take it.  I did my cool down walking back home.

 

I felt pretty awesome. Hot, sticky, red in the face. My favorite feeling. I also felt super hungry. 🙂 DBF had roasted a local, free-range organic chicken from Rocklands so we got to feast on that and sweet taters.  I felt really content.

I know the next 16 weeks will be a roller coaster. It is going to be really hard to get up at 4am tomorrow to get my run in before we head to the beach for the day. There will be days I’ll miss and days where the thought of putting on my running shoes makes me want to throw a tempter tantrum. But I have made the commitment and I want to do well this fall. So I put yesterday’s workout in the win column and remind myself it’s just the start.