Heart Pounding Inspiration

This evening I was perusing my February copy of Runner's World magazine and read a brief article about three heart transplant patients that got my own heart pounding with inspiration :) When I sat down to write this post I intended to post a link to the article but it isn't one that they are including in their online magazine so you will have to just settle for my summary. The article discussed three heart transplant patients who were on-again, off-again runners before their transplants but had never run a race after their transplants until they decided to run the Carlsbad Half marathon together. Their cardiologist even ran tests to determine how hard they could push themselves during the race AND he ran WITH them! The three men not only ran Carlsbad, but La Jolla and America's Finest City for the "Triple Crown" series. They talked about knowing the amazing thing their donors (and their families) had done and feeling the presence of their donor on every step of the course. These men had to be even more mindful in their training as heart transplant patients have a higher resting heartrate and have to be aware of their strain their heart can take more than those of us who are not heart recipients.

As I read this article, my own heart sped up a bit. Organ donation is a cause that is near and dear to my heart. A very close family member (whose permission was not secured ahead of this post to include their name) is a living donor....and my hero. When I hop on the treadmill on Saturday for my long run, every beat of my heart will be dedicated to all donors, their families and the people they saved. Words cannot describe how inspiring you are and how lucky I feel to be able to push myself as a runner to be better with every step.

Organ Donors of the World - This run's for you!

XOXO - Jenn

So far so good

Well I have been sticking to my training plan for two weeks now (only missing 2 runs in that time). Its actually been going pretty well. After the first few runs I thought I was in for a world of hurt and a long climb back to the kinds of paces I was logging 7 months ago when I was really keeping up with my training. Much to my own surprise, the training runs I have been doing the last two weeks have gotten easier every run and my pace times are fairly near where I was when I was really training hard. It makes me SO sure I can acutally set a PR in March when I run my next half marathon. So....I am going to keep sticking to my training plan...logging the miles...and pushing myself to increase my speed/decrease my pace. On top of feeling better and better about my running...I am also sleeping better. Gotta love that! I am considering a 5K in early February. Will keep you posted on whether that happens and how I do.

XOXO - Jenn

Welcome to 2013 - My Own Personal "Do-Over"

There have been many a day when I have tried to dust myself off from failure and start over. And I have had many many many a false start in the past year. So here I am again...that moment when I am picking myself up to do it again. What makes this time different from the others? Well not necessarily much. I have believed before that I could really do it this time. As I do now. And I have felt good about starting to run again. As I do now. But I haven't had a real distance race on the books since the last time I was motivated. That is definitely motivating. AND I didn't have one really good piece of advice that I have now. I was listening a segment on one of those morning tv talk shows (had it on the background) and because it was getting to be New Years they were, of course, discussing how to keep a resolution. SIDEBAR: I have already decided that I am not resolving anything this year (but rather making a list of 13 things I want to this year - a bucket list for the year if you will) but was listening anyway. Most of the things the nice "expert" was saying were the same things you hear every year. But one of them hit me...and I could not believe how simple it was and how I had not considered it before!! She said to identify and remove the roadblocks that are keeping you from achieving your resolution. SO Simple!!! Almost immediately I started writing down a list of things that get in my way where training is concerned. And then took to the hard work of figuring out how to remove them from the list. Every item on the sheet was related to time. The first one (that has been an issue in the past) is getting to the gym (or home to hit the road) at a specified time. That has been hard for me in the past due to traffic and my home/work schedule. But since I moved...that has fallen into place. I don't spend nearly as much time in traffic and can now reasonably keep those appointments. The second items was the bigger one for me. My sons and their school work/after school schedules. So I crafted a training plan that takes that time into account. And I believe it is realistic. So here I go again....another start. But not a false one this time :) And as a part of that start....I am once again going to try to "catch up" and do some archive blogging because there are some entries in the last year that I wanted to write but I let excuses get in the way. Sorry to those of you who might have my blog on RSS as you will be getting "old" stories but I use this blog to some extent as a history of my running and I want to be able to reflect back on those later. Wish me luck! XOXO - Jenn

My "baby's" first 5K

Today was SO incredibly special for me. My 10 year old son ran his first 5K. We ran side by side for 3.1 miles. He was so excited to get to run with me. Months ago he had told me that he wanted to run with me. And when his school's annual 5K date was announced, I thought it was the perfect opportunity.

His PE teacher even organized a running club that met once a week for 8 weeks in order to prepare for the race. So I signed him up for the club and the race...and this morning we laced up our shoes and ran together! He had really listened to his teacher's during club and to the advise I had given him and as we started out he keep a good pace without trying to sprint right away. As a classmate of his sprinted past us at about .6 of a mile in, he yelled to her, "You have to save your energy for the end of the race." Another runner-mom looked over at me and knowingly smiled. My heart was just bursting! The first mile went by quickly and my little man did remarkably well. Just after that he wanted a "break". So I talked him into another half mile where we took a walk break at the water station. As we neared the final mile, I had to do a lot of talking to keep him in the running zone and not the walking zone. But as long as I was willing to run...so was he. :) The last tenth of a mile we ran strong...talking about how his little brother was going to be so excited to see us cross the finish line!! His pace got stronger and quicket and he literally had a spring in his step! Near the finish line...I pulled up just a bit and let him finish ahead of me. :) He was so very proud to have completed the race. And I don't think I could have been any more proud of him!!!

