Life Lessons from Sweat, Swat and Swear
One of my favorite podcasts is Florida Trail Runners. This podcast is how I heard about the Dunes 50K race I did in April, and also the Forgotten Florida race coming up in February. The host, Joseph Fuller, interviews people (usually in small groups) and has them tell stories from a recent race. The great thing is it’s a way to preview a race I’m interested in. If I hear “All that sand running was so hard!” or “This race was very wet” I get some clues about what I’m in for. The latest episode was about the Sweat, Swat and Swear 50K in Inverness, FL, north of Tampa (I love that name, although it doesn’t necessarily make me want to do this race, ha ha.) Joseph interviewed four runners who completed the race, and two of them had especially interesting stories. One woman shared that she’s a former addict, and got into running as part of her recovery. This seems to be a common theme among ultra runners- I would say about 25% of the runners I hear on these podcasts have transferred their drug or alcohol addiction to a running addiction. That’s okay! Running is a good thing to be addicted to. Anyway, before the race she dedicated each mile to a person in her life- someone she wanted to pray for, or someone who helped or inspired her, and one mile was dedicated to her dog (that was my favorite.) Then during the race she thought about each person during their mile. Joseph asked her how she made it through the final miles, and she said that after 30 miles dedicated to other people, the last mile was dedicated to herself. I LOVED THAT SO MUCH. She said she took that final mile to think about everything she had been through, and how far she had come in her life, and savored the fact that she was about to finish a 50K. Another woman told her story: about a year before the race, she had a strange pain in her neck. It was diagnosed as a malignant tumor in her cervical spine, which has to be one of the scariest things in the world. She had to have surgery to remove it, and they couldn’t guarantee that she wouldn’t be a quadriplegic. After an eight hour surgery, she woke up to find that she could move her entire body, but couldn’t feel anything below her neck. It took months of rehab but slowly the feeling came- mostly- back, and she decided to run a 50K. Since it was cancer, there’s no way to know if the tumor will come back, so she decided there was no time to waste. For all she knows, her time is very limited, and she knew if she wanted to run an ultra marathon, she had to do it NOW. These stories were important to me, because as adults, especially women, we’re always putting other people first. Our families, clients, coworkers, pets, and well, if you have kids, forget it- your life is no longer your own. Even now that my kids are older and can take care of themselves, I still feel guilty about being gone on a Sunday morning to do a long run. And I feel guilty asking for extra days off of work to go run a race. We all have time- but not that much time. Seize the day, dedicate some miles to yourself, and do it… now.
Weekly Rundown- The Daily Shakedown
Another week come and gone! It was a good week- logistically, the most challenging one of the summer because my daughter had to be transported to and from camp every day. Workout-wise, I had an extra day off (I can’t lie- I kind of enjoyed it) and I started a new mobility program. But first, thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting! Let’s get right into it. Sunday 6 mile run. I woke up later than I wanted, so rather than driving to the trail I just ran from my house. I have a nice 6 mile route- it’s mostly on pavement but there are stretches where I can run on grass too. Monday Leg day at the gym! I decided my last post had enough squatting action shots to last a while, so here’s a more normal gym selfie. My warmup for leg day is usually ten minutes on the stair climber, then some bodyweight squats. The workout consisted of squats, deadlifts, Bulgarian split squats, calf raises, and a little bit of upper body- biceps and rows. I’ve been pairing my early morning gym workouts with a nice trip to Starbucks before work. This strategy works well! It gives me a treat to look forward to, and a little break after my workout before starting the work day. Tuesday 4 mile run, followed by Caroline Girvan’s deadbug ab workout. Wednesday This was my day to drive to camp. The camp started early and was an hour away (sigh) so I opted to take today off from exercise. But, I did start a new mobility program, Meghan Gould’s Daily Shakedown. It’s a 15 minute full body mobility routine, and Meghan says it can be a warmup for your run, but you should do it every day even if you’re not running. Thursday This week there was a heat advisory for South Florida. When I first heard that I had to laugh a little- oh no! It’s going to be hot in Florida! Whatever will we do? But, there are people without air conditioning (I can’t even imagine) and people who work outside (again- that would be terrible) and the heat index was well into triple digits. I figured this would be a great day to do speed work outside! Just kidding- it was a terrible idea. I’ve been doing my speed work on the treadmill at the gym- the nice, air conditioned gym!- but it just wasn’t feasible on this day. I got out early, but of course it was still hot and humid. After a 1.5 mile warm up I ran a mile at 5k pace. This basically set me up for failure for the rest of the workout. I was already tired, and my paces were all over the place. I ran 6 x 400 (although in one of them I had to stop in the middle, so it was 2 x 200, eye roll.) Overall, this was a workout that kind of fell apart in the middle. It just wasn’t well-thought out. Next week, I will be on the treadmill! Friday Back to the gym! But first, I did the Daily Shakedown, and then felt that I could cut the stair climber warmup to 5 minutes. I did squats and deadlifts, and then my son guilted me into doing overhead press as well as benchpress. I have to agree with him that I don’t do enough upper body. I either have to spend more time at the gym on the days I go, or go a third day for upper body. Neither option is appealing, somehow. This was the last day of my daughter’s camp, which meant there was a concert at night (this was a jazz band camp.) Very fun, but it made for a late night. Saturday Day off, other than the Daily Shakedown. Thanks to the added upper body weights yesterday, now my entire body is sore. It made going to work very un-fun. But, one of my coworkers had a terrible migraine and couldn’t even turn her head- and she was there working. If she could do it, I certainly could! Sunday On tap for today- obviously the Daily Shakedown, and then a run! It will be a longer run… 8 miles? Location TBD. So, it was a good week, in spite of the extra driving and the heat advisory. The extra day off meant I missed a day of running, and I really did miss it. After a lighter week I’m ready to ramp it back up a little. How’s the weather where you are? Anyone else have a heat advisory? Do you do mobility work? If you lift weights, what do you do to warm up before your workout?
Too Many Crop Tops… So Many Books
Arg! The other day I went to the mall to find clothes for my daughter. It’s come to our attention that she’ll be going to sleep away camp in a couple weeks and, without me there to do laundry constantly, she’ll need a full week’s worth of clothes. She specifically requested tank tops that are NOT cropped. Well. Did you know that’s impossible to find? At least, at the stores I was at (Hollister, American Eagle, and Aerie.) EVERY SINGLE tank top was also a crop top. I would see a display labeled “tank tops” and would rush over to see this: Now, it’s not that I object to my daughter walking around scantily-clad (no, I gave up on that a while ago.) But places, like camp and school, have dress codes. And they usually- school, for sure- involve not showing your stomach. I know I could shop elsewhere. But these are the stores and styles she likes. I can just imagine coming home and saying “All the tank tops at your stores were positively indecent, so I went to Walmart and bought you some sensible shirts instead!” Ha ha… I don’t think so. Today she went to camp wearing a tube top with a Pride logo (from Hollister.) This camp seems to be fairly lax, and I haven’t gotten any calls so I guess it’s fine. I’m not sure how strict the sleep away camp will be, but I know her current wardrobe will not be acceptable for high school. School starts August 10th and it will be hot here until November, so she really needs tank tops. Sigh. Ironically, after I tried and failed to shop for my daughter, I went to Athleta and bought myself… a crop top. I’ve mentioned it before, but in the heat of summer I can’t stand to have a shirt touching my stomach while I run. I needed some new shirts, and I had some rewards points left from when I used to have a Gap credit card. The best thing about that credit card was that the points can be used at Athleta. Here’s that cropped tank in action: After the mall, I stopped at the library to pick up a few holds that came in: So many good books to read! But first, I have to finish this one: My son and I both recently read Ender’s Game, and he moved on to the first book in the Ender Saga. He said that Speaker for the Dead was the BEST BOOK HE’S EVER READ. With that recommendation, I had to read it too. This book is a lot of things, but at its core it’s a mystery. And I love mysteries! I don’t think I like science fiction quite as much as my son does, but I’m definitely enjoying this book and I love the fact that I can discuss it with my son. It reminds me of when we both read Harry Potter (ah, the good old days!) He’s already on to the next book in the series, but I’m going to pause after this one to read some of my library books. So many books, so little time. Have you read any of these books? Any recommendations for cute, non-cropped tank tops for a fourteen-year-old girl?
Tuesday Topics- Bloom Where You’re Planted
On Tuesdays, I often link up with Kim and Zenaida for their Tuesday Topics. The only problem is, my posts are usually wildly off-topic. This week’s topic is: “You’ve won an all-expenses paid trip to run a race anywhere in the world. What race would it be?” As usual, I’m going to be a little off-topic. But this prompt coincides with something I’ve been thinking about lately. A couple weeks ago I went to a wedding, and met a woman who lives in Utah. Well, Utah is my dream destination for a vacation. I follow Hungry Runner Girl and the photos of the trails she runs are so beautiful. I want to go to Zion National Park, and run in St. George. As I was talking to my new Utah friend, it came up that I love trail running, and she said “We have some amazing trail races in Utah- you should come out and run one!” Yes! That would be incredible! Except for two things- mountains and altitude. I live in South Florida, which is at sea level and 100% flat (except for the sand dunes that mysteriously appeared out of nowhere in my last race.) If I went to Utah to run a trail race, I think I would travel all the way there to have a terrible experience in a beautiful location. On a related subject, lately I’ve been thinking of moving. Yes, moving to… wait. Where would I move to? I need to live in a very sunny location because I have serious SAD (which is how I ended up in Florida- I grew up near Chicago. Shudder.) My daughter is starting high school and all her friends are here. My husband, in addition to teaching school, is a freelance trumpet player and all his contacts and gigs are here. As much as I fantasize about moving, I have to embrace one of my favorite sayings, “Bloom where you’re planted.” Florida isn’t perfect. It’s getting way too hot for me, and the politics are, well… ahem. But I live near the ocean! And the Everglades! As long as we can cope with the heat, we can run outside year-round. And there are beautiful trails not that far from me that I haven’t even begun to explore. It’s not “Utah beautiful” but it’s “Florida beautiful.” So to answer the question, “You’ve won an all-expenses paid trip to run a race anywhere in the world. What race would it be?” My choice is the race I’m running in February, in central Florida. It’s on a “wild and scenic trail” that I’ve never seen before. There won’t be mountains, but there will be some grassy segments and some wet sections- things I can train for right here. It will be beautiful Florida terrain. Maybe someday I’ll run every trail race in Florida (although I doubt it) and want to branch out. And maybe someday I’ll move, but I might end up staying right here. That would be pretty great, too. Do you have a dream race? Or a dream vacation spot? Where would you live if you could live anywhere? Or are you happy right where you are?