Later that night we went to dinner out to celebrate the accomplishment of the day. And after ordering I presented him with a medal I had ordered online. The race didn't provide medals at the finish (as most 5Ks don't) but I wanted him to have a momento of the race and his accomplishment. He showed it to anyone and everyone who would listen and look. There are many days that I am proud as a runner but today I got to be a proud runner and an even prouder mom. I am so grateful to have shared this experience and this love of mine with my son. I look forward to more running with him in the years to come and hope that this is the beginning of a lifelong passion and healthy habit for him!

XOXO - Jenn

Squeeze Play

I am really trying to be committed to my training plan. Really I am. But my schedule right now is SO busy with all things non-running related...and let's face it....I live in one of the craziest traffic locations on the planet! So I spend a LOT of time in my car driving to and from....well....everywhere! So....in an effort to try to be more committed to my running....I am trying to squeeze in a run every chance I can get. For example. This week my son had his first orchestra concert. It was on a night when I would normally run at the gym (on a treadmill-ack) after I picked up my boys. But that was out of the question. So...I took my running shoes to work....and got in a 3 mile run after I finished up working but before I had to pick up my younger son to go attend the concert. That only worked out because I got to go pick him up later since the older one was already at school for the concert and I didn't have to pick him up too. But boy was it brutal. My office is in a neighborhood that is full of crazy hills! But I did it...and that is the point. Then again today I had a slim margin of time between work and picking up my boys....and I squeezed in another 2.5 miles. And I would have squeezed in more but a nasty thunderstorm rolled in and I had to retreat to be safe. So that's where I am now....getting the miles in where I can. Soon it will be summer and a more leasurely pace will be upon me. Boy I can't wait!

XOXO - Jenn

Magical Garmin Watch

Ok so for my birthday I got a WONDERFUL gift. A Garmin Forerunner watch. Now for you non-runner folks out there...this watch uses satellites to track

the distance I have run and keep the time I have been running and let's me know the pace I am currently running at as well. Additionally it has a heart rate monitor that I can put on and keep track of my heart rate during my run as well. Truth be told, I was looking to buy a simple GPS watch for myself...but this is SOOOO much nicer!!! And apparently it is also magic :)

Magic? Yep! Today was the first day I could use my new training tool (not a toy - ok so it is definitely cool enough to be a toy). I got home from work and changed into my running gear as quickly as possible. The weather was just slightly cool and overcast. A very nice evening to get a run in. As I headed into the run, I felt good. My last couple of runs both outside and on the treadmill have felt pretty good actually so this wasn't too big a surprise. After almost a mile I looked down at my new cool watch....and could not believe that it said the time it said! How could that be? How was I going to have run a mile in less than 9 minutes? Even better...as I finished the run (some 3.5 miles later), it was just over 31 minutes since I started!! My pace was 8:54 min/mi!!!! I have NEVER run that fast!!! Love love love my magical Garmin watch and can't wait to get in another outdoor run to use it again :)

XOXO - Jenn

Life is NOT a Dress Rehearsal

This weekend I celebrated my 36th birthday. That's right, I am NOT afraid to admit that I am now closer to 40 than to 30. I am also not afraid to admit that I have learned a LOT about myself, life, happiness, and love in the last few years. Probably all of those pieces of information might have served me well during my first 30ish years of life. But I am so happy with where I am in my life and who I am, that I would not give up any of the experiences I have had....they helped make me who I am :) As a part of my birthday, I got a LOT of email from various organizations I belong to wishing me happy birthday. Most of these are nice gestures but have little or no substance (except for that great Red Box coupon) with one very big exception.

A few months back I started using SparkPeople to help me track my mileage and fitness in general in hopes of dropping some pounds and getting in better shape. The email they sent to me for my birthday was inspiring and possibly habit changing. The message they sent was a reminder of the old saying that "life is not a dress rehearsal". But it begged the question, they why do we treat it like it is? Why do we put business ahead of balance or working ahead of wellness? This message asked me to think about my life in this exact moment and shuffling my priorities this year to put health and happiness ahead of other goals that might not be as important. That really spoke to me. Late March and April were NOT good training months for me. My mileage suffered. I have been down on myself for that suffrage and losing sight of the bigger goal of the half marathon on June 2nd. The only things about running that have been positive lately are the outdoor runs I am able to do now that it is warmer and the fact that my pace time continues to get smaller even in spite of the lack of total miles. I needed a reminder like this message to give me a little push. So that message, and the gift of my new Garmin Forerunner watch (a special shout out to my amazing friend to thank you for the incredible birthday present!!!), have flipped my motivation switch. Last night I got in a great 7 mile run at a pace I am proud of (9:53) and felt fantastic! I am looking forward to the next 5 weeks of training and I head into my next half marathon. Looking to reduce my PR in the half by another 5-10 min and I now feel an increase in motivation to do it. So bring on tomorrow and my next training run! My dress rehearsal is officially over, its time for the real deal. Get busy living! :)

XOXO - Jenn